Growling and lunging at my daughter

[kacy]

Hi I am new here and am very pleased to meet you all. I have a 9 month old female rotty. We got her at 6 weeks old and we love her so much. I am a stay at home mum and I take her out every day. She weighs nearly 5 stone and looks very healthy. We have one problem. She has a mad bout every now and then but we seem to be ale to clam her down, but my teenage daughter has a quite an affect on her. Our rotty will not back down and growls and lunges at her, but her tail remains wagging. This upsets my daughter as she loves our rotty but as soon as she walks in this out of character behaviour starts. Any advice would be very helpful thank you.

[jasper's_mommy]

Originally Posted by kacy

Hi I am new here and am very pleased to meet you all. I have a 9 month old female rotty. We got her at 6 weeks old and we love her so much. I am a stay at home mum and I take her out every day. She weighs nearly 5 stone and looks very healthy. We have one problem. She has a mad bout every now and then but we seem to be ale to clam her down, but my teenage daughter has a quite an affect on her. Our rotty will not back down and growls and lunges at her, but her tail remains wagging. This upsets my daughter as she loves our rotty but as soon as she walks in this out of character behaviour starts. Any advice would be very helpful thank you.

Kacy, welcome to the board. You might try starting your own thread in the "behavior" portion of this website. You might also try doing a search on "growling" or "aggression" as there are a lot of folks who have been through this.

[cucciolone]

Please seek a qualified trainer!

[AngelBunny]

How about talking to your obedience instructor about this behavior??

[TrishB]

Have you had your puppy to obedience classes yet? If not, please enroll her asap.

As for your daughter, it sounds as if your puppy views her more as a playmate / littermate than as a more alpha pack member.

It would be best if your daughter handled her in the classes. Often a lot of parents will 'help' their kids when handling the dog. If the dog pulls, they correct the dog and hand the leash back to the child. If the dog plays and lunges, the parent will put them back into a sit.

The child needs to correct the dog, the child needs to be put in a position to tell the dog what to do and to follow through with it. Your puppy already knows that you are alpha, now it sounds as if she needs to learn that your daughter is too.

Be sure to tell your concerns to the obedience instructor so that they can help your daughter.

Please tell us how it goes and welcome to the boards!

[Judi W]

Well, I disagree that a child that is the victim of aggressive acts from the dog has the authority to take that dog to task. Children do not have the status to dominate a Rottweiler. She could very well lose a fight and be injured. It is the adult that must make it clear that the child belongs to her and that the child is under her protection and must not be threatened ever!

What are you doing when your dog attacks your own child? Whether the dog repeats those acts depends upon your response. If you are neutral or just mildly disapproving the dog is going to continue to act. I cannot imagine standing by and allowing a dog to attack my child. This bitch is 9 months old and has a full set of chompers! Yes, you need a trainer and you also need to get in touch with your breeder immediately and let that breeder know what is going on. This needs to be tended to by someone who can coach you in person as only then can it be properly be evaluated.

(many dogs wag their tails because they are happily looking forward to a bite)

[sherri]

Is there any chance that your daughter has done something to get this reaction from the dog. It could have been accidental, step on her foot, trip over her, take something away from her that she really wanted??

[danyp1]

Originally Posted by sherri

Is there any chance that your daughter has done something to get this reaction from the dog. It could have been accidental, step on her foot, trip over her, take something away from her that she really wanted??

Sherri I think the dog has done this on a few occasions. No dog should act like that towards the people he is living with. There is no excuse for a dog to act this way(in my opinion).

Please go to a trainer and your breeder for help.
This way they will show you what to do.

You might want to keep the dog on a leash as well or crated when you can not supervice it (on leash) so nobody will get hurt until you have the behaviour under controll.

[Judi W]

Well, if tripping over or stepping on a dog, or taking something away from one stimulated or justified attacks we would all have had our throats ripped out long ago. A dog is threatening injury to a family member. Looking for excuses simply delays solving the problem, sometimes until a serious injury takes place which will solve the problem for you while the dog takes a one way trip to the vet.

