My dog and kids

[SophieYoung]

Hi there! 
 

I was hoping for some guidance on how to teach my pup to be comfortable around children. Her name is Maisy and she is a 1 year old koolie x staffy and for the most part her training is going really well. She is quite shy when meeting new adults but just leaves them alone, however children cause her to bark. She won’t jump on them and usually stays a metre or so back from them but begins to bark and if we are at the park/beach she will run around them in a circle and then come back to me or continue playing elsewhere. 
 

On occasion a very calm child has been able to pat her at the beach, she will let them come up to her and gently say hello. However when I was at a friend’s house recently, her 7 year old niece was there and at first Maisy did not bark but after some time she would run at her from the other side of the room and start to bark. I cannot seem to read whether it is a nervous or aggressive bark but as she is shy I would assume its nervous? Her recall is very good and she always comes back but only once she has gone up to them, sometimes she spots them from the other side of the park and she runs over. I have to avoid most parks and beaches at certain times of the day otherwise she can’t have off leash play. I am also in my twentys and my friends will have children sooner or later and I really want Maisy to be comfortable with them.

 

Thank you so much and the program is amazing I’m already seeing results and we are fairly new to the course 😀
 

 

[Adrienne]

Hello, and welcome to the forums!

At the age of one, you dog is past the critical socialization stage, during which we encourage socializing young pups to as many types of people, animals, noises and situations as possible. Children need to be a part of this considering that dogs perceive children as quite different from adults and lack of sufficient exposure may lead to fear-based behaviors. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/socializing-puppy-children/

However, not all is lost once a dog is older and past the critical window of opportunity. In such cases, we must invest time into providing remedial socialization by setting up the stage for positive encounters taking baby steps and avoiding from putting dogs into situations they are not comfortable with. 

From your description, I tend to agree the behavior appears to be fear-based considering her shy temperament around adults and the fact that she seems to keep her distance from children and tends to bark at them. The fact she is accepting of calm children, allowing them even to pet her can also be indicative that she tends to struggle with certain types of children or children engaged in certain types of activities which appear to perhaps overwhelm her or overstimulate her to the point of barking. 

On top of fear though, we need to consider as well another possibility: a possible genetic component for her behavior. Koolies  are classified as herding dogs, and as such they are naturally predisposed to circle widely around sheep and bring them back to their owner.  Sounds familiar? This sounds  similar to what you describe her doing to children at the park or beach "she will run around them in a circle and then come back to me."

In any case, we want to tackle this form of barking. If it's based on fear, we need to work on creating positive associations. I would suggest investing some time in "Look at that" exercises. You can start practicing this by having Maisy at home watching children run and play from a window and teaching her to become responsive to you despite the distraction. The goal is to provide positive associations with children while also creating an alternate response to barking (looking at you for a treat). Here is a guide for training this:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/look-at-that/

Once we get a solid response, we can then progress to using this exercise on walks, at the park, at the beach to prevent the barking and chasing. We can even introduce some obedience at some point, once her response is fluent enough, where as soon as you spot a child, you make a smacking sound and ask your dog to perform a behavior (hold a sit stay, come to you and hand target, do some steps of attention heeling) before rewarding.

However, as mentioned, we need to be extra careful about not putting her in situations she's not comfortable with and that allow her to rehearse the problem behavior (bark/ chase) considering that the more a dog practices a behavior, the more it becomes established. This therefore entails ensuring we keep our dogs as much under threshold as possible and this often means no more off leash freedom (we can still use a long line though) until we are certain we have the behavior under control.

Here is a read about threshold levels:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/

Determining whether her barking is nervous or aggressive makes no change on the behavior modification protocols we adopt to reduce the barking. Nervous dogs border the chances for aggression considering that when pushed, nervous/stressed dogs may bite. So we must treat all nervous dogs as potential biters and take precautions to prevent them from feeling stressed enough to bite. 

