[4NGI3]

My AB is 7mths old and its true that we haven't socialised him with any children because basically we just don't know any small children. When we take him for a walk and he sees a child or a group of children, he growls and kinda barks at them... well its not a real angry bark, it kinda sounds like he's saying "boof! boof!" not "woo woo woof!". lol that was weird but i had to explain it! :lol: and when he sees kids he'll walk past them with his tail between his legs and watch them as he walks past.

any suggestions? we did take him to a beach/park on the weekend and he did get a bit used to kids running past him. maybe we need to do this more often?

in the mean time any thing else we can do to help him get used to kids?

 

[Kate]

Kate was never socialized around kids either. And she did the same kind of bark (I totally got what you meant!). Ya know, I'm 21 with a 15 yr old sister, so there wasnt a lot of options for me to try to socialize her around kids. Well my cousins are young and little so when we were with that what we had them do was live around her. She would always be on a leash or on a chain in the yard and they would just live around her and ignore her. Everyday the little girl would try to get closer and closer to Kate by maybe sticking her foot out and what not. One day Kate finally stopped barking and let her pet her! It was wonderful. But we still take things slowly with her and let each new kid do this. We can't automatically assume because one little kid pet her that she will like all now.

So I would suggest keep going to the beach or a park where kids are around and just let him be around them but no petting right away. Also, if you are going to have a kid pet him, make sure its one you know and trust. Don't force anything onto your dog either, let things go slow

 

[Lisa]

I think you are right that it is a fear response but I don't think it's due to lack of socialization on your part. I have 2 AB's and no children. Niether one of my dogs have issues with kids. I honestly believe when I read things like this that it's a genetic in nature. If a dog has good strong nerve, exposing them to new people/things should not be a problem. A puppy with a good, strong temperament should be curious about new people/things, not scared. Where did you get your puppy? Did you meet the parents and/or grandparents to see what their temperaments were like?

I think Kate gave some pretty good advice. You should take things slow and whatever you do, do not force your dog into situation that are going to make him uncomfortable because he very well may end up biting a kid. I think you should find a good, qualified trainer to see if this issue can be improved on. Does your dog seem nervous in other situations besides with children?

 

[LokersPadokers]

Thanks for the info Lisa, I had been wondering the opposite about Loki. She is very good with kids and other dogs and I was wondering if it was just due to the way Loki is or if it was us socializing her. Sounds like it's mostly Loki and I'm sure the socializing helped at least somewhat.

 

[4NGI3]

thanks. yeah the last time we took him to the beach we thought it was a great idea seeing him walk around although he was still a little cautious with kids, he appeared to be getting used to them walking and running around him. so we'll definatly have to keep that going on a regular basis.

to answer your question, this is the only situation he seems nervous, jsut with kids. other than that he's pretty cool with everything else.