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A few days ago, a friend on Twitter suggested that I weigh in on some issues of an all around “bad dog.” The problems described to me include growling and baring his teeth at the family’s 10 month old son and his 6 y old cousin. He also has some potty training issues, as well as some chewing and scratching of household objects like furniture and door jambs.
I would like to address the issue of most concern to me, and that is the relationship between the dog and the children. I like to remind humans that dogs and children are not always a good match, especially young children. Young children have a knack for viewing everything as a playmate or a toy. Some children simply play too rough, even hurting the dog. Six years old is about the right age to begin teaching a child how to play with a dog properly. If you need some direction about teaching your children about dog safety, check out this video.
My suggestion is to never, ever leave any child alone with a dog. Just as young children do not know how to play with a dog, dogs do not know that they cannot nip and “chew” on children the same way they can with adults. We play rough naturally, unless we are taught the right way to play. Since children can also play rough, neither are too good at reading each others body language to know if their pending action will hurt the other. Typically, children use quick, jerky motions that indicate to a dog that he needs to protect himself, which is a disaster waiting to happen.
Like dogs, children like to play chase, and when they catch their prey, they get very excited. Often, this can result in the child falling on the dog or holding him against his will. This is a situation that the dog does not understand this, and he may react negatively to it. If the roles reverse, it is not just a game of chase for the dog. Because of the smaller size, he can think that he is hunting prey. Dogs generally catch slower “prey” and if the “prey drive switch” is flipped on, he does not care if it is a rabbit or a small child! As we all know, children are not prey, and due to their newfound mode of transportation, toddlers are especially vulnerable. They are still learning to walk, and they have many accidents. We are not aware of accidents, and we do not realize that a child does not mean to do us harm. However, we will react and not always in a good way.
Your dog needs to learn proper socialization skills with humans, especially the smaller ones. I suggest that you place a leash on your dog to control his actions. Remember, YOU CANNOT TRAIN WHAT YOU CANNOT CONTROL. With the leash attached, you will be able to confine him to a timeout area if he growls and shoes teeth toward any human, regardless of size or age. Dogs are among the most social creatures on the face of the earth, and we do not like to be banished away from everything. You should use a stern “NO” as you pick up the leash, but nothing more. You do not want to give him any more attention for a negative action. After a few instances, he will associate growling and showing teeth with the banishment, learning that behavior is not a “good” one. This is not something that will be learned immediately, so you will have to repeat this until he learns. When you are training your pup, you cannot do something once and decide it did not work. The bulk of training is repetition.
If your dog still poops on the floor, that means he is not fully potty trained. That is no fault of the dog, because an untrained dog is caused by a bad owner. My suggestion in correcting this problem is to consult my potty training guide, and if you run into trouble, there are several articles to support you here.
To tackle the chewing problem, you can do two things to correct the behavior. First, as a preventative action, you should spray Bitter Apple or something equally poor tasting on the areas where he chews. If you opt not to spray, you cannot correct him for it, unless you catch them in the act. Now, keep your eye on him and if you catch him chewing, give him a firm “NO” and put him in the confined area we discussed above.
Keep me posted on your progress!
