My Rescue HATES Children.

[smurphy0806]

Dublin is a 1.5 year old Catahoula Leopard Dog. He is apart of my family, we take him everywhere we go, which generally includes family parties. My family doesn't have any children, (the youngest is 16). However, my boyfriends family has a 1 year old. Dublin has never gotten along with this baby. They have interacted several times (maybe 3) since we got Dublin.

We keep Dublin pretty close to us when there is a baby around. We have him on a leash, and he is in our laps sometimes (he thinks he is a lap dog). Sometimes we can feel him shaking when the baby is near. Last time he was around a baby, we had him in 1 room and the baby in another. We had a baby gate between the doors of the two rooms, so that Dublin could see the baby, but not go near. This was probably the best interaction we have had. However, Dublin would whine and cry and yawn. You could tell he was very stressed out. When the baby would cry, we would pet Dublin so he knew its not his fault.

However, sometimes we would allow the baby to pet Dublin. The problem was, all of a sudden Dublin would lunge at the baby with his mouth open... (like he is trying to bite the baby!!!) We have to keep Dublin on a leash and on a prong collar whenever he is around a baby. I know the prong collar isn't good when he acts up because we are inflicting pain on Dublin, but I'm afraid he will hurt the baby! I try not to be afraid when Dublin is around the baby, I know dogs can sense that fear. I don't know what to do. I'm scared this will get worse and there is a possibility of him biting a child in the future.

I'm afraid that when I (eventually) have children, we will have problems. Any suggestions are great.

I already plan on getting a muzzle for the next time he is around a baby. I also plan on having Dublin wear the muzzle when he is not around the baby so he doesn't associate babies with the muzzle.

I should also tell you Dublin has baggage. He constantly has bad dreams, he is afraid of men in sweatshirts. Just a few minutes ago we were walking outside and Dublin ran into me (almost knocking me over) and tried to bolt when he saw a man walking outside. The man didn't get any closer than 15 feet to us, but for some reason Dublin was not happy. I hope this doesn't offend anyone but we call these incidents 'nom flash backs. These happen at least once a month, even though we've had him for over a year by now.



His story is below. I wrote this story for a contest to raise money for the shelter I got Dublin from.

Hi, My humans call me Dublin. I'm a 1 year old Catahoula Leopard Dog. I haven't told many people about my past because its not something I like to think about. When I was younger I was abandoned and all on my own. I had to scrounge through peoples back yards for food.

One day I was in this person's yard looking for food and all of a sudden I hear this loud "BANG" and pain shoots through my ear. I ran away real fast. My humans talk about that ear sometimes. I have heard them mention something about a BB and getting shot. I don't really know what that means, but I feel something hard when I lie down on that ear. Oh well.

Anyway, after a while on the road Chicago Animal Control found me and took me to this place with a ton of dogs. I was real scared because all the dogs were very loud. Soon a person came up to me and took me to a different place called a rescue. This place was nicer and quieter, I liked it a lot better but I still wanted my own humans. The only problem was I got pretty sick when I was "on the road" and no one could tell, see I'm pretty good at hiding stuff and I knew I couldn't pick out my humans if I was sick.

I was only at the rescue for a few weeks until I saw the people I wanted to take me home. They looked very nice and they looked athletic, see I love to run so that was a must. After they took me to my new home, I finally started to relax. I only got to spend 1 night with my humans before they took me to a bunch of vets. I was pretty scared, but I figured my humans were doing the best for me. The vet told me I had something called pneumonia. She also said "We don't know if he will make it because he is so young" but I don't know what that means. All I know is as soon as the vet said that, my human mom started crying. I ended up staying at the vets office overnight in a special room all to myself. They told me I had an oxygen tank or something like that, but I don't know what they are talking about but it made my sickness get so much better. As soon as they let me go I felt so happy!!!

My humans have told me that almost 3 months, 1 allergic reaction to the pneumonia medication, 1 food allergy, a severe round worm infection which was hidden due to the medication, and almost $5,500 later I was finally healthy. My humans don't blame the rescue for adopting me out while I was sick, they understand that mistakes happen and are thankful the rescue helped pay for some of the vet bills.

I like my humans a lot. They take me to the dog beach, and I get to go to doggy day care and they give me real good treats and toys! I think the thing I hate the most is when my humans leave me to go to work, whatever that is. I just want my humans to be with me all the time! Is that so much to ask? Its just that I was abandoned before, and I don't want to be abandoned again. My humans call it separation anxiety, I call it, "I LOVE YOU SO MUCH-iety" One time, I heard my human mom ask my human dad "Do you think Dublin would be as happy with another family?" I heard my human dad say "Honestly, I think another family would have put him down."

All I know is I am very happy with my current family, and I let them know that all the time. I always bring them presents when they get home. I've even given them my raw hides! Although, they usually take too long to eat it, so I eat it anyway. :)

[luvMyBRT]

I have a dog who is not good with other children too. He had a bad experience when a puppy and it stayed with him. But, through my hard work with him, he is much better now.

First I would recommend to get rid of the prong collar and get a gentle leader head halter. By using the halter you have control of his head....thus you have control of his mouth. Plus, he could connect kids and prong collars...making it all a negative experience. Introduce the halter slowly to the dog, making it all positive. When putting it on the dog before it's used to wearing it distract the dog by doing something else, like some obedience commands. Start off with the dog only wearing it for a minute, then a few more minutes, then while you do some obedience commands, then for a short walk, etc, etc.

Second get some really really good small treats. It is now time to start counter conditioning your dog. I would not have the dog in close proximity with the child at all. What you want to do is give the dog a treat every time it looks at the baby or you.

So it will look like this:
Your sitting in a room with the dog. On the other side of the room the baby/child enters. The second the dog looks at the child you say "YES!" and follow it with a high value reward/treat. When the baby is in the room and the dog looks to you say "YES!" and give a treat. Do this several times before giving the dog a break. The minute the baby leaves the room ALL treats stop. The minute the baby enters the room it's right back to dog looking at baby, "YES!" followed by a treat. Make it very clear that when the baby is there so are the treats. When the baby is gone, the treats stop.

The more you can make the connection that when the baby is near he gets treats and it's a very positive happy thing the sooner your dog will connect baby with something happy and positive. It's basically re training the dogs brain to connect children to treats and something happy. All positive reinforcement. Start with the baby farther away and then depending how your dog is doing slowly move closer and closer. Don't rush...take your time so you don't back track. It may take time, so be patient.