Nipping at children

[nabaztag_kitten]

Corrie is an 18 week old black lab/border collie/mutt (possibly some heeler, GSD, chow, and who knows what all else...sometimes I even see a hint of pit bull). I got him from the shelter when he was 8 weeks old. He was dumped along with his mother and the rest of his litter, so I don't know anything about the first several weeks, except that he was

Comments

[kayden_eidyak]

If Corrie has a lot of Border Collie or Heeler in him, he may be starting to exhibit a degree of herding instinct. BJ moving with the skateboard, and the movement of the girls coming forward and moving back and coming forward again may have triggered the reaction

[ccb_love]

I could see this. My 1/2 BC will go into herding stance when children jumping around. She's never gotten close enough to one for me to see what would happen, but she'll nip at farm animals after she targets them in the same fashion. Luckily she has a really good 'leave it' unless its a tennis ball so we've avoided finding out 'what if

[nabaztag_kitten]

Ya, I agree I let it go too far the first couple times. I wish I knew better what the signals were. But I think since I didn't end it soon enough before, his reaction is escalating, so that today he actually growled and got his hackles up at a kid who hadn't come close yet (although he was looking at Corrie and acting like he wanted to pet him). I'm going to try getting in touch with a local behaviorist who might be able to actually see the behavior and give me more specific feedback.

[nabaztag_kitten]

Thanks for the ideas. He definitely has a lot of border collie traits. He tries to herd me when he gets excited (I just stand still and ignore him when he does it.) And he does the crouch and stare when he wants me to throw things, and sometimes when he's meeting new dogs

[remcat]

On the plus side -- good bite inhibition! :)

On the minus side -- I think your guess about not enough socialization to kids is probably spot-on. I would advise you to take it easy -- go places where your dog can see kids, but isn't confronted with children who want to touch him. Give lots of good rewards for looking at kids and for seeing kids and staying calm. Before you ask him to tolerate petting from kids, have them toss a treat to him (aim at the ground).

Another thing to remember is that different ages of kids should be treated as separate socialization projects -- when I was working on my young BCs socialization, I divided kids into these age groups:
-- infant
-- crawler/toddler
-- preschooler (3-5)
-- young kids (6-12)
-- teens (13-18)

I tried to get at least 10 different kids in each age group over the first 100 days my pup was home -- probably overkill, but I have an older dog who is not friendly to strange children, and it's a pain sometimes.

[nabaztag_kitten]

That's true! I hadn't thought about the good bite inhibition! Thanks for the positive side :)

And I think you're right about the socialization to all different ages. I'd have to work pretty hard to catch up with your numbers within the first 100 days (I think we're at around 60 days now), but I think it's a good idea. I'm not sure where to start. Just walking by the playground, but not interacting at all? Or is a playground full of kids too much to start with?

Tossing treats at the ground is a great idea also. I've been out of the habit of always having treats with me on walks, but I'll start carrying them again so that if kids ask to pet him I can offer to have them toss him a treat instead. That way the kids don't feel snubbed and Corrie hopefully doesn't get overwhelmed. Thanks for the great ideas!