# Puppy growling at kids



## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Two things:

1. At 12 weeks he is just trying to push buttons and see what he can get away with. It's quite a bit too early for him to be trying to be aggressive or mean to anyone - so it's not really that. He might be teething, so you will see a little more mouthiness and cranky attitude from him for a while.

Just don't let him get away with any attitude. A sharp 'no' correction timed as close to any wrinkly nose and growl from him. Follow that up with a little quiet time (crate or seperate room from kids). 

And get him into obedience training classes. 

2. Your babies need to be monitored when around the puppy. They must not ever be left alone with him until they are old enough to be careful (10+). Puppy thinks they are littermates and might playfight with them and hurt them. Playfighting or any roughness at all is unacceptable, because your kids are so little and your dog won't know his size or strength as he grows up. It will be hectic until your dog is old enough (a couple years) to be semi trusted around your babies, but you need to keep them from hurting him and him from hurting them. A little playing is fine, but they are learning how to behave too. If you are on the ball, it will work out fine.

@cats - generally it takes one swat from the cat to teach the puppy to have respect. Make sure they have a way to keep out of his reach or have an escape route, and it will work out.


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## Nicole74 (May 30, 2009)

Personally, I would keep the kids seperated with the dog at that this age. I went through my own dog biting my child(6 years old) when she was 4 months of age due to my daughter hugging and wanting to love the puppy. My children were never mean, I know this as I watch both of them very closely. I went through heck and back to try and correct this. Not only did I have to train the dog, I had to train my children to RESPECT my dog as well. That means no hugging and kissing on the head. It was so bad and I to call a behavioral specialist to help. Your puppy is going to be a very big problem if he is going to be protective of you. It might look cute now, but it will be very dangerous when he is 65lbs or more. It's best you take care of this asap. Personally, I would have a behavior specialist come into your house to help you with this. I wish you the best of luck!


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

Puppies CAN be aggressive at that age. If you think it was an aggressive display vs. a bratty one, it's wise to enlist the help of a qualified trainer.

In general aggression begets aggression... that is to say, dealing with it by using anger and physical corrections likely make the problem worse. Lots of management, supervision, some kid training on how to handle themselves around dogs... and again, find a trainer who can help you so that the problem doesn't get worse.

Not trying to scare you -- but really, if more people dealt properly with problems like this early on, fewer people would have dogs with serious behavior problems. You're not expected to know how to handle such behavior problems - and when it comes to aggression - especially with young kids in the home - one on one help with a professional is really helpful.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

> Puppies CAN be aggressive at that age


. 

:new (4): <- Self inflicted

She's right. Some puppies do start expressing themselves that early and it could lead to bigger aggression problems if not taken care of right now. Something you know already. 

This might not be your case, but I was thinking about my goldens who were all mouthy and obnoxious at that age. I mean, our current golden is not aggressive in the least. He's a squashy marshmallow. But when he was teething, he would get into what can only be described as 'fits' where he was angry at the world, growling, mouthing, and biting and chewing on everything he could fit his little mouth around. My mom called him the 'puppy from hell'. 

Our vet checked him out for any health problems, and then evaluated him for aggression - and he passed.

*Do definitely call a nearby professional dog trainer - but go with somebody who is reputable and knows what they are doing*. With my first golden (a grumpy redhead), I had the misfortune of going with somebody who didn't know what she was talking about. Her idea of training a 'dominant' dog was breaking him and constantly doing alpha pins to him every time he sassed. Good thing for my dog, we were beginners who didn't exactly follow through with training outside of class. We still screwed him up, but it wasn't as bad as it would have been if we 'broke' him.


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