Barking at children [Video inside]

[JeffandAnnie]

My two would be barking a lot more than that if I stood on the other side of a baby gate and talked to someone else  Jessie is absolutely  , seems well adjusted and happy (if a little frustrated at being left out) and keen to part of the family. I think you should be grateful that you have such a lovely little girl. 

[Toni-UK]

I think if you've never had to try and manage 'some' puppies and children the enormity of the task is not something that can be fully appreciated.

That is why a lot of breeders won't sell pups to families with small children 

Back to the video....

The child is standing there in front of a young dog doing something with something in his hands. The child is looking and smiling at the pup and playing with his toy.  The pup wants to interact but can't get to it to see what it is. The pup is naturally curious but because she can't get any closer she's frustrated.  She barks. 

If you had the same scenario with the child standing there quietly with their arms crossed and looking away from Jess would she still do this?

I agree that you may want to look at Jess's weight as well.

What is it that you see the boy doing?,smiling and playing with his paper toy,or definitely teasing as you said in an earlier post,each scenario may elicit a different response from the dog.

The first scenario is a much more realistic behaviour of a child playing with something,standing awkwardly.Standing arms crossed,very still, looking away is not,therefore there is nothing exciting going on,no noise so nothing to react to....
I still think there is not enough footage to be sure of exactly what is going on,we can all guess or offer our thoughts,but we are not behaviourists or dieticians for that matter,Jess is still a pup,she could have a very fluffy puppy coat that hasn't blown yet.

[Toni-UK]

I think if you've never had to try and manage 'some' puppies and children the enormity of the task is not something that can be fully appreciated.

That is why a lot of breeders won't sell pups to families with small children 

I agree with that Helen - responsible and reputable ones though tend to have this rule whereas a lot more breeders don't.    Good on the ones who do though, they know it can be very very hard work to manage.       

There will always be breeders that do sell to families with young children though, so thank goodness for people like Hannah who through trial and error,and very hard work have come through the other side,and can post their experience and excellent advice to others on having pups and small children together.

[Helen]

I think if you've never had to try and manage 'some' puppies and children the enormity of the task is not something that can be fully appreciated.

That is why a lot of breeders won't sell pups to families with small children 

Back to the video....

The child is standing there in front of a young dog doing something with something in his hands. The child is looking and smiling at the pup and playing with his toy.  The pup wants to interact but can't get to it to see what it is. The pup is naturally curious but because she can't get any closer she's frustrated.  She barks. 

If you had the same scenario with the child standing there quietly with their arms crossed and looking away from Jess would she still do this?

I agree that you may want to look at Jess's weight as well.

What is it that you see the boy doing?,smiling and playing with his paper toy,or definitely teasing as you said in an earlier post,each scenario may elicit a different response from the dog.

The first scenario is a much more realistic behaviour of a child playing with something,standing awkwardly.Standing arms crossed,very still, looking away is not,therefore there is nothing exciting going on,no noise so nothing to react to....
I still think there is not enough footage to be sure of exactly what is going on,we can all guess or offer our thoughts,but we are not behaviourists or dieticians for that matter,Jess is still a pup,she could have a very fluffy puppy coat that hasn't blown yet.

Toni-uk I see it as the same thing - even if it was un-intentional the child in my eyes and my opinion was inadvertently causing the reaction of frustrated (not aggressive) barking in the pup. 

My train of thought is that if the reaction is not the same when the child ignores the dog then it's not the actual child that the dog is barking at which, as the OP is concerned that the pup may bite the children, may be reassuring for them.

As for the weight a pup of this age is usually quite lean even with puppy fluff.

[bajoleth]

I agree that managing pups and small children is not easy and probably not for the faint heated, but its definately doable with some common sense rules, the children need to be trained as do the dogs, the dogs need a safe secure timeout zone for 'hectic' times as Hannah said. My 2 are allowed to play and interact with the children (apart fom Evie) for the majority but when they were pups and chasing and biting etc, seperation was introduced. My kids had to meet the breeder before she allowed us to have Belle, they had been around dogs all of their lives but she wanted to see them around her dogs, they passed with flying colours. I find it a little sad that some breeders have a blanket ban on no under 5's as they can develop lovely relationships, my youngest DS is now 5 and he and Monty have a really close relationship, after tea him and Montty cuddle up on the kitchen sofa, I will often find the pair of them fast asleep My son Tom has suspected ADHD and finds training the dogs very therapeutic he is my chief dog walking companion. Dogs and kids can work but it takes hard work
I have watched the video , the boy is behaving as if he is embarrased which unfortunaterly is giving the wrong signals to the pup.I don't think he is purposely teasing her. My advice would be to forget trying to video the behaviour as this is probably causing more trouble. Get a good behaviourist around when the kids are there so he can see the interaction and give them advice too, good lkuck and try not to worry, looks like normal puppy behaviour to me

[Toni-UK]

As for the weight a pup of this age is usually quite lean even with puppy fluff.

That's just it, "usually", she may be different   even so,the OP is asking for behaviour advice not dietary,will every COL member with an overweight pup/adult be told their dog may be overweight now while posting pics or video  

I feel these comments are unneeded digs at the OP, as if he hasn't got enough worries.
I will leave it at that as i feel the thread is being sidetracked.

[Jeanette]

I think if you've never had to try and manage 'some' puppies and children the enormity of the task is not something that can be fully appreciated.

That is why a lot of breeders won't sell pups to families with small children 

I agree with that Helen - responsible and reputable ones though tend to have this rule whereas a lot more breeders don't.    Good on the ones who do though,

they know it can be very very hard work to manage.       

There will always be breeders that do sell to families with young children though, so thank goodness for people like Hannah who through trial and error,and very hard work have come through the other side,and can post their experience and excellent advice to others on having pups and small children together.

Yes I did go a bit off the point as its not pre-schoolers in the video, just wanted to agree it is hard work but can be done.

[Hurtwood Dogs]

Whilst I agree selling puppies to homes with very young children is often (but not always) a bad idea, I'm not entirely sure what the relevance here is, as the OP's children are not that young and neither was my son when I got my last puppy so it's not really relevent to this thread. It's not just 'young' children that have an effect on puppies, all children do as they behave, move and talk in a different way to adults which some dogs, particularly puppies find unsettling.

Helen you stated that the boy was teasing the dog - now you're saying he's just doing other normal boy things which are winding the dog up, there is an inferred difference in those two statements. The dog only starts barking when they talk also - which 'could' be relevent in my experience.

 

[Hurtwood Dogs]

As for the weight a pup of this age is usually quite lean even with puppy fluff.

That's just it, "usually", she may be different   even so,the OP is asking for behaviour advice not dietary,will every COL member with an overweight pup/adult be told their dog may be overweight now while posting pics or video  

I feel these comments are unneeded digs at the OP, as if he hasn't got enough worries.
I will leave it at that as i feel the thread is being sidetracked.

Agree

[Colin]

OK I'm locking this for the time being as people are no longer offering advice to the OP but seemingly using the thread to pick fights and score points, which isn't really any help to Chris, his kids or his puppy.

On the weight issue, I'd have thought we'd all agree that diet and exercise are both very relevant to how dogs behave, so I'm not sure why this has become controversial here - particularly as when I brought it up I did say that it could be an illusion caused by a thick puppy coat. I certainly didn't intend it as a dig at Chris, if I gave him that impression I apologise.

Chris, if you would like the thread re-opened, please send me a pm.