Re: Fear of children

In Reply to: Re: Fear of children
Category:   
Posted by:  Marie Evans
Posted on:  February 26, 2003 at 18:05:01

: : My 1.5 yr old female spayed JRT, Turbo, is very uncomfortable with children. She normally has a wonderful temperament (both her vet and our trainer have complemented me on how friendly and nonaggressive she is) and is even submissive with other dogs.

: : I am a college student living in a college town, and therefore we rarely see children, even at the park, and I don't know anyone who has children. I suspect my dog is scared of kids because she hasn't really been exposed to them. I got Turbo at 8 weeks from a breeder without children, so I don't think it is possible that any negative experience with kids could have happened.

: : Yesterday a 10 yr old girl (rough guess) approached me while I was walking Turbo and asked if she could pet her (bless her parents for teaching her to ask first!). The girl was very calm and non-threatening, but even when I had her squat down and avert her eyes so that she wasn't sending any type of aggressive signals with her body language, Turbo was still pulling on the leash to get away. Had this been an adult, Turbo would have been running up to investigate the wonderful new friend! This is not the first time Turbo has shown a desire to avoid children. She never growls or barks, or otherwise acts aggressive in these situations, just simply tries to run away.

: : Any suggestions on how to acclimate Turbo to children? Since I don't know any and even in public (like at parks and the pet store), I don't think most parents would go for their children petting dogs who are afraid of kids, I am at a loss for how to get Turbo to realize that children are just as friendly and nice as adults.

:
Response:

: Hi Sebastian,

: I understand how difficult this can be, because my Brody had children issues when we rescued him. He had fear aggression issues with kids, I think he might have been teased a lot, even hearing children on television would set him off in an aggressive posture.

: We don't have children either and where we live there just isn't a whole lot of kids that even go by our house.

: I knew though the worst thing to do was to shelter him from children and that he needed to be better socialized with them and understand not all children were going to tease him.

: I am lucky enough to own another JRT that I raised as a pup that loves everyone. So what we did was start to take them both to flea markets, into our little downtown, everywhere and anywhere that children might be.

: We didn't allow children to approach Brody and told them that Brody was afraid of them but they could go and pet Beavis and we had treats handy so they could offer them. So Brody sat and watched while kids would fuss over Beavis and give him treats.

: We continued to do this frequently and for a good while until we thought that Brody was coming around. He did, I have shared the story here probably a few times but needless to say the day I knew Brody had overcome his fears of children brought tears to my eyes. He is not very good with children and not afraid of them anymore.

: So I suggest you find a friend with a rock-steady dog and go places and do what I did with Brody. These terriers are smart and I am sure once Turbo sees the kids petting and treating the other dog she will come around.

: You of course will need to tell parents what you are trying to accomplish and ask if it's okay for the kids to handle the other dog and keep Turbo a bit away but still close enough to see what is going on. You know your dog, and you will know when she is ready to have children pet her.

: This will not happen overnight Sebastian but your dog is still a pup and hasn't had any bad experiences with kids so it should take you a lot quicker than it did with Brody. Brody was already 1½ years old when he came to live with us, so we had some major damage control to do with him.

: Hope this helps!
: Marie

Response:

Oops! I should look at what I type before I send it!

It should have read about Brody is NOW very good with children and not afraid of them anymore.

And I even though your Turbo is the same age as Brody was when we got him, your girl never got teased by children so her problem isn't with aggression it's more with getting more exposure to humans she's not certain about.