If the behavior is triggered more from a desire to herd, on top of training her through response substitution (that is, given her something else to do than bark and chase as explained above), we can provide more exercise, mental stimulation, training and outlets for these instinctive behaviors. In particular, being that your dog is an adolescent now, you may find it helpful to train impulse control games: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/impulse-control-frustration-tolerance/ and an brain games to keep her mind and body busy. 

Outlets of herding behaviors can be providing through some dogs sports such as herding trials (where your dog gets to herd real sheep) or you can try Treibball which involves having dogs herd large fitness balls as if they were sheep. 

To make sure your dog gets more comfy around kids for the future, I suggest the following:

-Compile a list of circumstances that have caused your dog to bark at children in the past. Think of each event carefully and jolt down the circumstances that may have led to the barking. Was the child running and playing? Was the child screaming or talking in an excited voice? 

-Prevent rehearsal of the problem behavior through management. Management therefore entails preventing your dog from practicing the undesirable behavior. If you therefore notice a trend in your dog's barking, avoid exposing your dog to the same situation in the future. For example, if your dog barks at children playing in front of your home, prevent access to windows and doors so that your dog doesn't feel compelled to bark. Out of sight, out of mind. If the barking occurs at the beach where children run, keep your dog at a distance so that she's under threshold. 

-If you are concerned about your dog being nervous (and potentially aggressive) around children, consult with a dog behavior professional using force-free behavior modification for safety and correct implementation. Direct guidance is important as the professional can watch your dog, assess the exact triggers and guide you into providing those treats with correct timing to ensure those positive associations take place. He or she can also tell you when it's time to intervene or stop a session or go back a few steps. 

-Use a basket muzzle if you are afraid your dog may harm children. Children may pop out of nowhere sometimes approaching your dog from behind and petting, this can be a recipe for a bite. A muzzle can have you covered.

-Make sure to create positive associations with children when the opportunity arises. I like to carry treats with me in my pocket or treat bag so to never be caught unprepared. You never know what may happen. Say a calm child approaches and is petting your dog? Feed your dog some tasty treats in the meanwhile. I once had a child pop up from nowhere, sneak up from behind us and start hugging Einstein so tightly I swear his eyes seemed to be popping out. Fortunately I had hot dogs on me on that occasion and I fed them several pieces in a row as he endured the headlock style hug. Once the hug was over, I stopped feeding treats. Bless his heart for his patience! 

-Use behavior modification methods focusing on low-grade exposures and changing the dog's emotions:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/desensitization/

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/counterconditioning/

Open bar and closed bar can be done every time a dog spots a child: 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/open-bar-closed-bar/

If you ever have friends with babies, start early!

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/get-dog-used-crying-baby/

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/get-dog-used-crawling-baby/

-Finally, never leave children alone with a dog, not even for a moment and no matter what. Make sure you teach kids how to to be respectful of your dog's space, and ensure your dog has a safe place to retreat. Be your dog's ambassador. When you cannot actively supervise, have your dog in an area where there is a physical barrier such as a baby gate between dog and children and ensure children won't stick fingers through!

I hope this helps, let me know if you have any questions!

Best,

Adrienne

 

[SophieYoung]

Wow thank you so much for all the info!  
We have been working on look at that through the window and it has helped so much! On walks and at the beach I have been keeping her under threshold and rewarding her for looking at me and ignoring the children which seems to be helping! Where we live its currently stage 4 restrictions so having her meet any children is nearly impossible right now but hopefully once everything eases we can work on it more! 
 

Thanks again, your program has already made such a difference to my pups behaviour! 😊

[Adrienne]

Glad to hear things have improved so much! Pat yourself on your back for a job well done in keeping her under threshold and reinforcing the looking at you when she spots a child. Keep up the good work; with the lockdown many dogs are regressing a bit in the socialization department so embrace opportunities to create positive associations even if just behind a window or at a distance making sure she's always comfortable and going at at her pace. 

Send pats to Maisy!

Best,

Adrienne