# Small kids and unknown dogs



## Caitydid255 (Aug 28, 2010)

Today while doing some errands I took Freyja with me and decided to stop at the local Petco to pick her up a new brush. I figured with the snow it would be pretty empty inside, thus allowing me to work on some training in a new environment. I turned away from her for a second to pick the brush up off the rack, and when I turned around there was a small child ATTACHED to Freyja's neck. Poor Freyja was staring at me with this "Mommy, I don't like it, please get it off of me" expression. I unwrapped the kid's arms from her neck and sent him back to his mother. As he ran away I heard him yell "Mommy, I want one like that one!" Apparently his parents had taken him to the store to get puppy supplies and were going to the animal shelter next. 

I am so proud of my little girl. Freyja has little experience with children and has only been exposed to my Fiance's little cousins who are calm and well behaved. Her entire life she has never been manhandled by a child. I can't get over how well she behaved. Right after we left Petco I went to to grocery store and bought her a soup bone as a reward. She is currently curled up by my feet happily gnawing away.:wub:


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## CassandGunnar (Jan 3, 2011)

Sounds like she really earned that soup bone.


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## Caitydid255 (Aug 28, 2010)

CassandGunnar said:


> Sounds like she really earned that soup bone.


yes she did. She's going to be a spoiled pup tonight


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## Stevenzachsmom (Mar 3, 2008)

What a good girl. My poor old dog has been manhandled by kids her whole life. Fortunately, she LOVES every minute of it. Nothing like a bomb proof GSD.

I hope the animal shelter did a good job helping that little boy find the right dog. If so - lucky little boy and lucky dog.


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## iglinska1 (May 10, 2010)

I took my girl Koda, to work with 3 Autistic kids, and they pretended she was a dragon and were hitting her on the head, yelling "kill the dragon" and playing tug a way with her tail!!...
She just ignored the kids the whole time without any reaction  . GSD are the greatest with kids.


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## Puppy (Jan 31, 2011)

That sounds so sweet!! Your dog deserves to be spoiled after that!!


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

Good for her  Its always nice to see a dog behave well at the hands of a kid's "abuse"... you never know how that will go, and b/c of the ramifications of it going bad you can't really proof the dog for it on purpose.

I think we all (species I mean) have a naturally higher tolerance for babies.. think about it. Even smelly nasty animal's babies are cute to nearly any human's eyes. Probably deeply genetic. If we didn't have a natural high tolerance for kid's none of them would survive lol.


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## codmaster (Aug 5, 2009)

Caitydid255 said:


> Today while doing some errands I took Freyja with me and decided to stop at the local Petco to pick her up a new brush. I figured with the snow it would be pretty empty inside, thus allowing me to work on some training in a new environment. I turned away from her for a second to pick the brush up off the rack, and when I turned around there was a small child ATTACHED to Freyja's neck. Poor Freyja was staring at me with this "Mommy, I don't like it, please get it off of me" expression. I unwrapped the kid's arms from her neck and sent him back to his mother. As he ran away I heard him yell "Mommy, I want one like that one!" Apparently his parents had taken him to the store to get puppy supplies and were going to the animal shelter next.
> 
> I am so proud of my little girl. Freyja has little experience with children and has only been exposed to my Fiance's little cousins who are calm and well behaved. Her entire life she has never been manhandled by a child. I can't get over how well she behaved. Right after we left Petco I went to to grocery store and bought her a soup bone as a reward. She is currently curled up by my feet happily gnawing away.:wub:


 
Great dog! That is what a GSD (or any other dog for that matter) should do with any small child!


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## AbbyK9 (Oct 11, 2005)

> turned away from her for a second to pick the brush up off the rack, and when I turned around there was a small child ATTACHED to Freyja's neck. Poor Freyja was staring at me with this "Mommy, I don't like it, please get it off of me" expression. I unwrapped the kid's arms from her neck and sent him back to his mother.


