Help!

[bransel]

Hello,

I adopted a 2 year old boxer girl (Winnie) about 6 months ago. One stipulation from the rescue that I adopted her from was that she needed a home free of children. The rescue did not have exact history to give me but said that she had shown aggression towards children while in the rescue and it was likely due to past abuse.

Winnie is as sweet as a dog could be. She is very friendly to houseguests and very loving(wants to lick everyone to death). She can play nice with some dogs and others she cannot. When she sees small children she wants to lunge at them, similar to the way she does when she sees another dog. She doesn't growl, but still it looks frightening. I have taken her to obedience classes but she did not do too well because the other dogs got her too excited and she was too hard to control.

My dilema is this: I have begun dating a person with a 6 year old daughter and would like to be able to introduce them. i have brought Winnie around her daughter a couple times (on a leash) and both times she tried to lunge at her (scaring the child very much). I didn't let her get to close for fear that she might snap or even bite the child.

Does anyone have any suggestions of how I can acclimate her to children?
Is it hopeless? Like I said, she is a very loving dog and I have never seen her aggressive with anyone. She's never growled or snapped at anyone. But it's almost like she sees small children like they are other dogs.

I love my dog too much to ever get rid of her but i also would like to live a somewhat normal life.

Please if anyone has any tips or experiences to share I would be very grateful.

Thanks

[Bosco'sMom]

I'll bet she just wasn't raised around children and she isn't used to them. And you're right, she probably does see them as a dog. Bosco does this too and I really regret not having him around children more. Now everytime he sees one he just wants to jump on them and play like he would with another dog. Of course they start crying and get scared to death (who could blame them).
(Keep in mind I don't "let" him get carried away with this and he has only been around my friends children).

The next time they meet, do it on "neutral territory". Not in your home where the dog is all the time. So she won't feel threatened. Introduce them slowly at small intervals and increase the length of time each time. Hopefully she will get used to the child and they will learn to be great friends. Hope this helps. I haven't done this yet with Bosco but it is what I have read and is what I would do if the situation arose.

[myrocky]

Rocky hasn't been raised around children and will never live with children 24/7 either. When we visit my family he sees my young neices and does just fine. If he sees children on walks he also does just fine and doesn't jump or anything when getting petted. However I know this is not the case for all doggies. My suggestion is to try obeidence class again and see if you can get a class with a smaller number. Boxers are exuberant but this can be maintained. Rocky was going bonkers in the first 10minutes of class after awhile he settled down and we were able to work. It just takes some time to get things under control. I do think this is something that a trainer can help you with though.

[trudy]

You can try what I did, I took Trudy to a park where there was lots of kids and we sat on the outer edge just watching them run and swing and scream and chase each other. At first she was straining and pulling and lunging etc....as soon as she calmed down I started giving her treat after treat.

eventually a few kids came over, i had them throw treats at her first and eventually we got to the point where they could give her the treat right from their hand without her trying to jump on them..

This may take winnie a few trips to the park, but maybe she just needs to be around lots of kids all shapes and sizes....I would also suggest that you get yourself a harness for her when and if you decide to take her to the park, i find it is much much easier to control them and they don't end up pulling with their necks and looking like some sort of crazy vicious dog....