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Originally Posted by celstu1  My Fletcher had some aggression towards kids and jealousy. When he showed any signs of aggression towards my nephews I put him in our room with the door closed for 5 mins. When he's jealous (he'll bark at me when Im talking to people in our house, and he has peed on my foot, marking his territory if Im not giving him attention) I will gate him into the living room for 5 mins. I let him out after 5 mins. If he does it again I put him back for another 5 mins.
This has worked VERY well. You may want to try to separate her from what is upsetting her, it also gives her a few mins to calm down and realize she'd rather be with you then locked in a room alone. |
Also wonderful technique. Dogs hate being out of the picture. It can be wearing to keep removing a misbehaving dog into another room and then going to get it and most won't follow through past the first day of training but if someone will do it every single solitary time the dog misbehaves, it will get the message that misbehavior means being taken away from all the action and attention.
Dogs are wonderful readers of people and they sense that many children are unsure or too sure of themselves. They can sense they don't have governors - are often reckless and make sudden movements. Besides the staring some children do, others feign in fear and still others will grab at a dog, especially if it is little and cute. Dogs don't care for any of that. Mature dogs instantly read children and usually are weary of them so teaching them the child brings goodies, won't stare or touch, grab or run in fear, and removing him from the area when he misbehaves can work wonderfully to train an unsure dog that children are not bad or scary.
Later, when the dog is more assured around the child, she can desensitize the dog to being around her - hold the treat in her hand and feed it directly to the dog. Later, she can hold it in the closed fist so the dog can't actually get it and place the fist in her lap, so the dog gets near and even on her to sniff and try to get the treat. He'll stay there for a long time trying to get at that treat and, in the process, learn the child isn't that scary. Eventually, the child can look at, pet and cuddle a dog that once barked at her - but it can be a slow process and can be a lot to ask of the child if she is not that comfortable around a dog. So be patient and go slowly with both, stop if either get uncomfortable.