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Dog snaps at baby.
Hello everyone, I have a 9 month old little boy (Zach) and a 7 year old female Chihuahua/Sheltie mix (Noni) who do not coexist well together. Before Zach was born we played the baby sounds, and let her smell everything baby related that came into the house. We brought the clothes home from the hospital to let her smell, when we got out of the hospital we went in, one at a time without baby to greet her and let her get some energy out, but none of this seems to have helped.
I should mention first that Noni has a history with children. When my cousin's kid was three or four she drug Noni around the kitchen tile floor by her collar. I wasn't in the room when this was happening but walked in at the end and told her to let go of my dog immediately. As soon as she let go, Noni bit her. A well deserved bite if you ask me, but she's been untrusting of children ever since.
When Zach was tiny Noni acted like he was just a disruption to her sleep habits. She wasn't really interested in him and everything was good. Now that he's mobile, however, she snaps at him whenever she gets the chance. She lunge/snapped when he got within 5 feet of her food. He flailed, not even in her direction like babies tend to do and she snapped at him then, and the most recent time was a few days ago when I was on the floor with Zach and she snapped at him repeatedly in just a few seconds.
I honestly don't know what to do with her. I try to keep Zach away from her food and bed because she's most protective of those things but it doesn't seem to help. Our house isn't big enough for her to have a room all to herself but I've considered buying her a kennel for her to make into a space all her own. Would that help? She used to go above and beyond to avoid him, but here lately she's started standing her ground and he tries to crawl to her because he's interested in her and that makes her angry. She is also very dominant with other dogs.
I don't like pet owners that have a baby and get rid of their pet. Noni has been a member of our family since she was a puppy and I'm pretty much desperate to get this situation fixed. I don't want to give her up but I can't have her snacking on the baby either so my only option is to fix this. Does anyone have any ideas of what I can do? Behavior training, space for just her...
Re: Dog snaps at baby.
Crate train her, make it the happiest place in the world, and somewhere that your son isn't allowed. I would try and keep them separated as much as possible. Make sure she eats her meals and any treats in her crate. I would also work with a behaviorist, because as your son becomes more mobile, he will most likely become scarier, and you need to be able to manage or reduce her reactivity. How much exercise and mental stimulation is she getting per day? Has she been to the vet for a thorough routine check-up recently?
I would put up pet gates everywhere in your house. I really like these: http://www.carlsonpetproducts.com/products/tall/
I second Katelyn's advice to keep them separated as much as possible right now. Toddlers are can be terrifying to dogs because they move so clumsily and don't respect space boundaries. Also, I think it is very, very important that you try to work with a behaviorist with this issue.
Wishing you the best of luck - I know this situation is scary and frustrating and I commend you for wanting to do everything you can to work with it.
I ditto the behavior training. Also, I read this somewhere (haven't tried it & don't know if it would work) that if you put Noni in her harness & leash when your son is around, she may feel more attached to you, in turn, feeling more safe. Plus, you have control for how close she can go to him.
I sympathize with your situation and I can strongly relate. Although I don't have much more advice than the PP's have given, I just wanted to let you know that you are such a good person for not giving up, not losing patience and working with Noni.
DH & I have a 9lb Maltese/Yorkie mix and she has never had a reason to be scared of children, but still, feels unsure and afraid of them.
My brother, SIL and niece live out of town and used to come stay at our home when they visited. Ever since neice was born, our dog would growl at her presence or nip at her (not actually making contact, but just do the forward action) and then run away. Well, just last year, it got worse. SIL and I had neice and our dog together and they seemed to be coexisting pretty well. Next thing we knew, in a flash, our dog bit neice and even though it wasn't a bad bite (didn't break skin), it still scared neice and she cried.
This upset me greatly but I also couldn't get angry with my dog. She did it in the midst of playing and also, hasn't been conditioned/taught how to behave around children. Needless to say, SIL was highly upset by this and from now on, her & my brother's visits don't include staying in our home. I want them to stay somewhere they are comfortable, but the whole situation is frustrating that it had come to that.
It scares me for when DH & I have children but I know we will never give up on our dog and keep trying! I just wanted to say that you're not alone!
GL!
Unless she's leash reactive, which could make the problem worse. I'd just focus on keeping them separated until you've had a chance to work with a behaviorist.
Thank you all so much for your advice. We will be buying her a crate and looking into behaviorists as soon as we get home.
I know that part of the issue is the amount of exercise she gets, I wish she was able to do dog parks but she gets to stressed out and bites. I know we need to do better in this area though.
Someone mentioned giving her mental stimulation and I guess I'm clueless in this area. She never seems interested in chewing things but maybe I'm wrong. What do you guys do to give you're dog mental stimulation?
Toys that challenge them to think -- treat-dispensing toys, puzzle toys.
Also, trick-training.
This exactly.
We work on tricks and commands every day. They get stuffed, frozen kongs in their crates, and you could be feeding her meals out of food-dispensing toys which would help her work for them. We also use Nina Ottosson and other interactive toys with our dogs.