Doodles and Children: Your experience and advice welcome

[DJ & Chance]

 

My puppy Chance has always been outgoing and super friendly with strangers.  I’ve taken him to work on campus from time to time, and he has been enthusiastic about meeting the employees and students there.   But he hasn’t had much experience with younger children.

 

Today while we were on a walk, six children noisily approached us.  My guess is that the ages were 8-10.  Of course they wanted to pet Chance, but I could see that he was nervous.  Two of the children were bouncing basketballs, and that noise in particular seemed to alarm my puppy.

 

I put Chance on a sit/stay and asked the children not to touch his face but to gently stroke his back instead.  But they were too excited or distracted to comprehend, and youthful hands were waggling towards his puppy face and the bouncing of basketballs continued.  Chance didn’t growl or snap but I think he might have done both if I had not instructed—sharply—the children not to touch him.  In the end, mom arrived and we posed in the streets for a photo.  Chance snuggled between my knees and several of the children, calmer now, stroked him gently.

 

This incident will make me very cautious with Chance around young children.  I am a bit sad because he is such a friendly little guy. 

 

Do any of you have experiences or wisdom to share? 

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I think our dogs can be so different when it comes to children.  Guinness has never met a child he didn't love.  He doesn't care if they're screaming or running....as long as they're "little people" he loves them.  Murph used to be very nervous around kids and I didn't trust him at all.  We worked with our trainer and did several "desensitizing" exercises with the help of the grand kids, and now he seems to be fine, although I must admit I still keep a close eye on his "state of mind" when they're playing with him.  Are there any neighborhood kids that might help you to structure some exercises?

[DJ & Chance]

My vet lives down the street and I think she can help me enlist some neighborhood children.  Chance has played with her two young twin daughters without incident.

[Ginny Nightingale]

Petting under the chin is best too--they can keep their eyes on the kid --better than being behind the dog and of course, better than going over the head--which is what they always want to do....I have a doodle that is nervous around all strangers and also looks exactly like the doodle that is the therapy dog at our local elementary school. Taking my doodle anywhere around here is tricky since 600 local kids think she is the therapy dog! They run at her with arms outstretched, ready for a big hug! So THAT doodle must be good with kids--she was practically raised in that school and goes into the playground with the kids too---amazing. I have to quickly point out to them that this is not the same dog and that they should approach my dog quietly!! 

This got me thinking back to when we first got the shy doodle at 8 months of age--my husband and I took her to a track meet our son was in to give her some experience with young adults since my son had boys coming in and out of the house all the time. I was stuck measuring the shot put throws and hubby had her where I could see them, but not within earshot. He is not too great with dog training and believes in letting things just "happen"--not good...there was a big guy, over 6 feet tall and 250 pounds, trying to pet her and chasing her back and forth as she tried to get away (She was on a lead) and I was shouting to my husband to stop him--of course, he was entertained by this giant guy trying to catch the cute pup and never heard me--this is NOT what you should do!!! My husband got an earful when I was close enough to speak to him! :(

She is much better now after years of work, but still not great at first--once she knows you, she is a lovebug. But very tall men really freak her out to this day. 

[DJ & Chance]

You are right about petting under the chin--forgot that!  

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Oh Ginny, petting under the chin is the only way for Daisy, unfortunately NOT one person listens to that request and all try to go in over her head, which she hates. If I had a dime for every time I said, don't go over go under, well you know!

[Pat and Traveler]

Good reminder, DJ!  I need to get back over to the school at closing time when there are lots of little ones milling around.  Trav has done fine in this situation, but that was a while back.  I'm not sure he would have done any better if there was a bouncing basketball involved.   He hates skateboards, and a couple of weeks ago when I was heading for the car with a load of stuff, a couple of skateboarders zoomed up.  Trav yanked the leash out of my hand and ran toward them.  He stood 15 ft. or so away and barked, and they stopped.  I got hold of the leash again right away and apologized profusely.  They were very nice, but I'm sure it was scary to suddenly have a loose, barking dog appear. 

