Dogs and children?

Question

Disclaimer: I DON"T have a dog, just curious what people will answer. Hypothetical question: What would you do if you had a dog that growled at your child. And you had this dog for several years and were attached to it. Would you get rid of the dog or would you keep the dog and just keep the child away from it?

Answer 1

That is how I got my last shelter dog. She was a little to aggressive with the children. They had to put her in a shelter. I am a single person, so it was a perfect match. She was a great dog.

Answer 2

I really dont think its fair to expect a nervous dog to spend extended periods of time around young children (who tend to be noisy and rough by nature, even when reasonably well behaved). When my children were that age, I made sure we had a big, mellow dog, who could easily tolerate the pinching, poking and hair pulling that can happen with small children, albeit unintentionally. Not to say that I did not teach my children how to behave (gentle is an important command for kids to learn), but small children do not have the coordination, focus and control necssary to be safe around a nervous dog. Plus your child is headed into an age when children typically go though a phase of rebellion against instruction. I would keep the two separate until the child is around three or so, and is capable of more control and understanding. An occasional treat from the baby is one thing, spending a lot of time in the same room together is another.

Answer 3

I would first teach my child to respect the dog. I would also make sure that the dog always knew I was the boss and that his actions were not acceptable. And if needed I would do more obedience training along with including my child when they were old enough. Teaching the dog that the child is above him in the pecking order can help with issues like this. And teaching children to respect any animal should be a given.
Growling does not always mean that a dog is out to bite you. Sometimes it's just a simple way for the dog to try to show dominance. Now if the dog were to viciously try to attack that would be a differnt story.

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Note: Many people seem to have a misconception of why a dog growls. It does NOT necessarily mean that the dog is dangerous. Many times a child will cause the dog to growl or even nip unintentionally. And it's not necessarily the dogs fault. Before jumping to the conclusion that the dog is dangerous, find out why it is growling.

Answer 4

I would wonder what my child was doing to make the dog growl. I would correct my child, and if it persisted, I would seek help with a veterinary behaviorist.
People need to realize that having a dog is a big responsibility. You cant just throw away a dog because a little kid may have pulled on its ears, or hurt the dog- they are only trying to defend themselves. I would growl at a little kid to if it did that to me. Teach your children to respect the animal, leave them alone while they are sleeping and eating. Let me ask you- if you had severe hip problems and you hurt all the time, and all of a sudden, someone slaps you really hard in that area, what would you do? You would give a warning- and thats what dogs do.

Answer 5

I wouldn't get rid of the dog. Dogs don't growl for no reason. The child probably provoked the growl which is not the childs fault unless he or she is old enough to know better (by five they should know right from wrong). As a parent you have the responsibility to make sure your child is not endangering himself or the family pet. For example you would not leave a child in a room alone with a fork and light socket so you should not leave your child alone in a room with the dog. This is common sense but then again common sense isn't very common.

Answer 6

That's a tough question! I would keep the dog away from the child while I worked it in TONS of obedience. Then test the training by putting the child in one room, the dog in another and separate them with a baby gate. If the dogs fails again, I would look for a new home for it without children.

Answer 7

When I adopted my first Great Dane, she really didn't like my 2 year old. She growled at him and even snapped at him a few times. She did it mainly when he was trying to climb onto her, but sometimes when he went to play with her toys too.
I sent her to a professional trainer for 2 1/2 weeks and that was one of the things that was worked on. Beyond that, we had him give her treats out of his hands, and I would put her in an alpha roll position and with him over her so she would understand to be submissive to him.
She's still a little tense around him, but I also know that kids shouldn't be left unsupervised around any dog. We've got another Dane now, and he tolerates anything my 2 y/o dishes out, so my 2 y/o naturally gravitates toward the male Dane anyway.
The number one thing is that the dog knows you are alpha. When Rucca gets figety around the baby, she looks to me to see my reaction to her. She knows that I'm in charge, and through my behaviors knows that I aknowlege the 2 y/o as a higher rank than her. That's what speaks volumes to dogs.

Answer 8

I am sorry but my children and their safty are more important then a dog. I don't care how much i love an animal but if it ever thought about growling or attacking my children it would have to go. also it depends on what the child was doing to the dog. sometimes dogs growl with no harm intended just to tell them to back off. my dog has growled at children before when the get to rough with him just to let them know. but it is different now then when they were little. but like i said beforre if the dog growled at them for no reason it would be gone in a heart beat.

Answer 9

First if one of my dogs ever growled at a child I would know exactly why because I would be right there supervising the whole time to begin with. Secondly if one of my dogs ever growled at a child they would be disciplined for it, even if it was the childs fault. Alot of people would just tell the kid not to do whatever, and yes I would do that as well but I would also make it very clear to the dog that that response was unacceptable, and I would show them what the correct response should be.. which is to leave the area and I would teach the child to understand if the dog walks away to leave the dog alone. Now finally I have 3 dogs and I have worked with them extensively to make sure that they don't respond aggressively in most situations... I have taught them that its ok to allow people near their food, and I can stick my face/hands etc right in their food dish and they never so much as flinch. Rough handling is another thing I work on with them, you know pulling the tail, ears, fur etc, handling the paws, muzzle, body etc, now don't get me wrong people I dont hurt them at all... I just make sure of desensitizing them to aggressive reaction, an example is blowing in their face, I do that occasionally as well and if they nip they are corrected. I make it a game, I blow on my dogs ears and he burrows into my armpit... he no longer gets annoyed by it. I know that my dogs will never have an opportunity to growl at a child because almost nothing a child could do would ever provoke them, unless of course the child was harming me.. which I can't see ever happening. All the training really pays off though, I can assure you... I had my 2 dogs over at my parents house one time and some family visited. They have 3 very badly behaved children who they do not supervise of discipline at all... they didnt even think twice about letting their kids harass my dogs, and I had to spend the whole time supervising and making sure everything was ok. My dogs were excellent in the face of it all, the kids would not listen to me no matter how much I tried to tell them what not to do so it was up to me and my dogs to deal with it... the little boy was pulling my dogs leg and hurt her before I could stop him and she merely whined, then the girl poked her in the eye with a straw, and she did nothing... (Keep in mind I didnt let them do this I was stopping them but it was hard to catch them all at once) then the little girl was grabbing my male dogs ahem privates and he also did nothing, those kids were a nightmare and my dogs took it all without ever growling once. Especially when the parents sat there and didnt even notice what their kids were doing to my dogs, while I was trying hard to keep them from doing the things they were doing without offending the parents.. Anyway if one of my dogs had of growled at those kids I wouldnt have blamed them at all, they would have still gotten a correction but it would have been justified and yes I would still have them. To me they are a lifetime commitment and you have to take the good with the bad.. if you take it seriously to begin with and properly raise your dogs though.. it should never be an issue you have to face.

Answer 10

Kids come first. I would never keep a dangerous dog around. I don't care how much I liked the dog. If it growled at my kid for no reason, I would get rid of it. Now if the kid was tormenting the dog and it growled, that is another matter.