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11 week old asserting dominance over child


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Hello these are probably considered dumb questions. But I would like to handle my situation in the most positive way possible. And I'm sure there are alot of you with some ideas that I haven't read on or already thought of. I have an 12 week old bc Aussie mix named lady. She is a quick learner and honestly has been a pretty easy puppy to train until about a week an a half ago. She first started getting very mouthy with me during training session ( like snapping for her treats being pushy about me rewarding her.) When she does this I correct her verbally and have her complete the command before rewarding her and don't let her have the treat until she takes it nicely​ which she is pretty good at with a quick be nice before giving it. But when she is a little naughty she has slowly stopped listening as much. She is a very quick learner she learned sit and shake at 8 weeks and roll at 9 so I know she comprehends commands well.

But the shortly after this started she has been challenging my 5 yr old for dominance by pouncing on her biting her and when my daughter stands up and tells her to sit lady starts getting low in front with her butt up and barking and growling slowing getting closer and snapping until she makes contact with my daughters heels. She won't listen to my daughter when I enter the room she hides under the bed poking her head out still showing aggression towards my daughter. I have to physically remove lady from the situation all together to get her to stop.

I have just recently started having my daughter feed her at feeding times and having her do training periods with small treats having her tell lady to sit and lady down nothing to complex just basic commands​ that she can use when lady jumps or bites at her. But she still continues the behavior.

 

I also have a daughter who is a year and a half who seems to have asserted more Dominance over the pup than my five year old. If lady jumps she says no no and sit. And the dog listens or walks away. It's odd to me that she picks on the bigger of the two and not the smaller.

 

I'm asking for advice on teaching my child and the dog. Since we all know that there is a big importance with how a child reacts to a situation that can make a big difference. I'm only worried because I don't want her to still be doing this when she grows bigger where she can seriously hurt my children​.

Also should add that she still ( which I know she will do for a while since she is still such a baby) bites arms constantly when petting and will get overly excited and bite at your face and ears.

 

Thank you in advance. I appreciate it all.

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I think that you should enlist the help of a qualified positive reinforcement trainer in your area.

 

It is very difficult for us here to give you appropriate advice on this situation, because we cannot be there to see exactly what your dog's body language is saying, nor can we observe the interactions between your children and the dog or how your five year old is acting toward the dog.

 

Because this involves children who could be harmed, you should seek out and work with someone who knows what they are doing, and who can preferably come to your home to observe the situation and help you. This behavior is most likely nothing more than overly exuberant playfulness and a baby dog not knowing any self-control. It can probalby be handled easily with the right approach. But it still needs to be handled correctly and stopped before it becomes something that could cause harm to both your child and the dog.

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Thank you for responding I totally agree with you and will be seeking help just so At least I can get an understanding of how to handle the situation. The pup is still young and does act playful while acting this way. She's a very good dog over all and learns quickly so I have a lot of confidence in her and am not to troubled by it. I was just curious if anyone had a similar experience and how they handled it. But as I said before I think having a professional help me would give me more of an understanding of my dogs body language when she does this and what is triggering the response so that i can better educate my daughter on how to act around our beloved pup. Thank you for at

Least responding knowing it is difficult to give advice on the Internet without be able to see exactly what's going on.

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I had a "similar" situation... I don't have small kids so it wasn't really an issue for me, but Tess, my first bc, was by far the mouthiest, bitiest, jumpiest, everything-est I ever had. She was not allowed to play with children, at all, till she was about a year old. And she really really wanted, but she was too wild for that. She had to learn calm and self control, and she had to outgrow puppy excitement over everything and anything.

 

If she was growing up with children, she would have learned how to properly interact with them much quicker as it would be essential, so I would have spent the needed time and effort to teach her. But she doesn't live with kids so it wasn't that important.

 

Bottom line is, you have to teach your pup, right from the start, how you want him to interact with your kids, and viceversa. Kids can't run around and yell, or be uncertain and fearfull, because a young pup is going to react to that. And the pup should never be put in a situation where she can rehearse bad behaviours towards the kids. If needed be, she is leashed and atached to you whenever the kids are around her, so you can stop things before they start. This isn't forever of course, just till she develops self control and understands your expectations. That's where a good trainer comes in, to teach you how to teach your pup.

 

Just a final thought - it's very unlikely that your pup is being agressive towards your kid. Could happen, but it does sound much more as absolutely normal behaviour from an energetic young bc pup. It does need to be, sooner rather than latter, oriented towards "proper" behaviour, otherwise the pup will grow thinking it's fine to "atack" the kids. But the frame of mind of "my pup is showing agressive behaviour" is not an healty one for your relationship, and most probably is not correct.

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If you subscribe to The Whole Dog Journal, this month's issue is largely devoted to biting issues, how to raise pups to learn bite inhibition, how to redirect mouthiness, and so on. If you don't subscribe, you might want to look into it. I know that if you are a subscriber, you can also access past issues on the web. There is a great deal of good information in this current issue that you might find useful.

