Bit upset with my new dog and after advice please.

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piaffe

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Ok, Had new dog for a week and 1 day now. She is everything i have ever wanted in a dog, cant fault her in any way, but one.
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She doesn't like my daughter (6). She growled at her last week, then last friday evening, i believe she snapped at her. i say believe as i was in the toliet at the time so missed it. My first thought was, thats it, the dogs got to go, but she had a poorly foot and had just come back from the vets so thought, perhaps daughter might have leant on said foot.

I was awake most of the night worrying and have been very wary since but really dont know what to do now as she has just growled at her again.
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I was in the room and saw it happen.

The facts are; my 6 year old is a pain and does pester her (she's used to do so with my basset who loves all the attention he can get). She has been told to back off and leave the dog alone but "forgets"

The first 2 times she was on my bed (where dog sleeps). So, with this in mind, figured it was a dominance thing. Do you think it is? What can i do to combat this? And, more to the point (and i hate that i have to ask this) should i be trying?
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i doubt very much she has ANY social skills regarding kids as shes an exracer.

She is fine with my 7 year old, its just my younger one. I just don't know what to do for the best. i have 2 voices in my head, one saying keep trying and give her time, the other saying get the dog away from the children....
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Other than the 3 times mentioned, she has been fab with the kids so am wondering if it was just a case of my daughter pushing it, but should that matter?
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See, I think children should always be taught to respect animals from a v.early age (not saying yours don't, just my thoughts). Does the 7 year old leave the dog well alone? How does she interact with her in comparison with your 6 year old?

(I always wanted a greyhound myself!)
 
I agree with what you have said, however, as i have already mentioned, the 6 yr old is used to playing with our basset all the time. They even cuddle up and watch tele together, they are always together and niether of them would wnat it any other way.
Obviously, new dog is a very different dog with different needs and i am sure my daughter will be able to understand that slowly. But, my main concern was should i be giving the child and dog a chance (and how) OR should i give up?
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Yes, as she's so used to your wee basset. Personally I would try and get her to understand that the other dog needs a different type of care and love (which I'd imagine is difficult for a 6 year old to understand with her other dog loving her so much) and hope for the best but if things don't improve I don't know what could be done!
 
To be perfectly honest, you have answered your own question in your post. Fact 1: if the dog is an ex-racer it is unlikely to have been socialised in the "normal" way and you have only had her a week. She is still going to be sorting herself out mentally as living in a house will be a big change; Fact 2: your daughter will have to learn not to "forget" about not pestering the dog. It is not fair on any dog, let alone something that has not been used to living in a family environment. Fact 3: you say that two occasions when she growled at your daughter she was on your bed where she sleeps - she's being territorial/jealous. I quite agree that the situation is not good but I would start by not letting the dog sleep on your bed and making sure your daughter treats her with respect.
In 99% of cases of dogs going for children, I'm afraid my sympathies are with the dog. They only way they can say "go away, leave me alone" is to growl and if the dopey human can't take the hint then the next step is snapping, and you mention that she has a sore foot which could well be making her grumpy. You know how you feel if you're not 100% but you can tell the kids to go away, growling (or snapping) is her way of telling them. I can appreciate the problem though. Some years I had a GSD from GSD Rescue, lovely bitch that nobody wanted because she hadn't been spayed. Didn't worry me but I had no intentions of breeding from her anyway, my only proviso was that she didn't eat the Cavaliers that I showed and bred!!! Unfortunately, after having her for a week we discovered that she went for small children. The story that had been given to the Rescue was that she belonged to a soldier who had been posted to Hong Kong and couldn't (quite reasonably) take the dog. We deduced that probably the real story was that she'd had the life plagued out of her by little kids and had probably bitten one but a dog that has bitten will be put down and not re-homed. We kept her as, in the normal run of things, she wouldn't come across small children and we used to muzzle her when we took her out. She was a fabulous dog and the Cavaliers adored her (she would open doors for them, she could open round door handles!!!!)
 
So, back to my question; IYO, do i keep trying or send the dog back?

I understand all the points you made but disagree about the "dopey human". I took on a rescue great dane bitch when my son was 3. i was assured she was wonderful with children. 4 days after having her, she snapped at my sons face. At the time we were walking past her, and not even particually close. she drew blood and, im afraid, the dog went straight back. my son did nothing wrong, other than walk past and i do not consider this acceptable behaviour having had numerous rescue dogs who would never even think about growling/snapping at the children.

