[Dailydrool] Need advice with a hound who hates kiddies

[AnitaW]

Okay, I'm talking from experience here, I've adopted several severely abused
dogs in the past, and they are wonderful, loving dogs, but you have to
understand and accept their limitations.  This dog doesn't hate kids, she's
AFRAID of kids, which probably means there were small children in her
previous home who were allowed to hurt her.  Can you teach her to not be
afraid of small children?  Depends on how severe the abuse was, but she'll
probably always be afraid of little kids.  Can she learn to be around your
young nieces safely?  Because of how young they are, I'd be concerned, kids
under 4 years old are very unpredictable and don't think about their actions
or consider consequences, so it's very likely they're going to do things
that frighten the dog.  You would always have to make sure that you watched
her and the kids very, very carefully and never left the kids alone with the
dog.  She might learn to accept the kids, or she might always be afraid of
them, you'd just have to give it time and see.  To be honest, if you like
the dog and want to adopt her, I'd suggest crating her or putting her in a
separate room with a closed and latched door any time little kids are
around.  

 

Anita Woodrum

a.woodrum at sbcglobal.net

  _____  

From: dailydrool-bounces at dailydrool.org
[mailto:dailydrool-bounces at dailydrool.org] On Behalf Of Paul Chinn
Sent: Friday, March 12, 2010 9:24 PM
To: dailydrool at dailydrool.org
Subject: [Dailydrool] Need advice with a hound who hates kiddies

 

I lost my elderly hound to cancer about a month or so ago.  For the last few
weeks I've been looking at other dogs to be a companion to my cocker
spaniel.  I've looked at other breeds, but I keep being drawn back to
various hounds and particularly bassets.  Their generally ambivalence to
everyone is something I love for some reason.  Anyway, I met a female hound
in the local shelter today.  She love belly rubs and sniffing anything she
can get her nose into.  Typical basset.  However, she doesn't seem food
motivated at all.  I had a container of treats sitting on the chair in the
meeting room and not once did she go after it.  She sniffed it, then went
about sniffing the other items in the room.  She also hates kids apparently.
They said they had her meet a family earlier this week and when she saw the
kids she hid under a chair.  When the kids approached her, she growled and
bared her teeth.  I've got three nieces under 4 who would be around the dog
at some point.  Is there any way to train this out of a hound?  They tell me
she has no problems with older kids (13+).

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