Aggression towards children
 

Hi All, I haven't posted in here in awhile. But my yorkie is 3 years old. She has been raised around young children (not on a daily basis) but several times a year we have events at my house with little ones. Tonight she did not like them the loudness maybe, but she nipped at them and was just not happy. Why might this behavior occur, I am the pack leader and we have other dogs and she has never done this before. Any advice would be wonderful :)

Several times a year, how old are the children? Yorkies absorb the energy around them, so in a group of excited children, I would expect problems to occur. At 3 YO, a Yorkie may be protective, or just unsure of herself in that type of situation. They can be easily kicked (bumped with a foot) and/or stepped on, even by adults. And I'm sorry to say this, but some children can just be mean to a small dog. Even an accidental hard petting can be misinterpreted by the dog.

As this occurs a few times a year, I'd put the dogs in a room on their own during these events. If you really want to train her to tolerate children, you'll have to expose her more often to different situations involving children, and protect her by having her on leash, in a stroller, or held in your arms.

:thumbup::thumbup: Yorkies can be very bothered by children and their high energy. My suggestion is to keep her away from children before she gets blamed for a bite that should not have happened. I cannot tell you how many cases we see of this...and the poor pups are always the ones to suffer.

for whatever reason my Piccolo is not very well behaved around young children. I think she is trying to control them because she does not want them to be loud and bouncy. So to stop any problems, I put Piccolo and Vivi in a bedroom with a baby gate, when we have youngsters in our home.

:Quote:
Originally Posted by kjc
Several times a year, how old are the children? Yorkies absorb the energy around them, so in a group of excited children, I would expect problems to occur. At 3 YO, a Yorkie may be protective, or just unsure of herself in that type of situation. They can be easily kicked (bumped with a foot) and/or stepped on, even by adults. And I'm sorry to say this, but some children can just be mean to a small dog. Even an accidental hard petting can be misinterpreted by the dog.

As this occurs a few times a year, I'd put the dogs in a room on their own during these events. If you really want to train her to tolerate children, you'll have to expose her more often to different situations involving children, and protect her by having her on leash, in a stroller, or held in your arms.
Yorkies can be very bothered by children and their high energy. My suggestion is to keep her away from children before she gets blamed for a bite that should not have happened. I cannot tell you how many cases we see of this...and the poor pups are always the ones to suffer.

:thumbup::thumbup:

My boys generally do not do well with children because they have had some bad experiences -- having things thrown at them for no reason, having water dumped on them for no reason. :(

The fast movements and loud noises of kids scare my boys.

I limit interactions to me holding the dogs while the kids pet them. Max is more tolerant having his topknot rubbed in circles like kids seem to want to do.

I try to direct the kids to be as calm as possible and to pet behind the ears, or scratch hindquarters, not putting their hands above the head, and not making any moves that can be misinterpreted as taunting. I often have to direct adults too.

She nipped because she was anxious or fearful of them and senses that they are not in control of themselves, loud, somewhat spastic in their actions and behavior, don't sit around or move predictably as adults do but act impulsively and she is unsure of what they might do next. As most - not all - but most small dogs not raised around children are very careful/protective of themselves and anxious around children or loud, rambunctious people, I would just tend to keep her from them unless you want to have a well-behaved, calm child in the house daily for a while to totally avoid her at first with no eye contact or touching, sit and toss out treats to her to get and in a few days time to walk around and and drop treats and still not interact with your dog at all until and if she begins - in a month or so - to slowly approach the child on her own, once she's learned to trust. Then and only then can the child hand the dog treats directly and in time begin to pat her on the flank or back and slowly begin to interact in play, still treating her from time to time. Then she will need to be around a child a few times a month to keep up her new associations.


But most Yorkies, unless they are around children quite often monthly or are very calm, submissive type personalities, don't care that much for children. It's the norm rather than the exception in my experience.

hi my little one has always been ok with children to a degree she will tolerate them for a short while then she will let them know when she has had enough but all of a sudden she has taken a dislike to them she is 7 years old and loves meeting people and people handling her but dosent like some dogs as she was attacked when she were a pup hope you can give me some guidance in what to do than you

hi- I have four children and my yorkie is very used to them. they are all boys, ranging from 7-16 but they are very calm and very experienced with small animals. I do find when certain friends come over, particularly one high energy girl (age 7) and another little boy who is afraid of dogs (also age 7), my yorkie sometimes seems antsy and uncomfortable. Both of these friends shriek any time ella is in the room. I think she is used to calm kids but the shrill sound of shrieking, unnerves her (and honestly, me as well lol) so for her safety and theirs, I do harness and leash her, that seems to make her feel at ease. It is tough bc you don't want to stop them from coming over but you also want to make sure your pup and the children are safe.

Mine is more subdued away from the house. At home, he snaps at every visitor. That being said, I need to keep him away from my grand kids

mine can tolerate children in small amounts but prefer Adults to children

Poor Max & Teddy! I would hate children too if they threw stuff at me and poured water on me for no reason. Children, eh? And the parents that let their kids do such things :(

Scottie and Casie are also weary and scared of sudden movements and shrieks by kids in our neighborhood. Especially the ones that come charging towards us lol... so, I avoid walking near kids at all costs. When I have my own kids (hopefully someday soon), I'll make sure to teach them to be very very very gentle with the doggies...kind of nervous about that!

Re- your future kids/ They will learn from birth by example. My kids only know how to be gentle bc it's all they have ever seen, nothing else is acceptable! Xo

When I met Ruger's breeder that was the 1st question he asked me "Do you have children or grandchildren under 12 years" of course I don't, my kids are grown out of the house & cannot have any children, unfortunately.
That's a big reason Ruger is spoiled rotten. Ha!
Back to the breeder, he doesn't sell his pups to families with young children. And he has to meet the whole family before HE decides to sell.
He has seen, as most of us have, young kids tend to treat a small dog like a toy

Wow! Under 12? The Yorkie rescues say under 8.

My Cricket does not like young children either. My cousin's little boy was over at our house with his grandparents and he would try to pet her and Cricket DID NOT like it. She sat on me and was calm the entire time. I do have another uncle that sometimes we go visit and sometimes his grandchildren are there. Those kids don't really pay attention to her though and she likes running around my uncles big backyard so that isn't an issue.