Dog Not Exposed to Kids

[Melissa Irr]

Hi.

We have a year old Ibizan hound that is a great dog. One issue. He hasn't been around kids very much. He's very friendly with EVERYONE and we aren't afraid that he would bite them or anything...the problem is, I think he sees them as potential play mates...and when he plays with other dogs he uses his front paws and kind of paws at them to get them to play. Well, he also did it with two young kids...it scared the kids (he's a ginormous dog) and he scratched them with his claws. I know it isn't intentional and it's just Izzie trying to play, but it needs to stop.

Any suggestions on how to stop this behavior?

[Renee Premaza]

Hi Melissa!

When Izzie is playing with children, make sure those kids are not playing with him while they're on the floor. Once kids get on the same level with dogs, dogs then think of them as littermates. When littermates do play with one another, they bite each other on their faces.

When Izzie is interacting with children, you must supervise 100% of the time. Let Izzie drag his leash while he's interacting with the children. I would encourage the kids to play games like hide and seek, fetch or play training games. I worked today with a little girl who taught her puppy to sit and lie down. Each time the pup did what she asked her to, she tossed a treat away for the pup to run after. Then she called the pup back to her and she again asked the dog to sit and down. So, she was teaching the pup obedience and the pup was loving every minute of it.

Don't encourage children to play chase games with Izzie. That will get him very excited and he will want to jump on them. Keep play on a low-key basis. If Izzie gets overly excited, take up his leash, say "let's go" and give him a short timeout. Bring him away from the kids, step on his leash and ignore him for 30 seconds. Then bring him back to play, and he may very well calm down. If he gets too rammy again, repeat the timeout so he associates all fun stops when I jump or get roudy with kids.

You might also keep his play periods short with children. Try to end them before he gets overly excited and obnoxious. If you do that, he'll learn to behave much better because he won't be practicing the wrong behaviors.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you need more info.


Hi.

We have a year old Ibizan hound that is a great dog. One issue. He hasn't been around kids very much. He's very friendly with EVERYONE and we aren't afraid that he would bite them or anything...the problem is, I think he sees them as potential play mates...and when he plays with other dogs he uses his front paws and kind of paws at them to get them to play. Well, he also did it with two young kids...it scared the kids (he's a ginormous dog) and he scratched them with his claws. I know it isn't intentional and it's just Izzie trying to play, but it needs to stop.

Any suggestions on how to stop this behavior?

[Melissa Irr]

That certainly makes sense. I will definitely implement your suggestions next time we are around kids!

Thanks much!