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getting worried about interaction with kids/friends

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2K views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  fullscale  
F
#1 ·
Hello there
We have a 5 month female and love her to bits, not having any kids ourselves she is spoilt rotten. but after reading redbirddogs post about kids are a bit nervous with what future holds.i have always had bull terrier crossed cattle dogs that children loved and dogs interaction was great.
we have attended puppy training,obedience since she turned 12 weeks and she has won 2 awards for best puppy in gundog group [confirmation to breed] from 2 shows, so very proud and delighted with her and she should have typical vizsla characteristics.
She runs riot at training though seems to be able to do any thing we ask but cant wait for others to have a go and her protest bark is very very loud but we are learning to deal with this and think with age she will be fine and competing at agility shows very competitively.
However when meeting people our place or outside we cant stop her jumping up which became a issue at dog park with a old cranky guy wanted me to pay cleaning bill for his 20 year old shirt, but i totally agreed with him dog should not be jumping on people but puppies do that till taught not to, on lead i can stop most of it but wife has trouble reading situation before she jumps up and we have stopped taking her to dog park off lead.
We have also asked friends with kids to visit and she was fine scared to begin with hiding between legs but then slowly sniffed kid and started to interact however as soon as kid moved away quickly could not resist nipping, mouthing pigtails and i am sure if i did not control situation would have jumped up and knocked her over, been OK with older kids smart enough to turn back when jumps up,but i have been within a couple of meters always to calm her down quickly and think she would get to boisterous if i leave here.
Question i have is do they grow out of this is this just puppy behavior or will we always have to hold her when greeting people and because we do not have kids never be allowed to play except by my side, i have made her sit and let new people come to her but as soon as they bend to pat she jumps up badly.
thanks for any advice
 
R
#2 ·
http://redbirddog.blogspot.com/2009/07/fear-of-toddlers-overcome.html

http://redbirddog.blogspot.com/2009/07/raina-and-jada-super-dog-training.html

http://redbirddog.blogspot.com/2011/07/lily-honorary-vizsla-pup.html

http://redbirddog.blogspot.com/2011/08/lily-honorary-vizsla-pup-comes-over-to.html

fullscale,
Get yourself some girls to help. Raina and Jada were great with Chloe. Take it slow. Cost me 4 gift certificates to the local ice cream parlor. The girls loved "training" my dogs on leash. We took it slow and steady until we got to the point that Chloe looked forward to seeing the girls.
Best investment I made in their training. Trumps the hunt training with Bailey.
Sounds like your addiction is full on. Have fun, don't be nervous. Your girl will feed of your emotions more then you think possible. Calm and assertive. Try and get the kids to be the same. That is what dogs understand.
Good luck.
RBD
 
L
#3 ·
Hi Fullscale,

Sounds like you've got a lovely and spunky 5 month little girl on your hands. I don't think you should ever just assume that your girl will grow out of a behavior.

I think redbirddog's suggestion of getting kids to help train is perfect. If your V listens well to correction (a sound like "eh" or "no") I would just start getting her around kids pronto. We used to picnic by playgrounds and have treats so the kids could feed Oso when they came over. Kids love puppies and especially feeding/training puppies. When Oso was little, I held the leash down so he couldn't jump. I would only let her run free with them once she gets her jumping under control.

For jumping, we used the spray bottle in combination with positive reinforcement for not jumping. First, we let all our neighbors know to approach slowly and to turn around if he jumped. We didn't post an announcement, just as they came to say hi, we told them. While they approached we clicked (with our clicker) and gave him a treat saying goodboy. If you time it right, she will be paying attention to you treating her when they approach instead of the excitement of them arriving. We also went to places with lots of people and just practiced this with every person who approached or walked by. 4 feet on the ground, praise and treat. When Oso did jump, we started using the squirt bottle. He acts like it's a bug biting him and didn't associate it with us, just attached a negative stimulus to jumping. He would even come over to us for comfort afterwards (poor baby).

After they get a hang of it you start intermittently reinforce it. Oso very very rarely jumps on anyone anymore. His ex dog walker, he still does and that's pretty much it. He is great with kids. The only thing he does is he will lick them in the face. But, he doesn't jump and is gentle with them. Different rules are for different groups of people/dogs. It was intuitive for him with kids, but not with little dogs. I don't let him bite/mouth when playing with little dogs and he had to learn that one through making mistakes and getting "eh" sounds or time outs.
 
F
#4 ·
Gday again.
well i took your advice and borrowed a mates daughter for a stay over well what a difference dog was when it finally settled down.
still had to hold her until Sophie was good with turning her back if she jumped but as soon as she made her sit and food reward dog did everything asked and slowed the jumping down, however when Sophie turned to run she couldn't help but grab her pigtails but after a half an hour they both learnt to play together well.
however on the walk to the shop today a little 2year boy wanted to pat her but she seems to go into overdrive whenever a child is near, too excited to stay still enough to let him get close to her and i guess it will be a long time before she will learns to be gentle with kids.
Hope the videos turn out of sophie training her.
 

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