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Thank you teresaserrano I think you are right as well she does act playful when she doing it and my daughter is loud lol so I'm working on that she bites her hard but her body language and her face tells me it's play time for her. But you are right about when she gets older as that's the main thing I was concerned about is her being big and trying to play like that with kids. And thanks sue r I will definitely subscribe. I will do anything that helps because as I said I'm not going to give up on her she is here with us for her life time. We are not the type to get a dog and give up because things get rough. We were ready for her to probably act this way as most puppies do not fully understanding self control this young I have been working on a strong

Leave it with her hoping that helps out and not allowing her to be left alone with the kids so I can supervise all interactions they have together.

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Another couple ways to look at your issues w/Lady and your kids. Disclaimer - I've never raised a puppy or a child. I pass along information that I've gleaned largely on these Boards from very experienced bc people.

 

1) Your border collie pup is hard-wired to chase/nip at moving beings, much more so than other breed pups. If your 5 yr old can stand still, it might help Lady calm down more quickly.

2) Is Lady getting too much stimulation? Does she have a quiet crate where she can go for a quick nap when there's too much commotion for her to behave well? With the noises and activities of 2 kids in a household, there just might be too much going on for her to learn easily what you want her to do. Do a search for 'off-switch' in the topics and you'll find a lot more. If I were to take on a bc pup, I'd be working on that off-switch from day one.

 

Thanks for asking for advice and then considering it as it is given! Good luck ~ please let us know how you get on.

 

Ruth and Gibbs

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I don't know if you can access this but it is a blog from the Whole Dog Journal about dealing with puppy biting, and covers a lot of the material in the latest issue of WDJ about that topic - https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/20_5/features/4-Puppy-Biting-Survival-Strategies_21640-1.html?ET=wholedogjournal:e270006:2197697a:&st=email&s=p_Grabbag043017

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Little update on lady...

 

She has stopped acting up toward my five year old with a lot of educating my daughter on how to act around the dog.

 

A new problem has risen of lady begging at the table ( by standing with front paws on your chair) and getting into the garbage. I have tried to correct her vocally by telling uh-huh and to sit and then calling her away from the situation. Sometimes it works but when it doesn't Im sure I'm making a mistake somewhere as to why I'm asking for advice anyways... When vocally commanding her doesn't work I try to gently move her with my hand she has bitten me several times in the past couple of days in doing so and gives no warning such a growl this morning I threw some bacon grease into the trash and she was eating it would not listen to me to get down so I walked up and tried to remove her from the garbage and she bit me and broke the skin. She has never shown any food or toy aggression ever! So I'm thinking I'm handling this the wrong way. She has only just recently started this yesterday so I want to start addressing this correctly right away.

 

Any and all suggestions appreciated.

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Put the trash bin in a cupboard, so you remove temptation. It is what I had to do when I was fostering a beagle, and I have left it in there ever since.

As far as food aggression goes, I can understand the incredible attraction of bacon grease. I am sure others will have better advice, but I think you may need to start teaching using low quality food, like kibble. Offer her a higher quality treat and remove her kibble, reward with praise and treat so that she associates removal from food with a good experience. Rinse and repeat a lot, gradually working up from low value food being removed to high value treats being removed.

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Thank you for the input she hasn't ever done this before so I'm not terrified or anything lol but I do enjoy getting constructive criticism as I'm open to different methods when others don't work. And also want to nip it in the bud before it can progress any further.

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Remove the garbage so that it is impossible for her to get into it at any time. That problem is then solved.

Remove her from the room when you are eating. That problem is solved.

 

I never make an issue of something behavioral that can simply be solved by removing the possibility of the dog doing what I don't want. That leaves more time and energy to work with the dog on things that matter more.

 

When you give her a meal of ordinary regular food, have her eat while you sit right next to her on the floor. Have something yummy like a piece of chicken and offer it to her. When her face moves away from the food bowl, pick it up and set it up on the counter, give her the chicken, and tell her she is a good dog. Then give her the food bowl back. Repeat many times over many days, doing it once or twice each meal.

 

Eventually you should be able simply to reach down and pick up her food bowl any time you want without her making a fuss about it because you have so many times done so and then given her a treat. Food guarding problem solved.

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I removed the garbage and That helped because she obviously can't get it lol but she has no food aggression towards her own food at all I could touch her mouth while she's eating and she wouldn't do a thing. But now if she ever starts that I know how to fix it thank you D'elle.

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With every puppy or new dog I casually drop delicious tidbits into the dogs bowl as he or she is eating. This conditions the dog to expect of I approach him while he eats something good will happen. I do this regardless if they have demonstrated protectiveness of their foods. Just a kind of pre-emptive thing.

 

Its less involved than D'Elle's excellent strategy, you could do both.

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