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Hey, Katie K-9!
Please help! We have a 2-year- old half lab/mutt named Ted. He is a wonderful dog and, for the most part, good except with children. Ted is not around children often, but when he is, he is very afraid of them. His hair stands up on his back and he barks and charges them. He has never bitten anyone, but we are afraid that it could happen. We are thinking about starting a family. As it is, we cannot trust him. Is there anything we can do? We do not want to give him away.
Molly
Hey, Molly
You are right, Ted is very afraid of children and it will prob- ably be only a matter of time before he will cross that line. He could have had a bad experience or been tormented by kids. Some dogs are very nervous around young chil- dren because their movements are very jerky and unpredictable. Ted tries to scare the children away by barking or charging at them so he does not have to deal with them.
As for getting the two worlds together, most dogs just cannot come around once they are scared of children. I feel it is too risky for the child and for the dog. Where I worry the most is during the tod- dler stage; this is when their move- ments are really unpredictable and all it might take is an accidental fall on the dog; things could go terribly wrong. Relate this to something you are really scared of.
With a lot of work we might be able to work on that phobia, but if the right circumstance pops up again, your fear can rear up once more.
I would get an evaluation with a good professional dog trainer or behaviorist before you make any final decisions.
Take care.
Hey, Katie K-9!
Our two puppies are chew- ing my shoes up left and right. We try to hide the shoes but eventually someone slips up and leaves a pair out and the little buggers cart them off in a fl ash and the shoes are gon- ers. I heard somewhere that if you tie a shoe around a dog's neck for a day, it will cure them of this habit. Sounds harsh, but if it works, I am all over it. I hate shoe shopping. If that doesn't work, what will?
Thanks from the little buggers' dad
Travis
Hey, Travis and little buggers!
I must say that, with respect to the "let's eat shoes" phase that puppies go through, this is the FIRST time I've heard this idea in my 32 years of training dogs! Tie shoes around the neck? - sounds like what Bart Simpson would say. If you want to lose more shoes, that would be the way to go. If you want to stop it, train the humans in the house until the phase is over (2 years and up). Who has the opposable thumbs here?
Puppies and adult dogs tend to go for where our scent is the heaviest: shoes, armpits of shirts, corners of couches that we brush up against as we leave. It brings us closer to them. They are in heaven when they can have our scent that close to them. Dogs also pick up on whatever we touch or rub against last: our scent is then the heaviest on them. The remote control, our eye glasses, books, newspaper, etc.
If you have problems with this, be one step AHEAD of your puppies or dog. Never leave them alone in a room until they are trustworthy. When you go to leave, take them with you so you know what they are up to. If you do not have time to watch them, put them in a kennel until you do.
Dogs are opportunists - they are always aft er immediate gratification. Never give your dog something that resembles something of yours - shoes, slippers, stuff ed animals - they do not know the diff erence between what is yours or theirs. It all feels and smells the same.
Thanks for the smile & chuckle, Katie K-9!
Katie K-9Katie announces a NEW day and time for the Katie K-9 radio show! She is now on every Sunday afternoon from 4 to 6 p.m. on FM107.1 Send in your dog questions to "Hey, Katie K-9!" by mailing them to The Citizen, P. O. Box 393, Hugo, MN 55038 or e-mailing them to Katie at KatieK-9@ ReadTheCitizen.com. PLEASE