growling at children

[NIKKI ~Macy's Mom~]

I have a 5 year old daughter who has always been great to our puppy. She has never done anything mean to her. If my daughter tries to pick up, hold or get in Macy's face, she will growl at her. I thougt I read once that it is a domination thing, that they treat them as a littermate. Does anyone have any more info on this that may help?

[Tracey]

I haven't gone through this myself, as my oldest was born when our pup had just turned 2 (and he was always wonderful with kids). But I am worried about it this time around since with this puppy our youngest won't quite be 2, oldest is 6, and well, it's a puppy ;). It was recommended to me to read "Raising Puppies & Kids Together", and so far I'm very impressed with it...lots of ideas about how to have your children interact (and not) with the puppy.

Hope this helps! I'll be interested to see what the experts here on DK have to add...I'm sure many have 'been-there-done-that' ;).

[Amber Rose]

My puppy Limerick treats my children (5 and 1) like littermates but he has never growled at them. He jumps on them and nips at their clothing to get them to play with him. We are working on raising the role of the kids by having them feed Limerick. I would love to hear other suggestions for raising childrens role that we all can use! I will have to check out the book Tracey recommended too :)

[Chris & Boys]

Hey Nikki ~
I had the same problem a month ago. What ended up working for me was having my boys feed Fozzy Bear part of his meals by hand. Have her put one pc of kibble in her hand at a time and let him eat out of her hand. Since puppy kibble is so small, maybe have her start by feeding her 20 kibbles then add a little more each day. Once she has given her the food out of the hand, Let your daughter put the rest of the food in her dish. This shows that your daughter has the higher rank in the pack.
Good Luck!

[Holly Southall]

In our training class they said to pick up your dog often until you are unable to anymore. It is getting them used to different types of holding and touching of body parts. Maybe if you pick her up and help your daughter pick her up.

Also touch your dog all over and you can treat her when she doesn't react poorly to it. I let my kids touch all over Angel. The trainer also said to let my small children give her treats. You may already be doing that, but they said it would help with nerves around children. Maybe if you work on your daughter being able to touch you puppy in other ways and treat when she gives a good reaction, it might help. Like touch her paws, tail, belly, ears. Just a thought.