[Doris, Knox & Flash]

For some reason, Knox has never been a big fan of kids and I have always tried to limit his exposure to them.  With no children in our household, it hasn't been much of an issue but occasionally we will see kids at our neighborhood park and I just make sure that I warn them before they approach.  Flash, on the other hand, grew up in a home with a small child and he is EXCELLENT with kids.  Now when we are out and children approach, I can say, "Here, this guy wants to say Hi"  and they can love all over Flash and ignore grumpy Knox.  I have noticed lately that Knox is now taking Flash's lead and is starting to think that kids can't be that bad after all! He is probably a bit jealous of the attention that Flash gets, lol!  He seems to be doing better and tolerates their attention, but still, I don't trust him and watch him constantly. 

[Amy, Cubbie & Ollie]

I always keep treats with me on walks because I never know when I'm going to need some help keeping their focus on me.  Sometimes if it is a small group of kids, i'll give them each a treat and let them give it to the dogs, but tell them that they can only do that if my guys are sitting nicely.  There were 2 little girls on our old block that would always scream out "can we pet your dogs" whenever I would start walking up the block.  It was very annoying but at least they asked.  Then I started letting them give treats to the dogs which made the youngest girl (just a small toddler) start yelling "treats!! treats!! Treats!!) everytime she saw us.  There were some days where one of my guys was having a bad day or didn't behave on the walk and I would just tell the girls "no, i'm sorry but they aren't listening well today or he is in a bad mood" and just keep walking.  It worked with them but it is a lot harder with random people approaching you. 

[Puppy Love]

I use the oppertunity to educate children about dogs. I ask the if yhey have a dog. Tell them my dogs name tell them where he likes to be pet. And say my command to Jackson which is "say hi" he turns his back to people to get pet when he hears "say hi". If they dont have a pet they usually say, mom you see we need a dog I tell them how much exercise he needs and how often I brush him. Their eyes pop out and I think the parent appreciates the point I am making. Itake h
Jackson to my local outdoor dog friendly mall often for practice. Its hilarious in the morning he loves to chase crows. And when he sees a kid coming in our direction in all black with a hoody he sits stiff head pulled all the back and stares intensely, makes me lol every time;)

[Tammy (Tanner & Molly) Houck]

Our youngest doodle, Molly, does not like children at all.  We got her from a family that had young children.  She had been kept in her crate (which was covered so she couldn't see out) in their rec. room for several weeks at an age when she should have been socialized.  I'm guessing that the children would tease her and there was nothing she could do.  Since we take her everywhere, I am very vigilant about telling people - sometimes rather abruptly if they don't listn - to just ignore her until she makes first contact.  She did very well at our family picnic with all of the children as long as they didn't come running up at her.  She panics and hides behind me when they run up.  I figure that she is my first priority, and I wouldn't want some giant reaching out at my face, so why should she have to put up with it.  She has come such a long way in a year and a half and I figure that having a few people angry with me is a small price to pay in her development.  On the other hand, our older doodle loves everybody and everything.  I owe a lot of her development to him, and she will be a wonderful work in progress for a long time.

[Cathy, Fozzie & Shaggy]

I think Fozzie would leave me for the opportunity to sit in the middle of a group of children to be petted while he tried to lick every bit of exposed skin (It is something I have worked hard to stop but he's a quick licker).  Shaggy seems to be following in his foot steps but he still gets excited and often ends up peeing on toes.  When my dogs are approached by children I stop them (the kids) and ask them to wait until the dogs are sitting and show them exactly where to pet.  While my guys are great with children, I take the opportunity to teach this bit of dog safety. 

Between the bouncing balls, rowdy kids and limited experience, I can't help but think what a loosy experience for Chance.  I hope you are able to help him overcome his nervousness with children. 

[Star and Goldie]

You have already gotten tons of great ideas/advice so I don't really have anything to add on to that; But I do agree with some others that it sounds more like it was the basketballs PLUS the number of children. It's good that you are cautious about it because it's allowing you to think creatively and set up some unique training exercises for him which is always a great bonus! It sounds like he has already proven to be OK with children in small numbers so it was probably just a rush of anxiety. Actually, considering the circumstances I'd say he did pretty well for an overstimulated pup in that situation.

As for doodles with children, it seems to be quite the wild card! I feel like I got extremely lucky with Goldie. She is so good with everyone, especially children. In fact, I think she prefers Silverlyn over me. At Fridays puppy class the puppies had a test to complete and Goldie only wanted Silverlyn to give her the commands and Goldie won the game (taking commands from a 2 yr old!)