I think Freyja did a wonderful job being so patient with the child, even if she does not have very much experience with kids. I also think you did a good job by removing the child from her neck and sending him back to his mom, knowing that your dog did not have a lot of experience with little kids and did not enjoy it!



> took my girl Koda, to work with 3 Autistic kids, and they pretended she was a dragon and were hitting her on the head, yelling "kill the dragon" and playing tug a way with her tail!!...
> She just ignored the kids the whole time without any reaction  . GSD are the greatest with kids.


I sure hope you removed her from this situation when she was having her tail tugged and when she was being hit on the head. While dogs should be tolerant of children, and most are (especially children with disabilities), I don't think it's fair to your dog to be expected to just put up with being hit and pulled on.


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## codmaster (Aug 5, 2009)

I see that Freya is only a puppy herself. Wouldn't we expect that a normal GSD puppy would be good with kids and very tolerant of them? 

I would, and the only thing I would be concerned with a normal temperament dog would be they might get too enthusiastic with the little kids and bump them or knock them down. I certainly wouldn't expect my dog to be agressive to kids, esp. the young little ones.

As a parent of course, I wouldn't trust my little kid with any strange dog that I didn't know - too many dogs do not have a good temperament and might act aggresively even to small children. That is certainly not normal behavior.


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## codmaster (Aug 5, 2009)

AbbyK9 said:


> I think Freyja did a wonderful job being so patient with the child, even if she does not have very much experience with kids. I also think you did a good job by removing the child from her neck and sending him back to his mom, knowing that your dog did not have a lot of experience with little kids and did not enjoy it!
> 
> 
> 
> I sure hope you removed her from this situation when she was having her tail tugged and when she was being hit on the head. While dogs should be tolerant of children, and most are (especially children with disabilities), I don't think it's fair to your dog to be expected to just put up with being hit and pulled on.


 
I suspect that the puppy might have enjoyed playing with the kids, if she was like many GSD puppies - as long as the kids weren't actually hurting her which it doesn't sound like they were.


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## AbbyK9 (Oct 11, 2005)

> I suspect that the puppy might have enjoyed playing with the kids, if she was like many GSD puppies - as long as the kids weren't actually hurting her which it doesn't sound like they were.


The poster did not say how old Koda was when this occurred, but she is 11 months (I think, from a previous post) now, so if this was recently, I would not consider her a puppy anymore.


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## codmaster (Aug 5, 2009)

AbbyK9 said:


> The poster did not say how old Koda was when this occurred, but she is 11 months (I think, from a previous post) now, so if this was recently, I would not consider her a puppy anymore.


The Op had the following in her block - Freyja GSD- 6/21/10.

So I assumed that meant that she was born in June of last year which would make her about 7-8 months old, if my assumption is correct that that date was her birthday.

I consider a 7/8 month old still very much a puppy. 

Even an 11 month old is very much a puppy - least the ones I have had were considered puppies at that age and generally acted like it.


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## AbbyK9 (Oct 11, 2005)

> The Op had the following in her block - Freyja GSD- 6/21/10.


Koda, the dog who interacted with the autistic children who hit her on the head and pulled her tail, is not the OP's dog but iglinska1's dog, further down in the thread.



> Even an 11 month old is very much a puppy - least the ones I have had were considered puppies at that age and generally acted like it.


I do not consider an 11 month old to be a "puppy" anymore.


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## kiwilrdg (Aug 26, 2010)

> As a parent of course, I wouldn't trust my little kid with any strange dog that I didn't know - too many dogs do not have a good temperament and might act aggresively even to small children.


The parents were not paying enough attention to their child. In a pet store where there could be many dogs of varying temperments the parents should have been watching the child to be sure that the child did not do exactly what the child did. Even if the body language of the dog was right and the child knew it it is just rude to interact with a dog without the owner's consent. Going for a dogs neck is also something a child should not do unless they know the dog very well. The parents should have been teaching things like that to the child before looking for a dog.

