Out of charachter warning growl?

[graciesmum]

Hi all, as you know i have had a baby she is 4 months old, gracie has been an angel with her dosent as much as try to lick her most of the time, the odd kiss has slipped through and thats it.  I had the baby baptised sunday and gracie was kept upstairs mainly for her own safety with all the open doors, we let her out and my friends 4 year old was here.  They have a lab that allows all sorts of jumping on and pulling.  I told the child as gracie had gone and hid in a corner for peace she had  to leave her alone, some time later about 30 mins i sat down with a plate of food and gracie came and sat in front of me (surprise surprise!!)  the little girl ran up behind gracie and tried to pull her away from me from behind, gracie whipped her head around and gave a very stern warning growl/snap, she didnt try to bite but it was quite nasty teeth bearing etc, this has disturbed me quite alot, my baby could grab her when im eating?  Ive now stopped all titbits at all to get into gracies head theres no point snapping as she wont get any anyway? what do you all think?

Yours

worried of tamworth!     

[Nicola]

In all honesty I'm not surprised Gracie growled at the child, she had already made it clear that she wasn't entirely happy by trying to hide and then she is suddenly grabbed from behind and pulled backwards, it would give any dog a shock. As it is she showed that she has good self control by just growling a warning and not actually snapping or trying to bite. I don't think stopping giving her treats will make a difference as she growled because she was grabbed and pulled. It is vital that children are taught how to respect dogs and not to pull at or grab them, dogs are not people and they are not little angels in fur coats and it isn't fair to expect them to put up with this kind of thing without reacting 

[cazza]

Hi

I agree with what Nicola has said

You need to teach your baby the rights and wrongs and NEVER leave your child alone with the dog, as when she starts to crawl and explore she will try to explore Gracie too this is fine but should be supervised by you at all times!!

as for your friends child by 4 yrs of age and having a dog of her own she should have known not to pull a dog from behind, sorry but friends child IMO has not been taught how to respect a dog and should never be left un supervised for a second even with you in the same room.

Gracie gave a warning and a snap but didn't bite, sounds to me that if you bring your child up to respect Gracie then you should have no problems at all with Gracie and your child 

Please don't make the mistake that a lot of people do and blame the dog when it's actually the child that is in the wrong

[ali]

gracie whipped her head around and gave a very stern warning growl/snap, she didnt try to bite but it was quite nasty teeth bearing etc

totally agree with the other guys.

i read this and thought 'well done, gracie' purely because she did everything she could do to warn the child away and express her displeasure without touching the child. i'd be pretty chuffed, but i'd also take away the lesson that, unlike your friend's lab, gracie does not tolerate being pushed and pulled about.

we hope to start a family when barkley is a few years old and i've always assumed that if i am ever unable to supervise barkley and a baby 100% (like whilst eating) then they will be kept apart until i can, probably by plonking the baby in a play pen or something similar.

i don't think i'd be worried, but i would take it seriously.

[graciesmum]

i felt a bit naughty blaiming the child  , her father actually said to me dont worry she was told its her own fault, i guess it just spooked me because of having maia (my baby) if i want the loo say i take gracie with me, just grab one of her mixer biscuits to tempt her with me, she just watches gracie at the moment dosent try to grab her, that could change very soon though!!  Thank you for the advice guys i feel much better now xx

[cazza]

i felt a bit naughty blaiming the child  , her father actually said to me dont worry she was told its her own fault, i guess it just spooked me because of having maia (my baby) if i want the loo say i take gracie with me, just grab one of her mixer biscuits to tempt her with me, she just watches gracie at the moment dosent try to grab her, that could change very soon though!!  Thank you for the advice guys i feel much better now xx

I did the same with my dogs took them with me and left the baby alone  (Only to go to loo or in kitchen to make a coffee etc, before someone jumps down my throat  )

[graciesmum]

oh yes me too!! our house is all open sort of lounge kitchen then bathroom so im never more than 20ft away from the baby when i go.

[CraftySam]

In all honesty I'm not surprised Gracie growled at the child, she had already made it clear that she wasn't entirely happy by trying to hide and then she is suddenly grabbed from behind and pulled backwards, it would give any dog a shock. As it is she showed that she has good self control by just growling a warning and not actually snapping or trying to bite. I don't think stopping giving her treats will make a difference as she growled because she was grabbed and pulled. It is vital that children are taught how to respect dogs and not to pull at or grab them, dogs are not people and they are not little angels in fur coats and it isn't fair to expect them to put up with this kind of thing without reacting 

Totally agree Nicola.  

I really wouldn't worry, this was the childs fault and I too am not surprised Gracie reacted how she did.

