# How to safely desensitize to kids?



## Ranger (Nov 11, 2009)

Wow, had a scary incident the other day. Ranger and Blue (my brother's dog) were outside a busy little cafe while my brother and mom were chatting and drinking coffee. This little kid approached the dogs and reached out to pet Blue (but luckily was a few feet away still) and Blue went nuts and snarled/lunged at the kid with his hackles up. Thank goodness the kid's mom was really good and she blamed it on her kid not approaching the dogs properly. She took her kid and made him approach the dogs the right way and Blue was fine with getting pets from the kid. Kid and mom go inside to get coffee and my brother's telling my mom how weird it was that the "dogs" didn't like that child. Ranger's dislike was shown by him ignoring the kid, not snarling at him! Then, it gets worse...

Ranger was on the left side of the table and Blue was on the right side (thank GOD) and two other little kids came SCREAMING up out of nowhere and pretty much *tackled* Ranger, who had been looking the other way and proceeded to poke him all over. Ranger was fine with the kids - he barely even startled and put up with their poking while my mom tried to get them to stop. Blue, meanwhile, was going ballistic on the other side of the table. If the dogs' positions had been reversed, there's no doubt in my mind that Blue would have bitten these kids. As it was, he was snarling and snapping at them from the other side of the table as Ranger was getting poked and prodded. 

Now, really, my brother or mom should have been more aware of what was going on, but apparently mom was distracted by something and a spider bit my brother so he too was distracted and didn't see the kids coming. Brother says the kids came out of nowhere and they didn't have a second's warning. In a perfect world, kids wouldn't approach dogs when screaming and running...but it's far from a perfect world. If Blue had been in Ranger's place, he WOULD have bitten those kids and no matter that the kids were at fault...Blue'd have a bite record. 

So my question is, how can we safely desensitize Blue to kids? He's never really liked them - has always kinda growled or raised his hackles at them, but he's NEVER lunged or snapped at them. This incident has really shaken my brother out of his blase attitude that Blue's "perfect" (there's been warning signals that this was going to happen) and he now wants to work on it before something bad happens and Blue ends up paying the consequences. I think he needed to see that Ranger was fine with the kids otherwise he'd have written it off as "both dogs were scared" when in fact, Ranger couldn't have cared less. 

We've had the neighbour kids give Blue cookies and Blue seems okay with them. I praise Blue when the kids are in the backyard and he doesn't growl at them but it's kids in general. Blue can be a little nervous and we're working on getting his confidence up in general and hoping that will help with his dealings with kids.

Any specific advice or things we should be doing?


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## 2DogsN3Cats (May 25, 2010)

Wow..That is a really freaky situation, nothing like having 2 dogs getting blasted by kids twice in one day! Poor pups!

I really have no clue what advice to offer. I would definately keep up the positive reinforcement though. What about being able to take Blue for walks near playgrounds or whatnot and treating him when he goes past without reacting to the kids running around and playing. Also are there more kids (rather than just the same ones) you can use to give Blue treats or play with him to help get him used to different kids...I dont know if that would help at all. 

My doxie doesnt like little kids, unfortunately its also pretty much a breed trait, he is good with the kids he sees on a regular basis but if we drive by a playground it literally sounds like I have a rottie in my back seat. Bf never believed me that Franklin was like that till we drove past a school during recess time. Max however is happy to sit on a kids toes and get petted poked and prodded, as long as someones hands are on him he is a happy camper. Its when a kid stops petting him that he acts like a lunatic.


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

I'd find a good, positive based trainer to work with. IMO, too much is at stake to try and interpret training advice off an Internet site.

In the meantime, it's very important that your mom, brother and whoever is out with Blue be VERY diligent to avoid ambushes by little people. The more he practices the aggressive behavior, the better he'll get at it.

The answer will likely lie in desensitization and counter-conditioning -- which MUST be done in such a way as Blue is always kept sub-threshold. Often involves getting up and moving away from kids, changing directions on walks, etc. so that Blue is never close enough to the kids to feel he must growl or even hackle and then you can feed great treats to slowly build the new association.


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## BayBeams (Jan 3, 2010)

Until your brother is able to resolve this problem I wouldn't be taking Blue anywhere where children may approach and your brother is not paying 100% attention to his dog. That may mean Blue can't be out in public if your brother is going to be preoccupied and the attention is not on the dog.
Dogs attract children and rightly or wrongly they will approach and want to touch the dog. You can't blame the children because kids will be kids and when a child is bitten the dog will ultimately pay the price.
Please suggest to your brother that he get some professional assistance with his pup before he is forced to make a terrible decision.


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## Ranger (Nov 11, 2009)

Thanks guys. I think part of the problem was Blue was never taken anywhere when he was pup so didn't get used to anything (kids included) and now he gets startled/scared and has started reacting this way. Steph, I think you are exactly right about his "practising the aggressive behaviour" because it's gotten worse and worse. There were a lot of "warning signs" this was going to be an issue and my brother chose to ignore them when I was pointing them out to him. Now it's finally gotten to the point where it's so bad, my brother can't ignore it. 

Thank goodness Ranger was there and his usual calm self with kids. Otherwise my brother would have been rationalizing it (again) that "every dog would have reacted that way" and then continue to not do anything. We've contacted a good trainer (helped me deal with some minor Ranger issues when I got him) and I told my mom (Blue's main walker) that they shouldn't hang out at cafes or anything anymore and if a child approaches on a walk, to say that he's not good with kids and then walk away if they persist. 

Thanks again for the advice and support guys!


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