The child was lucky that the dog was a well behaved dog. At 7-8 months some dogs will try to play too rough with kids. It sounds like Freya is becoming less of a puppy and more of a young dog. She deserves treats.


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## Rerun (Feb 27, 2006)

I can appreciate the story for what it is - a cute story of a tolerant dog - but something to be learned from this if it truely occured as it's written: pay much better attention to your dog. This could have gone very wrong.

There is no way a child, or anyone for that matter, would be that close to me or my dog(s) without me realizing it. Puppy or not, my 7 month old Malinois wouldn't take kindly to anyone he didn't know attaching themselves to his neck.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

kiwilrdg said:


> The parents were not paying enough attention to their child. In a pet store where there could be many dogs of varying temperments the parents should have been watching the child to be sure that the child did not do exactly what the child did. Even if the body language of the dog was right and the child knew it it is just rude to interact with a dog without the owner's consent. Going for a dogs neck is also something a child should not do unless they know the dog very well. The parents should have been teaching things like that to the child before looking for a dog.
> 
> The child was lucky that the dog was a well behaved dog. At 7-8 months some dogs will try to play too rough with kids. It sounds like Freya is becoming less of a puppy and more of a young dog. She deserves treats.


I agree, I hope the parents or shelter will educate the child on approaching dogs or that child will be a bite statistic.
Too bad schools don't have a day where shelter or AC's come in and talk about animal husbandry, body language, manners and just common sense when it comes to animals.
Freya did great, I know my dogs would _not _have!


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## codmaster (Aug 5, 2009)

AbbyK9 said:


> The poster did not say how old Koda was when this occurred, but she is 11 months (I think, from a previous post) now, so if this was recently, I would not consider her a puppy anymore.


 
Have you read post #1? That is the one I was commenting on - the one with the original poster and her dog.

BTW - if an 11 month old is not a puppy in your opinion, at what age does a GSD stop being a puppy and become an adult GSD?

My breeder and numerous other GSD people have told me that male GSD's esp. will not really mature till about 3 years old.


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## AbbyK9 (Oct 11, 2005)

> Have you read post #1? That is the one I was commenting on - the one with the original poster and her dog.


Scroll back up and read my previous posts, please. The dog KODA who was being hit on the head and had her tail pulled by the autistic children is NOT the dog in the original post. It's a dog that was mentioned FURTHER DOWN in the thread.

Dogs stop being "puppies" around 8 to 9 months, IMHO - that's usually when their "puppy card" wears out with other adult dogs, too, and they no longer get away with murder. They're not yet fully matured and they've not yet started to fill in, but they are no longer "puppies".


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## codmaster (Aug 5, 2009)

AbbyK9 said:


> Scroll back up and read my previous posts, please. The dog KODA who was being hit on the head and had her tail pulled by the autistic children is NOT the dog in the original post. It's a dog that was mentioned FURTHER DOWN in the thread.
> 
> Dogs stop being "puppies" around 8 to 9 months, IMHO - that's usually when their "puppy card" wears out with other adult dogs, too, and they no longer get away with murder. They're not yet fully matured and they've not yet started to fill in, but they are no longer "puppies".


Please read my post if you want to comment on it, please. 

The following message below is what I was commenting on: "..*and when I turned around there was a small child ATTACHED to Freyja's neck. Poor Freyja was staring at me with this "Mommy, I don't like it, please get it off of me" expression*."

You can obviously think of dogs as stopping being "puppies" at any age you want to of course. But the majoritity of breeders and trainers that I have had contact with, as well as most owners and other folks who know dogs, and esp. male GSD's would consider a 6-12 mo dog as a puppy. 

That is why the classes for 6-18 mo dogs in dog shows are called "Puppy classes". 

I know that my own dog, a male GSD, has changed his behavior considerably as he matured into an adult dog from when he was 11 or 12 mo and now when he is 3 yo.

If you have a 6 mo + dog who acts like a true adult GSD, then that is great for you. 

