# High prey drive and babies



## Irie (Aug 31, 2016)

I really need advice.

My 3y female GSD has a high prey drive. It is VERY high for rats and squirrels. 

She seems to very much like children, especially toddlers. She gets very soft/wiggly/submissive and wants to interact (same as how she greets adults). However, when she was initially rehomed to breed rescue as a 7m puppy, it was for nipping a child. For this reason I do not let her get near enough to nip children, but she never shows aggression. She was an extremely mouthy, nippy puppy. She has grown out of it, but she keeps tabs on anything that moves. She is also obsessed with anything that squeaks. She resource guards from other dogs, so my best guess is she was RG something from a child in her previous home? Or she was trying to play? (the rescue suggested the latter, as they were always "impressed with her loving spirit". They still adopted her out as a no-child dog. 

Well, that just changed...I recently found out I am pregnant. I have several months to prepare but I am seriously at a loss...I really feel she would be fine, but I want to be realistic. I already have a trainer we work with, and planned on letting them know soon so that they can help us. 

Any suggestions or resources?


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## tim_s_adams (Aug 9, 2017)

I had a good friend who had a GSD/Doberman puppy that had very high prey drive, and got very excited around little kids as a puppy. He even nipped toward them, never connecting thank God, when kids would move quickly around him. My friend and his wife had no kids when they got the puppy, but she got pregnant within 4 months of bringing him home, so a very similar situation.

I helped them desensitize their dog by tethering him out in an area where lots of kids were playing (for me this was just my front yard, as there were lots of kids in our neighborhood). After a few weeks he calmed down considerably, just from the exposure. Once he was able to remain calm with kids around, we started with some very careful introductions and petting (the dog was always on a leash, and watched very closely!). When their baby arrived, the dog was great around her - though I would never allow any dog anywhere near an infant without very close supervision! Not even for a second!

Every dog is different. Because you don't know the details of your dog's history, it is a good idea to assume the worst and approach exposing her to kids with caution. See what your trainer suggests, if you're reading your dog correctly though, it sounds like she'll be fine. Congratulations!


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## debr1776 (Feb 4, 2018)

I had a GSD/Belgian sheepdog that came to me at age 8 months. She'd previously lived with teenagers, but had little or no exposure to children. She was gentle with my neighbor's elementary school aged kid, but didn't love interacting with him.

Her first exposures to toddlers and preschoolers freaked her out. Their frenetic movement and high pitched loud voices clearly scared her. And just as I was explaining to a couple of kids that my dog didn't want to be patted just then, a two year old child came running up to her from another direction. My dog was on leash, and trapped within the corner of a stone wall, so she couldn't escape from the child. The screeching kid reached for my dog's face, and my dog reacted by snapping in the air (not actually making contact with the kid), exactly like she would if a fly were buzzing around her face. The kid's parents were as oblivious as their child, but I got myself between the kid and the dog as quickly as I could and showed the kid how to gently pat the doggie, which my dog accepted. (Yes, the entire incident was the fault of me and my husband 100%, not the dog's or the kid's.)

So when I became pregnant, I had some concerns about the dog. But the concerns really were for nothing. Little newborns just lie there and smell funny. And since they grow slowly, even dogs with no exposure to kids have time to slowly adjust to the behavior of the little human. Not that you shouldn't be cautious and never leave the dog alone with the baby, of course, but I think the odds are that this will work itself out on its own.

Congratulations on your pregnancy, by the way!


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## Riverbottom (Nov 25, 2017)

We had a GSD/lab mix for 3 years before my wife and I had our first child. The dog did not have much interaction with children beforehand, and was very prey driven. She wasnt a big biter, but tried a few times at the Vets. We had always used a "gentle" command to calm her down during rough play. We immediately started using that when the first baby came home. 

We said she had a "mothering" personality. Would always stand over the babies, never getting too close. She'd always position herself in between the babies and the stairs.

I agree completely with the others who say to watch closely and supervise everything. There are some sad stories out there, but who knows, things may go really well.


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