fear of children

[Ilona & Gina]

Hello everyone,

Recently Gina's brother, Anton, started to be more fearful of children than ever before. When we are on the beach, he runs up to them, but not too close, lowers his body, and barks. We can clearly see that this is fear. We put him on his lead, and many parents are as kind as to let Anton meet their child, which works fine. Anton sits, gets a treat from the child and both are happy. We thought by meeting lots of children, we could show Anton that children are nothing to be afraid of. However, as soon as he sees the next child, he barks.

About six weeks ago, some children teased Anton, made a lot of noise and banged on a fence which made him frightened. He bolted and ran. Maybe that's why, as we really tried to do the right thing from day One: we introduced both dogs to all sorts of things, such as bikes, babies in prams, babies in their parent's backpacks, people in wheelchairs, joggers...Gina is great with all people she meets. It's just about Anton. I am worried that one day he could attack a child if we don't get the problem solved. He is not aggressive, quite the opposite. He is just fearful. But than can be dangerous enough.

Thank you for suggestions.

[Teresa]

Hi,
I really hope Anton overcomes his fear of children, dos usually have so much fun playing with kids, it'll be a shame if he misses that!
I had the same experience with a young dog recently, and when I realised that meeting new children wasn't working, I tried a diferente approach: I asked my 7 year old nephew (a very quiet and calm boy!) to be near me when I was handeling the dog, and slowly he started to aproach, at first just to pet and walk away and them very slowly increasing the contact. Then I got him to feed the dog, brush it and walk it on the leash. After four days, the young dog was acting normaly around my nephew and not scared at all, playing with him all the time. Then, I got my nephew to introduce another boy to the dog, until they could both be around it without a problem, and without direct contact with me. By the third child that came home, the dog was confortable. These were all quiet children that understood they could not scare the dog, and obviously were not scared of dogs! Only then I tried meeting children away form home and at first, also calm kids. After two months, the biggest joy this dog has is playing with kids, and is used to the screaming, running and kicking balls!
I really felt that making contact with the same kids for a few times made it more confortable, and helped the dog to get trough meeting a new kid after!

[Ilona & Gina]

Hi Teresa,

Funny - we've just had the same discussion with a friend, also a dog lover. He said exactly the same as you: The dog needs a bit closer exposure to a calm child, and a child he is able to get to familiar with. We'll try that as soon as possible, and I'll tell you how thing are working. Thank you!

[Teresa]

well, I really really hope it works, I remember how worried I was when I had that problem.
Please let us now how it turns out!

[Sue and Cash]

Dub has always loved kids, the littlier the better. He runs up to strollers at the dog park (silly people bring babies in) and he loves to lick and sniff them. Well the other day these two young girls were running through the park, (again silly thing to allow) and one girl screamed loudly high pitched. Dublin's hair went up and he was terrified of the girls from that moment until they left. He hid behind bushes to avoid them. I bet it was the teasing that upset your dog and I find my dog will like some kids and not others. But isn't mean to them. As far as yours biting a child. All dogs must to supervised with young ones anyway, so I am sure you will know if your dog is reactive to someone. I think your doing a great thing with the kids treating your dog so that he has positive experiences. My neighbors 4 yr old comes to the door to see my dog all the time and he crawls up to her, knowing her size I guess and lays down on the lawn for her to rub him. I can't get over how some dogs just know the size differences in kids.