I SOOOOOO dont want to send her back, like i said, shes truely wonderful in every other way but i want to be a responsible owner/parent and, right now, im not sure what to do in order to remain as such.
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What is your gut telling you?
If you have help at hand(new pair of eyes can make all the difference) and think this can be overcome without injury to your daughter then stick with it.If not send her back.
 
Please do not allow your daughter to pester her, if needs be seperate them and only allow them together supervised. She will be used to wearing a muzzle so use one. This will allow you to see how she goes with the child. Where did this dog come from? was she is a foster home situation or straight out of kennels? If she was straight out of kennels you need to give her more time.
 
I cerntainly do not "allow" my daughter to pester the dog.
today, I do not consider that my daughter was pestering her. they were both sat on the floor and she was stroking her whilst watching tele, something myself or my son would have done. she was being gentle and wasn't stroking her long at all before she growled at her.

Daughter has got a lot better over the weekend and i thought we had turned a corner but i was watching her when she growled at her. Just been reading an online article about dominance and dogs will "try out" the smallest member of the family. Not sure whats in that but am going to do more reading around it.

Anima- even my gut is confused.
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I would keep trying as there are a few issues that need to be resolved, not least the integration of the dog into a household scenario which could take some time. She will also be working out her place in this new pack set up. It may well be, too, that perhaps she doesn't actually like your daughter very much! We all know that dogs will often attach themselves more to one member of the family than another so perhaps the reverse is true too. I think you just need to give her more time but be very vigilant re her behaviour (the dog, that is).
 
Thank you for your reply. it made a lot of sense and has given me some reassurance; I really do believe that she doesnt like my daughter but thought that sounded silly, nice to know someone else suggested it too!
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I think it's a perfectly reasonable idea!! I've got a horse that I don't think likes me very much (actually it's mutual . . . she isn't interested in me at all, comes over for her feed and then goes off again as soon as she's finished, doesn't interact with me at all . . and I have tried . . . I just hope she has a nice foal to make it all worth it!
 
keep trying for a week or so, but any more snapping and send her back.
Could the dog have a sore spot? My lab if you stroke her back while she's lying down will growl as she has bad hips, and she is the sweetest dog ever.
 
I think that when you have dominant dogs and children, it's useful to make it clear to the dog that they come below the child in the pecking order, so what I've always done is get the child to feed the dog -to make the dog sit and wait while she puts the dish down, then tell the dog to "get it then", and make sure that the dog gets fed AFTER the child's eaten her tea! Should end up with child pleased, because she has an important job, and a dog who has to be polite to the hand that feeds it!
 
Thanks for that! I had, in fact, started doing just that yesterday until someone told me it was a load of rubbish and made me feel silly.
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Ill carry on then and, yes, daughter was only too happy to help out!
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Can you suggest any other tips like that?
 
It does sound like a dominance thing to me... she sees your daughter as the lowest member of the pack and therefore the easiest member to pick on to raise her own status.

I would stop the dog sleeping on the bed straightaway - in a dog pack the dogs highest up the pecking order get to sleep closest to the head of the pack i.e. you! In fact I always insist on my dogs sleeping downstairs. Humans upstairs, dogs downstairs where they have their own baskets.

Same applies to furniture... I don't know if you let the dog on the sofa but if you do I would again stop this and not allow her back on until you have sorted out your issues. She'll see your daughter being allowed on the furniture and her not.

Make sure you and your daughter eat before you feed the dog - and make sure the dog sees you both eating. Also make sure when you or your daughter go through doors, you go through in front of the dog. Don't let the dog lead the way.

I'd also recommended getting in touch with a dog trainer... I'm sure with the above and getting some extra help you'll soon all settle down together. But you're doing the right thing and nipping it in the bud before it gets any worse. My brother has a dog that has always had agression and dominance issues- he let him get away with it as a pup and now, though the dog is lovely 90% of the time, I wouldn't trust it as far as I could throw it. It's bitten him, my sister-in-law and gone for my nephew a few times. It also goes for my dogs... sadly the only dog that stood up to it was my old scottie who died last year. If it tried anything with him he used to knock it over and hold it to the ground by it's throat. It would be as subservient as anything after that
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The only other thing I can suggest is clicker training - your daughter could do the initial association between clicker and reward, then maybe teach the dog a simple trick like giving a paw? It would get your daughter playing with the dog but in a constructive way rather than "pestering", and it would get the dog associating her with goodies! Eukanuba (or whatever they are called) are giving away puppy packs with samples of their food and free clickers and leaflets on clicker training - you just have to register for it on their web site (I did it today, and pretended that my two hulking 3 year olds were tiny puppies.....!
 
