Like Us
Follow @dogster
Google +1 Subscribe to our YouTube Channel Contact Us
Answers Home » Behavior & Training
Henley

How do you train a dog to tolerate children?

Hi!

I have a 4 year old rescue dog who I have had for nearly a year; I believe he is a shih tzu/ lhasa apso mix. I am a 28 year old woman who may at some point want to have children. My dog Henley is very afraid of children and growls at them. If they approach him too quickly, he will snap at them.

I am very curious about how to train Henley to respond well to children; there aren't any children around me and I wouldn't feel comfortable "practicing" with someone's child.

What do people do in these situations?? Henley is my baby, and "getting rid of him" or finding him another home is not an option. If it doesn't seem like it will work out, I will probably just choose not to have children. I'm just wondering what ideas or success anyone may have had with overcoming this problem. Thank you!!


Asked by Henley on Mar 17th 2011 Tagged kids, children, aggression, fear, behavior, training in Behavior & Training
 Report this question Get this question's RSS feed Send this question to a friend


Status

  • Cast your vote for which answer you think is best!

Answers

Halo

Generally we enlist the help of children but, since you don't want to do that, and wisely so I believe, perhaps a life size doll which you could hold and manipulate, even borrow some child clothing (preferably ones that are dirty) from friends.

It still won't be the same for the dog, but at least you can get the size and scent thing over with. Children have high pitched, often loud voices, they are fast moving, sometimes forget to be calm or gentle and, usually expect a dog to play and not hurt them. They trust the dog, even if the dog does not trust them.

Use the doll to give the dog treats, get at least that much associated with good things, then you will have to enlist real children to help.


Halo answered on 3/17/11. Helpful? Yes/Helpful: No 1 Report this answer


Dieta

halo, had some good ideas with the doll I would do that.
And really if the dog is afraid, why push her.
I would just go to some ball games and walk her at a distance so that she can hear and see kids playing too. feed her as you walk around and hopefully that will help her too be able to receive rewards while being around noises and people talking &moving about.
I take puppies to ball games, parks and to pet stores when they are really young. I feed the whole time I am in there. I use real meat.
Some dogs never overcome it, they might of had a bad experience with children. I don't think there is any training that is fool proof, but you can try some. Some dogs just don't tolerate children very well, due to their nature or temperments.


Dieta answered on 3/17/11. Helpful? Yes/Helpful: No 1 Report this answer


Beanster, CD, RN, CGC

There is a whole lotta difference in Henley occasionally seeing a child and being scared/growly and you actually HAVING a child that will grow up with him. I think you will find that after the baby comes Henley will come to accept it as he gets used to it and realizes it is staying AND it is not hurting him. Children are not born walking and yelling and moving quickly...that comes gradually as they grow up, and while that is happening, Henley will be getting accustomed to it gradually.
Obviously, I wouldn't leave him alone with any young child, but, I wouldn't do that with ANY dog, no matter how much I trusted them!!!
Beanie is a shy, frightened rescue dog and didn't much care for children. A friends young daughter started spending more and more time here with me and the dogs, and eventually began staying overnight for several days at a time. Beanie gradually became accustomed to her and began to accept her with no problems at all, to the point where he now will sleep with her.


Beanster, CD, RN, CGC answered on 3/17/11. Helpful? Yes/Helpful: No 1 Report this answer


More Questions in This Category