Let's See Your Dogs!!

It'll take some time to adjust. like @CaptAmerica said, he's just trying to figure things out. Dogs have a hierarchy and is trying to figure out where he relates to your daughter in this relationship (and like "cap" said, make sure he knows that she is higher in respect and authority). How old are the dog and daughter? I know my dog is not a friend of little kids, thinks they are some kind of threat (mine isn't around little ones often either). Don't rush it though, once the dog sees that she is there all the time, they'll get along.

 

Yeah, just have a sit down with your daughter on one side, and the dog on the other, and let him know that she is loved by you...and that he is loved by you. Almost like adopting an older kid into the family, they think they are threatened in some way. It'll take a few days for him to relax and see she is part of the pack. Let him see you giving your daughter lots of attention too. He sees you and your wife as the authority, and unsure of your daughter. Needs to know that she is loved by you and he'll come around...haha!

 

Yeah, he'll come around. Just trying to get a reaction. Sounds like you have a decent grasp on the situation. Just got to let time bring him in and calm him down.

 

Rewarding him when he's calm is step one. Step two is having her reward him when he's calm. Step 3 will happen sometime when he realizes his place and determines that the tiny human is "his" and someone he must protect and love.

 

Yep. Good luck to you both.

 

My friends dog went through all this crap and the one thing that really worked for him was CBDs.

 

For some dogs, walks won't cut it. I know it doesn't for my lab. If he's ball driven, running him will be a breeze. 10-15 minutes of Chuck it is all my dog needs, then he's content.

 

Lol. Some other suggestions I've seen are to play mental games with them. Sounds weird, but apparently you can wear them out just as easily hiding stuff and making them use their brain. Really smart breed's often need this.

 

I have a suggestion pertaining to the barking in the face. I’d recommend purchasing a soft muzzle off Amazon. (They are pretty cheap)
Whenever the dog barks in her face YOU put the muzzle on and put him in a time out in say a dark laundry room or bathroom for 5 minutes. When the allotted time is up, bring the dog out and have your daughter remove the muzzle and set him free. It worked magnificently with my German Shepherd when he had pretty bad aggression towards friends and family who would come over to visit. Hope this helps. It worked for me.

 

You will just need to teach your dog a replacement behavior. Have treats ready and as soon as he starts to "act up" by reacting to your daughter physically move between them and use your hip or legs to redirect their attention away from her. As soon as he breaks eye contact and reacts to your actions reward him with a treat. While you have his attention, keep it by practicing a few basic commands and have him perform those commands and receive rewards. That way he will not equate being rewarded for barking at your daughter. Then allow normal interaction and see if he returns to the barking behavior. If he does then repeat. And repeat. And repeat. Do you have a trigger word that you use that reinforces the behavior that you are targeting? For our 8+ month only black lab mix we use the word "Yes", said in an upbeat and positive way each time she does what we want. We follow that with "good girl" but we got away from using good girl all the time as we found that we had a habit of saying good girl even when she was not in a training or learning atmosphere.

 

Yes, I should’ve been a little more clear on that. If it’s just an attitude thing then the soft muzzle shouldn’t be necessary. The time out should suffice. But the key to this method is to have the person (your daughter) be the one to release or “free” the dog from punishment. You might be surprised how much they’ll begin to like the person after having been saved a couple times. Haha

 

Humans understand the meaning behind Time out, but dogs don't think that way. You'll be better off with a quick correction. A fast no or quiet while grabbing the snout will be more effective.

 

I’d imagine that would depend on the breed. You might get good results with something like a lab or that’s submissive and gentle natured. But if you start popping the dog on the nose are grabbing the snout on something stubborn or prone to aggression it might back fire one day. Especially if a child is involved.

 

Sometimes there is no rational explanation also. Recently our pup Charlotte was reacting very defensively to a bag of dog bone like treats. She would sniff the bag and immediately back away and bark like the bag was evil or there was something inside of it that would get her. We took the treat out and offered it to her and she had the same reaction. We tried offering the treat to her in several different situations with the same result. Then we took her to my in-laws house where my sister in law was also visiting with her two dogs. We pulled the treat out and showed it to Charlotte with the same reaction. One of the other dogs came over and grabbed the treat and took it away to chew on it. Charlotte looked at the other dog eating the treat for a minute, then went over and immediately tried to take the treat from the dog. We gave Charlotte another treat from the same bag and she took it without hesitating and proceeded to start chewing it. 5 days later the treat is almost gone and she has been chewing on it each night. Who knows why??????

 

I've never popped any of my dogs. I should have been more clear. I walk over and direct his attention to me by grabbing his nose, no pressure. Then say quiet. He's a year and a half now. It's been a long time since he's needed any correcting.

 

I think you are on the right track. I would recommend rather than having any type of negative reaction to teach the dog to go to a place they feel safe. We are working with Charlotte to teach her to go to her blanket on command. It is a long, slow process but the ultimate goal will be to be able to give her a command and have her go to the safe spot when we need to. That might be when guests arrive that she does not know or even for something simple like opening the stove. I can detail the process you use to get your dog to learn this behavior if you are interested but the idea is to take a nervous behavior and replace it with a safe behavior.

 

Here he is wishing I'd get off the stupid phone.

 

I guess I’ll throw up a picture sense I’m back in this thread. This is Draco. 3 yrs old now.

 

The crate, or his "home" is a good idea. We chose a blanket specifically because the dog goes everywhere with us. If we use a blanket we can take it with us and set it up in a specific place in someone else's house, or even outside, show her where it is, practice a few times so she can find it then we can use it whenever we like. Also, while the blanket and her crate are both "safe" places for her, they serve different purposes. The crate is her place to go to whenever SHE wants to. The blanket is a place where WE want her to go.

 

The trainer my girlfriend and I have mentioned how crucial it is for an animal to have there own space. Like you said, a place that they can go to that is theirs.