# Teach my dog to calm down with my kids



## brittanyb28 (Dec 16, 2013)

So my dog has been doing great with me and my husband. No more jumping and minimal play biting. He is a year old and we've had him for about a mth so far and his previous owner didn't teach him. 

But with my kids, he gets hyped up, jumps on the and play bits. Basically reverting back to what he used to do. Why does he not do that with us adults but does it with my children? Need help with this because my kids can't interact with him so I have keep them separated which is not fair for neither of them. 


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## OUbrat79 (Jan 21, 2013)

My boy Ammo had this same problem. It was like he viewed them as litter mates. We tried a lot of things to change it. The only thing that seemed to really help was having my kids turn their back to him and ignore his behavior. He would run up to bite at them and they would immediately turn around. I made them stay where they were so it didn't seem like they were running from him. It only took a couple times and he stopped all together. Since then we have not had to deal with him biting at them. Hope this helps, good luck.


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## brittanyb28 (Dec 16, 2013)

I will see if this helps, he is just so big and my kids aren't as big as him so he just knocks them over, then humps them on the ground. He got neutered 2 weeks ago but the vet said it could take upwards of 4 weeks to loose the testosterone in his blood. I am working with my kids to not be scared because he's not wanting to hurt them, just play. 


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## brittanyb28 (Dec 16, 2013)

Just to add my kids are 11, 9 and 4. Blue stands as tall as my oldest when he jumps up. 


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## OUbrat79 (Jan 21, 2013)

brittanyb28 said:


> Just to add my kids are 11, 9 and 4. Blue stands as tall as my oldest when he jumps up.
> 
> 
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Mine are 10, 8, and 2.


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## Sansa's Mom (Dec 10, 2013)

Your kids are roughly the same age as mine (12, 8, 6). IMO, its more about training the kids than the dogs. I have gotten my kids to stop speaking in high pitched voices around the dog, which helped a lot. It seems like the higher pitched they get, the more worked up the dog gets. Another thing is I have my kids make sure to walk, not run in front of the dog. I make sure that my kids know to turn to the side and ignore Sansa if she tries to jump on them, also to say "no bite" and stand and ignore her if she gets too mouthy. It has worked really well and my dog stays relatively calm around my kids. 

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## brembo (Jun 30, 2009)

Sansa's Mom said:


> Y IMO, its more about training the kids than the dogs.


BINGO! Dogs listen and learn. Kids learn at a frightening pace, but listening is not a strong suit. Kids tend to be all over the place, their minds are freakishly adept at switching gears. Dogs are laser focused. The mixture of the two learning types makes for difficulties.

My advice? You know your kids better than anyone, you know your dog better than anyone. Figure out what motivates the kiddos to do what YOU tell them to do(that is not be spastic curtain crawlers when the dog is around) and watch as the dog follows suit. The dog is going to be the (hopefully) control in this experiment.


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## brittanyb28 (Dec 16, 2013)

Yes I will definitely try to control the environment. The kids are learning that jumping, running and getting excited in return gets the dog excited. I did have my oldest come to my dog yesterday and just stand next to him. He did knock him over and bit at him with him just standing there so I will try to get my oldest to turn his back an ignore. My four year old is terrified I the dog so I will need to work on him the most. 


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

One thing I have been doing with Beau and the new cats is first wearing him out with excercise then putting him on a place command on his dog bed. He has to learn it is normal for them to run around, play, etc and he cannot be a part of it. It seems to be helping a good bit.


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## dpc134 (Jan 14, 2013)

You could train your kids to turn their backs and ignore, and that will work for them. But what about other children who arent trained? 
My advice, train the dog that jumping up and biting is unacceptable behavior. This way, your dog wont jump up on anybody.
I simply used a few corrections when my dog jumped up on people and her behavior was corrected and she no longer jumps up on people unless I tell her it is ok (I only do this with my family members who invite her to jump up and play). I know she is excited and wants to play with everybody, but it is in the best interest of the owner and dog to not be jumping up on strangers.
Some dogs will simply grow out of this and just stop jumping up all the time, so you could just wait if you dont want to use corrections.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

I would immediately take control over the dog and the kids. He has already bitten and is jumping on them. You cannot expect these young kids to train him by turning their backs on him. He is too strong for that. Both kids and dog need more exercise outside and management it sounds like. You cannot sit back and hope "it will pass, it is just a stage" and it still needs to be addressed.
Keep the dog on leash in situations where he may get all wound up and practice his obedience. Is he in a class? Neutering alone won't fix this. Teach the kids appropriate ways to work with him with structured play, teach them how to feed him and never leave them alone with him.


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## brittanyb28 (Dec 16, 2013)

wolfy dog said:


> I would immediately take control over the dog and the kids. He has already bitten and is jumping on them. You cannot expect these young kids to train him by turning their backs on him. He is too strong for that. Both kids and dog need more exercise outside and management it sounds like. You cannot sit back and hope "it will pass, it is just a stage" and it still needs to be addressed.
> Keep the dog on leash in situations where he may get all wound up and practice his obedience. Is he in a class? Neutering alone won't fix this. Teach the kids appropriate ways to work with him with structured play, teach them how to feed him and never leave them alone with him.


