18 mo old Swissy Nervous Around Kids

[Yeti_Girl]

So I had a call last night with our new board for our crazy Swissy club and one of the new board members has an 18 mo old Swissy that is (what I can tell) nervous around kids. He baroos at them and sounds like he has even started lunging at them. The kicker? This family has a 6 month old baby. I don't think the dog and baby can be in the same room. The woman said that they've tried praise and reward but also got a trainer that had them reprimand the dog which neither seemed to work. She was asking us all for advice so I thought I'd ask you all if you had any. How to make this swissy more comfy around the spazzy little ones.

We suggested she bring him to one of our swissy gatherings where there are a few (Dylan being one) kids that have swissies in their houses who are VERY comfortable and calm around the big dogs. I bet her dog is feeding off kids' and her nervous energy.

Any ideas?

[Smoochies]

wow, thats a little scary... Max was, and to an extent still is, nervous around the little one, but he doesnt lunge, so praise and a quiet place to hide has been good for him.

I wish I had some advice for them

[Terry]

it's always scarey when our big ones are nervous around little ones. Good luck with it, and I am a big advocate of desensitizing dogs. hopefully, the more he is around kids the better he'll get. of course keeping everyone safe is always paramount.

[moondog]

Do they have other chidren or just the baby? If they don't have other kids it may just be something the dog isn't used to. If they haven't had the dog around other kids a lot he may just be confused on how to act around them. My advice would be to have some kids come over and train the dog how to behave. I would have her go through a normal training session with him while the little ones are doing what they do, going bonkers. I would gradually work up to it so the dog isn't on complete overload the first time. It seems like he hasn't been around kids much and maybe they are now becoming worried since they have one of their own now. Do you know if the dog is being agressive or just playing? I don't have kids but I have nieces and nephews that come over. Even though they are there a lot, I have to remind Baron not to jump up or chase them. He wants to play and he plays rough. Thats something that isn't going to happen since he could easily hurt them. Im very stern with him, BUT IM not nervous. Maybe the dog picks up on her being nervous about how he will react when a child is around and that makes him unsettled. I think it's a good idea to have the dog be around kids who are used to a dog his size. The dog will probably be just fine, especially since the other dogs won't pay the kids any mind, he may not either. I wish them luck!!

[krb0471]

Basja used to be nervous around kids and males. Since she has good recall I would let her off leash and have them sit or standstill not looking at her and let her approach them. She would start out woofing and skittish but would become curious. Once she wanted to interact with them, then they could pet/play. I still will let her off leash to approach new people since she is more comfortable with an escape route. If your friend can, have some kids come to a fenced area and ignore the dog and let the dog approach them. Most likely the owner has transmitted her nervousness through the leash and the dog is reacting to it.

[Yeti_Girl]

Basja used to be nervous around kids and males. Since she has good recall I would let her off leash and have them sit or standstill not looking at her and let her approach them. She would start out woofing and skittish but would become curious. Once she wanted to interact with them, then they could pet/play. I still will let her off leash to approach new people since she is more comfortable with an escape route. If your friend can, have some kids come to a fenced area and ignore the dog and let the dog approach them. Most likely the owner has transmitted her nervousness through the leash and the dog is reacting to it.

I think we're going to try this using my kid and another kid that's a little bigger than Dylan as bait. (LOL) I just know when Copper was little he would totally feed of the energy of flighty nervous kids and get in their face even more. But Dylan and this other boy are so gentle and calm (and listen well) that it might be different. We'll see.

Thanks everyone.

[Hounds_N_Leo]

Make sure the kids have TONS of smelly treats. If they smell good that can only help right? Babies and kids are different animals to most dogs, and even kids of different life stages...they can differentiate by their scents and body movements. Many dogs that LOVE small kids are leery of teens (good reason IMO lmao)...and many who like teens...are terrified of babies.

Hope you can get to the bottom of it. The lunging is a bit concerning...BUT maybe it's a good thing that he does not hide his distress or complete shut down until he feels he MUST go defcon-4??