BTW, if a 12 mo GSD is no longer a "puppy", but not yet an adult (and mature), what do you call them?


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## codmaster (Aug 5, 2009)

Rerun said:


> I can appreciate the story for what it is - a cute story of a tolerant dog - but something to be learned from this if it truely occured as it's written: pay much better attention to your dog. This could have gone very wrong.
> 
> There is no way a child, or anyone for that matter, would be that close to me or my dog(s) without me realizing it. Puppy or not, my 7 month old Malinois wouldn't take kindly to anyone he didn't know attaching themselves to his neck.


Very true about watching your dog - absolutely! Not to mention that the parent should also be watching their child!

On the other hand, a dog should certainly not react aggressively to such a small child (or any other friendly person) approaching in my opinion.

If a dog is that aggressive, then maybe we should think twice about bringing them into an area where it is possible that small children will likely be present, until and unless they are better trained?


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## gsdraven (Jul 8, 2009)

codmaster said:


> BTW, if a 12 mo GSD is no longer a "puppy", but not yet an adult (and mature), what do you call them?


An adolescent. (aka Teenager)


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## AbbyK9 (Oct 11, 2005)

> Please read my post if you want to comment on it, please.


In that case, you may want to quote better / more correctly when RESPONDING to me. I was commenting on YOUR RESPOSE to my post about KODA, which you QUOTED. XD

Of course, since you are NEVER happy unless you are arguing with someone, I am now through with you on this subject matter.


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## codmaster (Aug 5, 2009)

AbbyK9 said:


> In that case, you may want to quote better / more correctly when RESPONDING to me. I was commenting on YOUR *RESPOSE (?)* to my post about KODA, which you QUOTED. XD
> 
> Of course, since you are NEVER happy unless you are arguing with someone, I am now through with you on this subject matter.


Good. At last, Peace!


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## codmaster (Aug 5, 2009)

gsdraven said:


> An adolescent. (aka Teenager)


 
Heh! Heh! 

Very true, and they may have very different temperaments than when they get to be an adult!


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## Caitydid255 (Aug 28, 2010)

I now understand that GSD's are supposed to act the way Freyja did, but prior to Angus and Freyja I have never had many positive experiences with GSDs and children. My father's old GSD Patton, HATED children (neighborhood children snuck into my parents yard one day and abused him as a puppy still don't know that whole story). I even had to be kept away from him, once I reached eye height. My aunt has had several GSDs and I now understand that their behavior was due to a lack of socialization and training but they were aggressive. You can't look at her current dog's face without him snarling. I grew up believing at all GSDs hated small children. I know know that I was wrong.


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## Good_Karma (Jun 28, 2009)

Niko has always been afraid of kids. In the puppy social hour class we took, the only sounds that they played that bothered him was the one of the baby crying (he barked, and would not stop until the tape was shut off). 

He has always tried to get away from children (in his second puppy class they played pass the puppy and he really looked uncomfortable when kids were petting him), and since he behaved this way as a very young puppy, I have kept kids at arm's length from him. I do not want him pushed past his tolerance level. I would never let a child near him unless I knew the kid would behave exactly the way I wanted him to in his approach to Niko (and let's face it, kids are not predictable).

All you with GSDs that are cool with kids, count your blessings!


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## codmaster (Aug 5, 2009)

Good_Karma said:


> Niko has always been afraid of kids. In the puppy social hour class we took, the only sounds that they played that bothered him was the one of the baby crying (he barked, and would not stop until the tape was shut off).
> 
> He has always tried to get away from children (in his second puppy class they played pass the puppy and he really looked uncomfortable when kids were petting him), and since he behaved this way as a very young puppy, I have kept kids at arm's length from him. I do not want him pushed past his tolerance level. I would never let a child near him unless I knew the kid would behave exactly the way I wanted him to in his approach to Niko (and let's face it, kids are not predictable).
> 
> All you with GSDs that are cool with kids, count your blessings!


 
Very true!


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