Quote:
|
Originally Posted by rford2222 We are expecting twin children & our yorkie is 1 1/2 yrs old. She gets very scared around young children hovering over here, and if my wife or I hold her or grab her she snarls and tries to go after the child. She also has gone after other dogs when we hold her, but as soon as we put her off the leash she is timid to other dogs. My concern is she may nip one of the children.
Any help would be appreciated. Thank you. |
Congrats on the twins!
This is a topic near and dear to my heart - having been involved with Yorkie rescue for the past 10 years and the kids/yorkie issue being a very common theme.
Its VERY common for young couples to get their first "baby" - a canine -before starting a family and then, voila, they are suddenly faced with the prospect
that the two legged kids are on the way and what to do with the tiny dog who is not used to being around kids?
Let me first say this: if given an option, I generally DO NOT recommend Yorkies with small children and advise parents of kids clamoring for a Yorkie to hold off until their children are mentally and emotionally mature enough to understand that this small dog is not a play thing and has feeling and can get hurt (or be the cause of hurt!). Usually, that's at least around 8 years old - but it varies - of course -child to child. Some Yorkies (and it sounds like yours falls in to this category) are very "terrier" in temperament, they may have a low bite threshold - meaning that they are more prone to bite than other, cooler dogs and a dominant personality (remember the breed you have is a toy TERRIER - Yorkies were originally bred to hunt rodents almost as big as they were - that means they had to bite to kill and be willing to fight). In addition, many act tuff to hide their insecurity about being so small (my own Bun man has a reputation of bullying big dogs because he is actually afraid of them but figures if he puts on a good show -the big dogs will back down). Alternatively, there are meek and fragile Yorkies. My Penny can fall into this category. Penny is a total sweetheart who has never snarled, outside of playing, in her life. But she is only four pounds and has matchsticks for Bones. If she were dropped, it could easily mean her life. Although nether of my dogs would intentionally harm a kid (without some provocation - I'll get to that in a minute), I NEVER leave either unsupervised around children of ANY age. Now - that side note I just made:
Here goes:
I strongly recommend reading some of Jean Donaldson's books because she does a better job of this than I can but . . . in a nutshell . . there is no
such thing as a dog who does not bite. I know there are going to be people reading this and saying "that's silly, my dog has never shown the least bit of aggression to anybody! She's nuts!" Well, you might be right about the nuts part but not the bite part. Expecting a dog to never bite is like expecting a person to never throw a punch. Many of us have never been in a physical altercation with another person - but that does not mean we are not CAPABLE of it. Dogs, just like people, have different "trigger" points. There are people who fly off the handle at the smallest provocation as there are dogs. But just because a person or dog is even tempered, doesn’t' mean that he or she doesn’t' have his or her boiling point as well. There's also another thing to consider –
how the dog bites: does he snarl or growl first (that's actually good - that means the dog is patient, and willing to give a warning "this is not good. Stop it or else!") and how hard does the dog bite? Has he broken skin before (bad – he doesn’t give a warning bites. Mother dogs may nip their puppies, but that’s like a “Spank” – stop misbehaving – but seldom, if ever, does that nip actually break skin. Puppies should learn at a very early age the strength of their jaws and learn to modulate the tension in a bite. Unfortunately, some dogs do not).This last point is ESPECIALLY important for a dog that will be living with children. What might not be a serious bite for an adult could mean terrible scaring for a child.
Reading your post over again, it really does sound like your dog is fear aggressive but I will hold off on my "take" because a trained eye should really see your dog and make an analysis then and there. Keeping a dog who is fear aggressive with very young children is not impossible (and I applaud you for trying rather than abandoning your dog which is the sad story all too often) but it will take a lot of time and dedication and VIGILANCE on your parts. I see a lot of people here have recommended a spray bottel with water. Please keep in mind that if your dog is biting because she scared, squirting her with water may only make the problem even worse because now you are creating a negative association attached to the thing that is causing the fear:
Dogs says "oh oh - what are those things running around and making all that noise! Oh my! I better snarl and bark to see if I can make them go away!" Snarl, bark. Mom comes over with water bottel, squirt squirt.
Doy says "Oh no! I was right! How awful! These things that run around bring mom over with the squirt bottel!"
- operant conditioning trainers would say - make the dog associate the kids with POSTIVE experiences, treats, huggies, time and attention. So that the dog no longer FEARS them and has no reason to become aggressive. But since I'm guessing at what is causing your dog to show aggression - again, have a more experienced person obersve your dog and come to an assessment herself.
CHECK LIST
Before the children come:
1) Consult with a dog behaviorist, or at least, a dog trainer
2) Make desensitizing your dog to children a foremost priority. Preferably under the watchful eye of your trainer, recruit OLDER children in the neighborhood to help you get your dog used to their movements and actions. Be sure you get the kid's parent's permission first and explain to them why you are doing this. And of course, do not push it – never put dog or child in an uncomfortable position. If the dogs seems even the least bit tense, back off to the point where the dog was comfortable and stay at that point until he relaxes. (I’ve posted before about desensitizing but again, check out Jean Donalson. Her newest book, “Fight!” deals with dog to dog aggression, but she discusses how to deal with fear aggression in depth – so its well worth the read).
3) Set up a "quite area" for your dog - away from where the children will be kept. If your dog is not crate trained, get her used to being a crate and let her know that this is her "Safe place" and not a punishment. She will need a place where she can be away from the kids and not threatened.
4)Also, one other important point here - your dog is used to being your one and only. Dogs can be jealous of children! When the kids come, you need to schedule time in your day for you and dog alone. Let your dog know that she is not being replaced. This will also make the transition easier. If you don’t have this kind of quite/play time already scheduled for your dog, start incorporating it into your day now. Dogs like routine and many can get stressed when their routine is disrupted. The more you keep things “normal” for your dog, the easier this transition is going to be.
Just some dos and don’ts.
DO pay extra special attention to your dog when the children come but
DON’t let any sign of aggression hence forth go unchecked. If your dog snarls as your husband, make him the “dog trainer” for the moment and have him do obedience work with your dog.
DON’t leave your dog alone with the children – not for a long long time
DO get a dog trainer or, preferably a dog behaviorist, and begin working on quelling your dogs aggressive tendencies immediately before the kids come.
Please let me know how your doing. I will help out anyway I can. Best of luck.