snapping at my daughter
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| Sam probably views you as his pack leader or the Alpha, so he wouldn't dare to snap or bark at you. But your daughter might be viewed as an equal; after all, aren't your daughter and Sam both expected to obey you, to listen to you and follow your requests/commands? So Sam might feel the need to protect his possessions from her, and might view her as more of a peer. |
| yes, i do believe you are correct on all points, BUT, i can't have him snapping at her.....how can this be corrected? |
SamsMom wrote: yes, i do believe you are correct on all points, BUT, i can't have him snapping at her.....how can this be corrected?
It can't be corrected per se. But his outlook on life can be changed 
There are several things you can do. At least your daughter isn't a toddler. 1) Don't give him high value chew things out and about in the house unsupervised which means you don't leave them around. No chewies/bones except in his crate. 2) teach your daughter to stay away from him if he has any of these things or when he's eating for now so as to not provoke a confrontation. 3) you're obedience training him, right? She gets to help. The more she rewards him for sitting on (her!) command and all those good things (under your direct supervision) the more he gets it imprinted in his fuzzy brain that he has to listen to her too. 4) trade up. You do this first even though he's good with you: when he has something of medium value (say a ball he likes but doesn't go nuts over, just as example) tell him to give it to you and immediately reward him with something better (say a small piece of steak) Then give him his ball back. That teaches him (a) when he gives up something, he gets something better (hey, that's a deal we can all relate to) (b) just because he's asked to give something up doesn't mean he'll never get it back (in most cases - they also use this as a safety precaution for dogs who are wont to snatch things that can kill them if ingested and who would rather swallow it than give it back. Usually not as big a problem in our breed as it is in some retrieving breeds, for instance) Once he's happily (!!) giving up high value things to you, you can start with lower value things with your daughter, but always be right there to step in. I hate giving advice like this when kids are involved, because the margin of error for getting hurt is so much smaller than with an adult, even if you're talking an otherwise sweet puppy (in your favor: his age and that you're not waiting for it to escalate). I'd feel so much better if you had someone experienced around to help you 
Honestly, no one should ever state a breed is good with kids because every breed is made up of individuals and even though they have more in common with each other than most other breeds, they're still all different. Have OES coexisted successfully with kids? Absolutely. Especially your daughter's age and older. Toddlers can be dicey. For the longest time it seemed like every other rescue dog was turned in for not being good with kids (we still will only place a handful with kids, many rescues won't place any, ever, with young kids). That seems to have slowed down. These days, locally at least, we're just getting most of them in for people not having trained them and now they're a big puppy or a young adult and well on their way to monsterhood. Actually, the ten month old foster I have right now was given up for that reason, but I've had her less than two weeks and I absolutely adore her. She just needed some structure and guidance and the younger they are, the easier it is. Hope that helps some. If in any kind of doubt, consult a professional please. Not because he's a terrible dog but because it takes a little bit of finesse to nip this in the bud. And unless you've seen it in action, it's hard to take something online or out of a book and put it into practice. Kristine |
| Well, you have been beyond helpful. Thanks for all the advice. I think I may have his former teacher come in and assess the situation. In the meantime I will take your advice. Goodluck to you and your rescues. |
| Kristine's advice is really sound! I was going to suggest getting your daughter involved with the training, so your dog views her as more of a "commander" than a peer. But Kristine covered that, and a whole bunch more. |
Darth Snuggle wrote: Kristine's advice is really sound! I was going to suggest getting your daughter involved with the training, so your dog views her as more of a "commander" than a peer. But Kristine covered that, and a whole bunch more.
You're were absolutely on the right track. My first OES had issues with my younger sister, well, with kids in general. She was a soft, submissive dog who never would have questioned me taking anything away from her, but my sister was fair game in her book. So we had to rewrite the book. Her temperament didn't even begin to resemble sound, so I don't think I ever would have been able to really trust her around other kids no matter what we did, but she had to learn to understand that my sister had as many rights as any one else in the household. And she did. Frankly, if she could, a six month old presumably sound puppy should certainly be able to grasp the concept. Kristine |
Mad Dog wrote: ...a six month old presumably sound puppy should certainly be able to grasp the concept.
Kristine I think you are so right about this! Provided nothing else is at play here, a 6 month old puppy should grasp this concept well, provided theres consistency in the training. Our dogs take their cues from us, so we have to let them know what is acceptable and what isn't. |
| a good resource is also 4H - they have puppy classes (not necessarily only for puppies) in many areas where your daughter can learn to work with the puppy herself and establish her as a leader with the puppy.
As Kristine said the good thing is your daughter isn't a toddelr and a 9 year old can easily learn what behaviors are acceptable around the dog. |
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