[chipinmom]

My dog is driving me crazy!

He's never been a big barker. He gives a couple yips here and there to alert us that someone is at the door or if there's another dog outside etc, but that's about it. It never get's out of hand and he always stopped when we asked him to.

However, the last couple months, ANYTIME he see's ANY kid, he barks. And barks and barks and barks......

He's the least aggressive dog ever and I know he would never hurt a fly. He won't even go near the child he is barking at. He stands a good ten feet away at all times but continues following them around constantly barking. No matter what I do or say, he won't stop! He ONLY does this with children and I can't figure out why. The only conclusion I can come to is that since we don't have any children in the house, it's not something he is used to seeing.

All his training is useless when this happens. He completely ignores me and keeps barking no matter what I do. I end up having to completely remove him from the situation/kids every time to get him to stop. So if anyone has any good ideas to help curb this behaviour, I would be VERY appreciative. ESPECIALLY since my husband and I are currently trying to have a baby. I need to get this issue taken care of BEFORE we bring a child into the house.



On a side note.... I REALLY wish people would stop bringing thier 3-4-5 year old kids to the dog park and letting them run around freaking out the dogs! :frusty:

 

[Spirit_of_Cotons]

The only thing I can think of is the "watch me" command. First do it in an area that doesn't have any distractions, you take a treat and put it near your eye (or shoulder, doesn't really matter) and call your dog's name. Make sure he's in the sit position, then let him focus on you (and the treat). If he does, he gets the treat. If he starts to become distracted, correct him, and refocus his attention on you.

I do this with Luke constantly as he barks/tries to run after trucks, motorcycles, bikes. Sometimes he growls at dogs he remembers that don't like him, so he is the first to growl at them. Sometimes Luke is so focused on that particular dog or vehicle, I actually have to stick the treat near his nose for him to pay attention to me and not the person/object.

So I would try that for awhile. It does work if you're consistent enough. I hope I helped a bit; dogs barking constantly is annoying. Other than that try to e-mail someone here to ask for their advice. Good luck.

 

[Amaryllis]

Does he bark at all otherwise? If he does, you can train a "quiet" command. You simply wait until he stops barking, say "quiet" and treat. Eventually, he'll get the idea that "quiet" means "stop barking and get noms", then you can start giving the command while he barks. You'll have to work your way up to using it with kids, and you'll have to start with kids that are farther away, not right up on him at the park. Then slowly move your way closer until he can "quiet" with a child close to him.

Also, small children + dog park = mauling waiting to happen. Most dog parks don't allow it.

 

[Nev Allen]

Google this and try get a copy of the book. Great ways to teach self control.


Leslie McDevitt: Control Unleashed

 

[chipinmom]

See, the problem is, is that he is already trained for all this stuff. And he's trained WELL! His recall is usually 100%, as is his "quiet" command. But it's like when this is happening he just turns his brain off (for lack of a better explanation) and doesn't pay attention to ANYTHING I say even though I KNOW he knows what I want from him.

He's never been around children unsupervised ever, so I know it couldn't be a fear/trauma thing. I really don't get it.

 

[EdDTS]

It's called fixation when he doesn't listen to you. Meaning he's so into something he doesn't care that you are giving commands.
Get him on a leash, take him on a walk, it sounds weird but if you see children while walking, head in that direction and reward your dog for staying calm and focused on you.
Alternatively, if he's barking and following someone around at home, pick up the leash and give it a light tug to the side. After the first tug, pay attention, and make sure he doesn't look back at the child, give rewards for ignoring. If he starts to look back, which he will, do another light tug.
Don't remove your dog from the situation, doing that means the dog didn't do anything itself, it just means you moved him. Also don't pull up or pull back, one can hurt the dog, the other just gets the dog into an even more fixated state of mind.
Good luck!

 

[Nev Allen]

I had a friend with a BC who hated kids. The dog had access to the front yard that had a picket fence around it. Kids walking to and from school would tease him by running along the fence with a stick. Drove him crazy. We never did manage to cure him but he did have excellant obedience skills so we could use these to control him when kids were around.

Can you isolate anything that has or is happening involving an interaction between the dog and kids?

Teaching the dog self control using Leslie McDevitt's methods have worked for me personally when one of my dogs became very space needy. Teaching her her name and using the Look at That game worked very well.

 

[xxxxdogdragoness]

My dog is driving me crazy!

He's never been a big barker. He gives a couple yips here and there to alert us that someone is at the door or if there's another dog outside etc, but that's about it. It never get's out of hand and he always stopped when we asked him to.

However, the last couple months, ANYTIME he see's ANY kid, he barks. And barks and barks and barks......

He's the least aggressive dog ever and I know he would never hurt a fly. He won't even go near the child he is barking at. He stands a good ten feet away at all times but continues following them around constantly barking. No matter what I do or say, he won't stop! He ONLY does this with children and I can't figure out why. The only conclusion I can come to is that since we don't have any children in the house, it's not something he is used to seeing.

All his training is useless when this happens. He completely ignores me and keeps barking no matter what I do. I end up having to completely remove him from the situation/kids every time to get him to stop. So if anyone has any good ideas to help curb this behaviour, I would be VERY appreciative. ESPECIALLY since my husband and I are currently trying to have a baby. I need to get this issue taken care of BEFORE we bring a child into the house.



On a side note.... I REALLY wish people would stop bringing thier 3-4-5 year old kids to the dog park and letting them run around freaking out the dogs! :frusty:

I want to apologize to anyone here in advance who has kids or grand kids but I hate the little bastards, I really do they all ways ruin everything for us dog ppl. I would tell thr person with thr kids to get out or no one can be held responsible if anything happens (this is a DOG park for god's sake!!!) if I ever make my own dog park it will be a NO KIDS ALLOWED one!!!

 

[NozOnyCalAur]

I want to apologize to anyone here in advance who has kids or grand kids but I hate the little bastards, I really do they all ways ruin everything for us dog ppl. I would tell thr person with thr kids to get out or no one can be held responsible if anything happens (this is a DOG park for god's sake!!!) if I ever make my own dog park it will be a NO KIDS ALLOWED one!!!

I have 2 kids and I completely agree with you about kids in the dog park. Of course I would never take my kids to a dog park in the first place.

 

[xxxxdogdragoness]

Not only is it a risk & a neusance for thr dog's but who in their right mind would put their KIDS at risk like that??? It boggles thr mind.