Hello everyone, my name is Katie! I am owned and trained by my three gorgeous English Bull Terriers named Koda, Cassini and Jellybean Lollipop. I would like to become good friends with you all and hope that if you any specific issues you would like my help with or want to ask anything about dog training and behaviour then please do. I own 2 businesses, DOGS UNLIMITED is my dog training company and VERY PETICULAR PETCARE is my petsitting business. Having qualifications and experience and a high success rate means I can pass on some knowledge to other dog owners such as yourselves or exchange professional ideals with other behaviourists etc. Please visit my 2 websites for more information if your are interested!

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Hi Kate

My name is Zoe, I am new to the forum. I found it whilst trying to find out what to do with my Jack Russell, Elle. Elle is 6 this year and great with all people until recently.

I live with Elle and my Boyfriend. Elle has always been my dog until Steven and I met a year and a half a go. She is like a baby around Steven and I and any friends, but a couple we know have a toddler that is 18 months old so just walking and talking. Elle growls when the little one goes near her, then yaps at her aggresively. I shout at her and tell her off but I am really scared she would bite the child. I even bought a little muzzel for Elle when are friends came over, I was more relaxed as I knew she couldn't hurt the child, but she jumped aggressively at her then at her feet.

I really want to know the best way to repremand her as we plan to have children in the near future and it would break my heart to have to give Elle away due to her not being good with children.

She had been around another toddler in the past, he was a little boy and she was fine with him. I am also going to get Elle spade as I will not take puppies off of her and wonder if she is quite hormanal? This may calm her down?

Any advice you could give me is most appreciated.

Kind regards

Zoe

Hi Zoe

Thank you for taking the time to post. I understand your fears and that you only want the best for Elle.

Elle may well be reacting to the toddler in a defensive manner, dogs can often view children as a threat due to their natural tendancy to be erratic and noisy etc plus they hold eye contact with dogs at eye level, some dogs find this intimidating and will respond aggressively sometimes more so if owners are present.

Spaying her may not be the entire answer, it may help in time, especially if she tends to be emotional prior to her season as well as after and this can go on for months, so a behaviour modification program coupled with treatment from the vet may help better.

My advice is to speak to your vet first, they may suggest a full MOT where various samples are taken from blood and urine and tests results can then aide decisions made for training. I would ask your vet to recommend a behaviourist and speak to other owners who have used one and choose from there.

In the meantime please dont tell Elle off for this, she may have been trying to "say" something for weeks or months but has not been heard therefor her behaviour has escalated as she becomes more anxious. It would be better if you ask an alternative more acceptable behaviour from her and reward that rather than rewarding the bad behaviour by giving her attention for it or joining in (in her eyes) so maybe ask her to come to you or to sit. Try and also hep her build more positive associations with children by teaching her a new trick using treats and a clicker if you use one or by using touch therapy. Allow Elle somewhere to retreat if she needs to as well.

You are more than welcome to contact me directly via my website for further help, but it can be difficult to advise without seeing the dog and family in question!

Hope this helps a little bit though, let me know how you get on

Katie
DOGS UNLIMITED
www.trainabull.com