My yorkie is attacking my kids please help

[kjc]

How long has this problem been going on? It's not something that is going to be fixed overnight... This is why I suggested separating the pup and the kids... and not reintroducing them until you see a marked change in his behavior, and he becomes reliable and trusted. I am sorry this happened. I agree your kids should not be Guinea pigs... Maybe he is a personality type that needs a home with no kids... that's a possibility...

[gemy]

Originally Posted by Cichowm1

It's hard. The dog was fine with me today. Vogt excited as the kids came home so I had them pet him from behind the gate he settled. Then he went nuts again. Put him in the crate. Let him out and he kept going nuts. Let him outside in his leash. My son came up to him while going to the garden to let and relax him and it just jumped up and bit him hard in the leg... I really can't tell my kids anymore to work with him. They are 6 and up there safety is more important

Okay remember about separation? This is early days for a rehab program for your pup.

No interaction now with the children, unless you have him on a 6foot lead, with you at the other end, prepared to discipline the dog at the very first signs of bad behaviour.

[theporkieyorkie]

What kind of state was the dog in when your kid approached him?? Was the dog excited??

How did your kid approach him?? Was he walking calm or quiet...was he swinging his hands around or loud or running...anything that would make the dog excited??

Have you thought about buying a muzzle to put on him while your children work with him?? It would keep the children safe and still allow them to work with him.

At this point, until he can stay calm around them, and they can stay calm around him...I think the same things are going to keep happening. I don't think I would let them around him unless he was supervised and muzzled....AND CALM. IMO, there's no point in letting them work with him directly right now...because he's just going to get more and more excited until he explodes and lashes out at one of your kids.

Before you can even have the kids work with him, he needs to learn to be in a calm-submissive state around them.

You could start out with an exercise as basic as having all of the children sit on the couch calmly (maybe pop a movie in for them), while you sit with the dog leashed to you in the living room...out of reach of the children. Have the dog in another room until you get your children settled on the couch...go get him and walk him into the living room...if he gets excited, you remove him from the living room until he calms down..and then bring him back out...if he gets excited again, take him away until he calms down, and back out to the living room...until he learns he has to be calm-submissive to be around the children...at that distance. Once he is calm submissive at that distance, you can move in closer...removing him when he gets excited. Keep moving closer until eventually the dog is calm submissive right next to them. While you are doing this...make sure the children stay calm and tell the children to ignore the dog. No touch...not talk...no eye contact. It may be easier to start this with the older child, as I am sure it will be challenging for a 6 year old to sit still for long...if you do it with the older child and not the younger, make sure the other kids aren't running in and out of the living room...as that's just going to trigger excitement too. It will take a lot of repetition, but you are going to have to desensitize him and reprogram his brain from kids=exited aggression to kids=calm submission. If he can't be calm submissive, he doesn't get to be near the kids. You need to repeat this exercise until he can come in and sit right next to the kids without getting excited, every time. It may take days...maybe weeks.

You are also going to have to train the kids on how to be around the dog. No loud noises...no quick movements...and until the dog learns to be calm submissive around them...no touch...no talk...no eye contact. As long as the dog is in the same room with them, they need to behave calmly and pretend the dog isn't there. Once he can behave in the same room with them, in the same vicinity..then they can start giving him minimal affection as a reward for being calm-submissive. As soon as he starts to get excited, he is immediately removed from the situation...same as the couch exercise. Eventually, as they are able to interact with him safely, they can start taking on more responsibilities to become pack leaders...Feeding the dog, walking the dog...all of those things will make the dog see them as leaders of the pack.

You are going to literally have to take baby steps with him though...and it's definitely going to take time and patience and consistency. It's not going to happen overnight.

I also wanted to ask you...is it possible that any of your children have ever hurt/picked on the dog?? It doesn't take much to hurt these little guys. My friends son is 5 and I tried to teach him how to gently pet my dog and he just couldn't get it. Finally, I just stopped letting him touch my dog. It doesn't make my friends kid a bad kid at all...these little guys are just very delicate, and my friends son doesn't realize how much stronger an bigger he is. It's a big reason why a lot of people say these dogs aren't really good for families with small children. They can get hurt very easily.

I ask because that could have also triggered the aggression in your dog as well. My cat harasses my little dog, trying to play with him and now he is constantly chasing her and trying to bite her. I guess he'd rather be the one doing the chasing and picking rather than be the one being chased and picked on.