Thanks for that!
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Im finding it a bit different to be honest. I used to work within the RSPCA retraining dogs but this was in a kennel situation and, ANY sign of this behaviour they would be automatically labelled "not suitable with children". so, i guess i have never had to work past that stage.
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[ QUOTE ]
in a dog pack the dogs highest up the pecking order get to sleep closest to the head of the pack i.e. you!

[/ QUOTE ] I never actually knew that.
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very interesting point.
 
There's a really interesting book by Jan Fennell, I think its called The Dog Listener, I've leant my copy to someone but I'll check on Amazon that I've given you the right name/title. It explains all the possible dominance things like sleeping on your bed, couches, feeding and doorways in a very detailed way. Well worth reading.

I've checked now. That's the right name/title.
 
I'm afraid that I would not take any chances - irrespective of whether this is a dominance issue or not, this dog is NOT child tolerant and even if eventually she accepted your daughter I would always be worried about having her around children ( and presumably your daughter has friends round to play etc ).

Temperament has to be the most important consideration in my book when choosing a family dog - especailly when it will be living with relatively young children - personally I would take the dog back so that an adult only home can be found for her.It only takes a moment of your inattention or a sudden movement from your child for a nasty incident to occur - not fair to either your child or the dog.
 
I wouldnt take any chances either - if any dog had repeatedly growled at my children it would be back where it came from.
We had exactly the same problem with a basset we rehomed - he didnt like Becci in the slightest. She was the one that fed him and walked him and yet he always growled at her. He didnt particularly like my OH other but then no one really did!! lol
Final straw was when he pushed one of the babies to the ground and stood over them - refusing to move!!
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If you are happy with the dog then maybe try everything thats been said already - we never let any of our dogs upstairs, they all have baskets. We also do the food thing, where we eat before the dogs. Never let them walk through a door before you etc...
Personally I wouldnt take the risk and as I had said before we took our basset back to a breeder who rehomed him to a single bloke and he's 100% ok now.

Good luck Piaffe - I'm sure your gut will tell you whats best.
 
I've not read all the posts so apologies if anything is repeated. The first thing I would say is don't let the dog sleep on the bed unless you are going to tell your daughter she is not allowed on the bed. A dogs sleeping space is their territory and they will get tetchy if they are disturbed. I would suggest getting the dog a bed or a crate and making her sleep in it and making sure your daughter understands that this is the dogs space and while she is in it she is not to be touched.

The dog has come from somewhere she has not received much tlc to somewhere she is being pampered and cared for, she needs to learn the boundaries and she will get used to sleeping on the floor!
 
Ok so the way I would look at it the dog has only been it yours for a week all she has known in her life is racing and being kenneled. I would have set some firmer ground rules, I dont let my dogs on the sofa and certainly not on my bed as this is my territory. If she is allowed on the bed I feel that you are sending her confusing messages. You need to be the Alpha leader of the pack. She will try and assert herself as leader and then take charge of the family/pack. YOU need to be leader. Her snapping at your children is yes unacceptable but taken the circumstances you can understand why. GH's are gentle creatures who do like their sleep, I dont disturb mine when she is sleeping as they can get a little grouchy. All dogs need their own space to escape to, can you set her a space aside and tell your daughter that when she is in that place she needs to be left alone?

I hope you decide what is best for you and your family.

I dont mean to have a go I am just trying to offer my advice.

Regards

Gh
 
Thanks for your replies. made a lot of sense. GH, I have just been to Argos and bought a new stair gate (old one was broken). Am going to put it up in the kitchen and dog will have a bed in there and im going to shut her in there at night....no more sleeping on my bed!
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We live in a bungalow so the sleeping downstairs thing doesnt apply though.

Going to use the muzzle in the house for a while, after all, as i was told, they are used to wearing it and it doesnt hurt etc. After all, in all other respects, the dog has been perfect but i am hoping these steps will improve things. if not, i will have to be strong and say enough is another and she will have to go.
 
Fingers crossed that your plan of action works and a muzzle wont hurt her at all. I used to muzzle Roo when I was cooking as she was a sod for stealing things lol.

Hoping things work out for you

Gh
 
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