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Help - Becky loves children too much!
Becky is now 8.5 months and almost 25 kg. She LOVES children, she nuzzles them and licks them affectionately. Sadly, most kids are afraid of dogs her size, so they turn away or scream in fear, which makes her even more eager to get close. She often knocks small children down, making them cry, sometimes causing the parents to scream in panic as well. We like to walk Becky off-leash because she's very good at it, never wanders away too far and always looks back to check on us from time to time.. unless she sees a child. She would then lunge towards the kid, and at this point she won't listen to us calling her name, saying "come" or whistling her to come back. It seems like whenever we walk her on the beach without the leash on, we leave a trail of wailing children behind. What's the psychology behind her attraction towards children, and is there a way to correct her behaviour with children?
- mia's blog
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controlled set-ups are key
Hi Mia, controlled set-ups are the key to solving this sort of problem. Do you know anyone with a young teenager who is comfortable around dogs who might be able to help you?
Don't try to call her if she sees a child and she is off-leash, it will only weaken your recall. If you do anything, try to bribe her with a ball or something (yup, I did say "bribe").
If you can enlist a young helper, start off with Becky on-leash. What you're going to try to do is have her walk on a loose-leash towards the child. Of course, this will start off as a disaster, but don't worry!
When she pulls towards the child, you start backing up slowly away from the child. At first this will appear to be an unsuccessful strategy too, but eventually you will get a brief loosening of the leash. Click a clicker at that instant (the timing is essential), then let her take a step towards the child. Of course, the pulling will start again, so you start backing up slowly again.
What we're going to end up communicating is "tight leashes take you away from the child, loose leashes take you towards the child".
The bigger lesson is "if you show self-control, you can play with the kid - if you don't, you can't"
That is the basic premise of any training you do with her, especially around kids. You could also set-up training sessions where she has to sit before she is allowed to play with the kid.
Eventually you will be able to do this off-leash, but for now I would put her on-leash around kids. Apart from being unfair on the kids, all Becky is learning is "I can go play with the kids, all I have to do is IGNORE MOM!" So any effort you make towards teaching her how to behave around children will come unstuck every single time she is rewarded for running away and bowling kids over.
By the way, it's important not to see this as a disobedience to be "corrected". The key to the unwanted behavior and the behavior you would prefer to see are the same thing - the reinforcer, which in this case is the children. She is just doing what works for her. The trick for you is to change what works for Becky into what also works for you and the children.
If you master that, you solve EVERY behavior "problem" you will ever encounter (with any animal or person - mwahahahaha!!!!)
Regards,
Aidan
http://www.positivepetzine.com