I have a dilemma. I adopted a puppy 4 months ago (dog is 11

>>2455000
just give a her a good smack when she gets like that and smack your future kids when they start messing with her just give them all a good smack theres nothing a good smack cant solve

Kids are shit.
I never correct my dogs behavior if the dog growls/barks at kids.
So now I have dogs that don't like kids, like me, and I'm fine with that.
Because children are disgusting and I'd punch a baby in the face.

>>2455000
Honestly, OP, the answers you've already gotten are a pretty good indicator of what a shithole /an/ is.

Try calling some local dog trainers or even your vet and see what they say about it.

It is possible you could work with her to be comfortable/safer around kids, but you will need patience,consistency and a good training plan. Even then, I wouldn't ever leave her alone with small kids (but that's a good rule of thumb for any dog)

Don't hit or punish her for growling at kids. You might be able to "make her stop," but it will only make her further associate little kids with bad things

The way you described her behavior, she is nervous/afraid of them, not acting predatory. Which is..the better of the two, as far as her ever being safe around kids, in my opinion

That said, you need to understand what's going on in order to address the problem. She's never been around small children before--they are strange; their movements are often stiff or jerky, unpredictable; they are often right at a dog's eye level; they smell different. Small children are foreign and scary to your dog. You need to teach her that there's nothing to be afraid of

This means exposure to small children, but in a SAFE, CONTROLLED environment. Keep her on leash. Keep her at a distance that she isn't stiffening up or growling. You want her to be able to see the kids, but be far enough away that she doesn't get too nervous. With controlled exposure like this, you can offer her treats (and pet her if she likes it,) teaching her to associate the appearance of small kids with good things. Eventually, you should be able to decrease the distance between her and the kid(s,) providing tasty snacks and reassuring pets all the while. With this approach, you're not just training her not to growl at kids, you're also changing her emotional response from tense/nervous to comfortable/happy

Of course, you also need to be very careful not to let little kids get in her face, poke at her, or even touch her at all unless she approaches them first (in a calm, relaxed manner)

With gentle, controlled exposure, making sure it's a positive experience, you can socialize her to small children like this.

(>>2455048 here, there's a few more things that I'd like to add:)

Any little kids that interact with her need to do so under your direct, active supervision. They need to be told to respect her space. If she ducks away or tries to move away, or seems nervous/uncomfortable in any way, you need to remove her from the interaction. Not only is this important because stressful interactions with kids will make her more nervous around them in the future, but it's just unfair to expect a dog to always put up with little kids being all up in her space. She needs to be able to have her own boundaries and they need to be respected. If/when you have kids, teach them to respect her boundaries and give her space when she needs it, and only pet her when she approaches them. They should never try to approach her while she's eating, chewing, or sleeping/resting. Same goes for any kids you expose her to--if they are too young to understand, then their parents or guardians need to keep an eye on them and keep them away from the dog.

It's important to know that even though you may be able to socialize her with small children so that she is comfortable around them, she may never actually LIKE them. And that's ok. Not all dogs like kids. Your goal here shouldn't be to get her to accept being loved on by little kids. It should be to get her comfortable just being around them. In all but extreme cases, this is possible.

But again, this will take lots of work. If you can get your coworker to help you, that would be great. Start working with her now, and keep regular exposure to little kids so it becomes "normal" to her, if you intend to have kids.

That said, if you are not prepared for this amount of work, it would be kinder to her to rehome her now, while she's young.

Well, can you really blame her? Little kids are annoying as all fuck and pretty gross.

>>2455000

Just don't forget - your kid is more important than that dog.

My mom used to know someone whose child's face was permanently fucked up from a dog. Couldn't even smile because the dog severed some kind of nerve.

You could most likely train her to be cool around little kids, but not many people would put their little treasure at risk (of injury and even of the kid developing a fear of dogs too) near a seemingly aggressive dog in order to help you.

A dog showing that kind of aggression towards children/people at 11 months is scary. I wonder what her story is, e.g. was she harassed by kids or what?

My dog is pretty high strung and not very comfortable around children. Not aggressive, just not comfortable. We have a 1.5 year old child and she is good with him but doesn't like him touching her in certain spots and sometimes just needs to get away when he's bugging her. I'd never trust any dog alone with a child, and my dog is no exception. I always supervise their interactions and make sure she is well-exercised; I'm not really worried about aggression, more along the lines of her bumping or jumping over him to bark out the window. She gets a bit nutty if she doesn't get much exercise for a couple days - she's a pointer.

If you rehome her, the problem will simply be someone else's. This is common - people don't want to put the dog down or do what is necessary, so they pass it along. Suddenly a kid gets attacked and the fourth owner has no idea that this dog has a long history of aggression towards children. It's very common and EXTREMELY irresponsible.

Socializing your dog around kids is also sketchy, because your dog is probably a fear biter and you are putting the child at risk.

I'm not sure what I'd recommend - keep her on leash, socialize her with people and dogs in general (don't focus on kids), and make sure you exercise her A LOT. If she is part border collie you should take up running and do some good training/agility that uses her mind too. You don't want her to be stuck indoors and only go for a walk around the block, she'll go nuts.

>>2455106
My father is a vet and had a guy bring in a dog that had bit one of his kids and had a history of aggression. He wouldn't put it to sleep and sure enough it attacked his daughter and she needed quite a few stitches in her face.

He still wouldn't put it down, so my dad said, "when you are walking your daughter down the isle and see that scar, remember this", or something along those lines. He said he thought the guy was going to fight him.

Can't remember the end of the story, he probably ended up euthanizing it after it already caused damaged to his kids. I love my dog more than almost anything else in the world, but if she attacked my kid or another one, I wouldn't be making excuses or passing her along to another unsuspected family.

>>2455036
both you and your dog should be shot

>>2455036
And this is why the white race is a dying breed

When you have the baby, offer the baby to the dog as a gift, here u go this fucker is yours now.

It's how my mother handled me n my brother when we were born

We had danish pointers who really didn't like kids

My brother has danish pointers too and he did the same with his kids

>>2456051
If you do it right the kid will be as much yourd as the dogs in her mind.

All of our dogs have been chill with kids from our family because we always did this, but only us

My GSD is incredibly tolerant to my kids or other ones he knows. They could climb on him if I would allow it. He will still growl if a kid he doesn't know tries to pet him. He will just back off if they are persistent, though.