I understand where you are coming from. The neutering comment was just for the humping ordeal, I'm am not expecting him to change jumping and biting because of a neuter. What is your suggestion for a correction of this behavior? I will try having them give him treats with commands like the adults. I am way to worried to leave them alone together at the moment. 


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## brittanyb28 (Dec 16, 2013)

So I tried the turning around ignoring correction with my kids today and he would find a way to latch onto their waists and pull them down every time. Is there another way to teach my kids and the dog to communicate? 

Just a note, my kids were just standing still, arms down so no interaction. There was no excited movements or sounds. They turned around when he jumped. 


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

brittanyb28 said:


> I understand where you are coming from. The neutering comment was just for the humping ordeal, I'm am not expecting him to change jumping and biting because of a neuter. What is your suggestion for a correction of this behavior? I will try having them give him treats with commands like the adults. I am way to worried to leave them alone together at the moment.
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


Reward him when he is close by the kids and behaving well so you are catching him being good. Check out Dog Books, Dog Training Books, Dog eBooks, DVDs, Audio CDs, and Dog Toys ? Dogwise.com for books about this subject.
And again: exercise, management (leashing, crating) and training (both kids and dogs)


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## brittanyb28 (Dec 16, 2013)

Something I've been doing lately is having my children holding treats and I have the clicker. When he approaches them good I click and they treat. Also I have been having my kids jump and scream in front of him, if he sits or lies down, click and treat. It's been a few days and so far I think it's working. I had him off the leash with my four year old in the living room and he just jumped once. This never happens. Having my kids also doing the normal sit, stay, down and come so he's used to them giving him demands. I am also doing heal training and focus training for when things get out of hand. 

I have a lot of work to do! But he's worth every bit of it. I just can't believe his previous owner never trained him. I think he spend most of the time outside also. 


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## brittanyb28 (Dec 16, 2013)

This is one of our exercises today. My youngest son playing video games with the volume all the way up. When he sat or lyes down, I clicked and gave treat. This might not seem like much but my youngest use to not be able to even step foot into the same room as Blue without jumping and biting. 


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)




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## OriginalWacky (Dec 21, 2011)

It sounds to me like you are doing a great job, and should keep going like you are. If you're making this kind of progress, it should continue to get better, especially as he figures out how to get more and more rewards for proper behavior. Eventually you'll be able to move to a variable reward system, and phase out the treats, but it's a good idea to do some refreshers every so often just to keep it interesting. 

Between that and making sure he's getting plenty of exercise, it sounds like you are on the way to having a best friend for your kids.


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## brittanyb28 (Dec 16, 2013)

So with my youngest and oldest, he is doing great but my middle son it's like he is 2x worse. Why is he getting worse with the middle child and better with the other two? 


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## OriginalWacky (Dec 21, 2011)

brittanyb28 said:


> So with my youngest and oldest, he is doing great but my middle son it's like he is 2x worse. Why is he getting worse with the middle child and better with the other two?
> 
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


It's hard to say without seeing everything in action, but it's likely that there's something different middle is doing that is keying him up more, probably something really minor. You're probably just going to need to keep working through is, as you'll often have an 'extinction burst' when working on bad habits.


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## halo2013 (Jan 6, 2014)

brittanyb28 said:


> So my dog has been doing great with me and my husband. No more jumping and minimal play biting. He is a year old and we've had him for about a mth so far and his previous owner didn't teach him.
> 
> But with my kids, he gets hyped up, jumps on the and play bits. Basically reverting back to what he used to do. Why does he not do that with us adults but does it with my children? Need help with this because my kids can't interact with him so I have keep them separated which is not fair for neither of them.
> 
> ...


I have 2 5 yr olds and a 2 year old. Halo loves kids. Like when she sees a kid her whole life lights up. When we have the 3 of the kids here I find its usually always then kids that start romping around with her. Then she naturally thinks its play time. So when I trained her I had all 3 of them there and taught her acceptable.behavior with all of them. Showed the kids and her a perfect balance where she wasn't to hard and they all could play. 

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## halo2013 (Jan 6, 2014)

I just found i couldn't train her without the kids knowing their boundaries with playing. We've had no problems since then

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## Midnight12 (Jan 6, 2012)

I have also found it helpful for the kids to do some training with my help of course. Treats and commands to sit, down, stay. Seems to change the way the dog views them


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## brittanyb28 (Dec 16, 2013)

What do you do when everyone is outside and your kids want to run. When one of my kids start running the dog runs after them but tackles them. I don't care that he wants to run with them but how do I stop the tackle. 


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## brittanyb28 (Dec 16, 2013)

What do I do when one of my kids wants to run outside and he runs after them and tackles them to the ground. I don't care that thy run together but how do I stop the tackle. 


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