I had a similar incident with my niece when Barney was 4 months old. The link below is my panic ridden post after the incident as I was convinced (thanks to my family constantly saying how nasty gold cockers were   ) that he was going to be nasty. Well he's 14 months old and he's not in the slightest bit nasty. I have to say that he doesn't like my niece now and doesn't want her near him, which I understand totally and I don't put him in that position.  He doesn't bother very much with very young children now but 5 up and he adores them. Problem with my family is that they believe every dog should be like Max, my Golden Retriever, who puts up with everything the kids do to him and he in return he adores them. But the kids need to be taught that not every dog will accept being crawled over or having fingers shoved up their nose.  

http://www.cockersonline.co.uk/discuss/index.php?topic=19715.msg243791#msg243791

As long as you supervise your baby as she grows up with Gracie I'm sure she'll be fine. As Ali said Gracie, like Barney, doesn't want to be pulled, grabbed etc but now you know that you can supervise accordingly.

After the ongoing problems with Barney and my niece I was chatting to my vet about it. She told me about a DVD that she'd heard about called The Blue Dog that is aimed at young children about treating dogs with respect and what they should and shouldn't do. It wasn't widely available at the time and I couldn't track it down, but last week I saw it next to the tills in PAH. I'd recommend it to anyone who has young children who mix with dogs. I however can't pass it onto my brother to show his children as they believe, quite rightly, that I blame my niece for what happened and that I am wrong to do so and has been the subject of heated exchanges. So giving them the dvd would probably start WW3.  

[cazza]

Hope the replies have helped you to see that Gracie was a very good girl  

Hope it helps you also to teach your daughter how to treat and respect Gracie so you will not have problems in the future and can be one very happy family altogether  

Personally I think her warning growl wasn't out of charachter, but just that it WAS a warning gowl, she didn't like it and was telling you and the child concerned  

As long as you listen to Gracie you shouldn't have any problems with her IMO from what you originally posted  

[Cob-Web]

She told me about a DVD that she'd heard about called The Blue Dog that is aimed at young children about treating dogs with respect and what they should and shouldn't do. It wasn't widely available at the time and I couldn't track it down, but last week I saw it next to the tills in PAH. I'd recommend it to anyone who has young children who mix with dogs. I however can't pass it onto my brother to show his children as they believe, quite rightly, that I blame my niece for what happened and that I am wrong to do so and has been the subject of heated exchanges. So giving them the dvd would probably start WW3. 

I've just found it - it is a Company of Animals product -

http://www.companyofanimals.co.uk/blue-dog.php

[Mj]

Poppy will growl at my son if he disturbs her nap or pokes her! I tell Daniel to leave her be
What's the expression? Let sleeping dogs lie......
It is just a warning not malicious intent

[CraftySam]

She told me about a DVD that she'd heard about called The Blue Dog that is aimed at young children about treating dogs with respect and what they should and shouldn't do. It wasn't widely available at the time and I couldn't track it down, but last week I saw it next to the tills in PAH. I'd recommend it to anyone who has young children who mix with dogs. I however can't pass it onto my brother to show his children as they believe, quite rightly, that I blame my niece for what happened and that I am wrong to do so and has been the subject of heated exchanges. So giving them the dvd would probably start WW3. 

I've just found it - it is a Company of Animals product -

http://www.companyofanimals.co.uk/blue-dog.php

Oh I'm glad you found it. I hope that the word spreads about it as it could prevent alot of the things we hear about so often when children don't understand that a dog isn't a play thing.

[graciesmum]

thank you again for all the help, i feel much better, maia will be raised to respect gracie, not jump on her and pull her about!!

[vanessa]

Thing we have to remember here that the child involved was only 4 years old. Thats nursery age. . shes very young so still has a lot to learn. Luckily it was all ok and Gracie just warned her off.   

[CraftySam]

Thing we have to remember here that the child involved was only 4 years old. Thats nursery age. . shes very young so still has a lot to learn. Luckily it was all ok and Gracie just warned her off.   

Tbh Gracie wouldn't care if the child was 4, 14 or 44.    If anyone is behaving in a way thats not appropriate with a dog then there is every chance that the dog will warn them at the very least.  We can't say to Gracie that she's only 4 and you'll have to put up with whatever she does till she gets older and learns whats acceptable to you.
Thats the reason that we'd all adovate that children and dogs should be closley supervised at all times, and that children should be taught from their first interaction with a dog what they should and shouldn't do. Unfortunately the majority of children bitten by dogs are bitten by the family dog.

I have a four year old niece who is capable of understanding what she shouldn't do, but she's also more than capable ignoring what she's told not to do too and I have to be very very careful and NEVER take my eyes off her and try and anticipate what she's going to do. 
I have found that people who haven't lived with dogs expect an awful lot out of them, in terms of what they should tolerate. I do have a dog that doesn't react to anything BUT he should be treated as an exception and not the rule.