[TrishB]

Originally Posted by TrishB

It would be best if your daughter handled her in the classes. Often a lot of parents will 'help' their kids when handling the dog. If the dog pulls, they correct the dog and hand the leash back to the child. If the dog plays and lunges, the parent will put them back into a sit.

The child needs to correct the dog, the child needs to be put in a position to tell the dog what to do and to follow through with it. Your puppy already knows that you are alpha, now it sounds as if she needs to learn that your daughter is too.

Be sure to tell your concerns to the obedience instructor so that they can help your daughter.

Please know that when I said this, I meant it all within the confines of obedience classes, with the assistance of a qualified trainer. Your daughter needs to know how to handle the dog and is best taught by a professional. I would not suggest that you attempt to have her train the dog without a professional.

I wanted to make sure that was clear. At this point, you have a potentially dangerous dog on your hands. 9 months is still a puppy temperamentally, but physically, she has the power of an adult dog. She could cause very real damage.

Please get a professional's assistance.

[German Vanegas]

I concur with what Judi W have already stated. I want to add that this particular aggressive behavior is totally unnaceptable, so it needs to be corrected soon. I consider dog aggression towards children a serious temperament problem that must be addressed with firmness and impossing authority by the pack leader.

[Burnsway]

Kacy,

Your dog is young and climbing ranks! She Probably would not be acting this way towards your daughter if somewhere and somehow she was not given the OK! Maybe at first everyone went ewwww and awwwwwwwwwww she is fiesty. Or they went HEY SHE LIKES YOU!....Oh she wants to play with you.......yada yada Yada........Now she is controlling that subject!

JudiW gave you the very best advice. Your daughter is your young and Your dog wants to control that young! You need to stop it and protect your young!

I agree a dog wagging tail while growling, barking, and lunging is like a man smirking before he sits down for steak.......... Not always friendly......... But of course they are happy!

Next time your dog does this, grab her collar tell her NO WAY, KNOCK IT OFF!!!!!!! And March her spoiled ass off somewhere away from the situation. And continue to do this very consistently!

If you are too scared to do this, then I say you have a huge problem on your hands!

[lblax]

Originally Posted by TrishB

The child needs to correct the dog, the child needs to be put in a position to tell the dog what to do and to follow through with it. Your puppy already knows that you are alpha, now it sounds as if she needs to learn that your daughter is too.

!

this could be dangerous for your daughter!!!!!!!!! it is not important that the dog sees you daughter as alpha there should only be one and that should be you what is important is this dog realizes that you are alpha and the rest of the pack is under your protection your dog does not look at you as alpha if he did he would respect you and co exist peacefully with all members....it always amazes me that humans are thinking reasoning beings but yet they dont have the basic instict to protect there young, if your dog had pups and you attacked one of them you would be physically stopped by your dog and it would be so swift and so severe that you would never go near the pup again.. the actions of your dog needed swift and severe message sent to it the 1st time it happened.. please do get your dog evaluated and get professional help behavior like this is from a dog that does not have a leader

[German Vanegas]

Originally Posted by lblax

this could be dangerous for your daughter!!!!!!!!! it is not important that the dog sees you daughter as alpha there should only be one and that should be you what is important is this dog realizes that you are alpha and the rest of the pack is under your protection your dog does not look at you as alpha if he did he would respect you and co exist peacefully with all members...

... the actions of your dog needed swift and severe message sent to it the 1st time it happened.. please do get your dog evaluated and get professional help behavior like this is from a dog that does not have a leader

Follow up. Take care of it as soon as possible.

[sherri]

Only looking at the dogs behavior in this situation is equal to burrying your head in the sand. If that is what you want to do then fine, but a dog doesn't just react like this without reason. There is something in that kid that the dog doesn't like. Maybe the child shows intense fear. If so the dog is going to sense that and react.