From: macaj2@cspyr1.cs.adfa.oz.au (MACKINNELL AMANDA)
Subject: Re: 6 mo. old GSD vs. my 4 yo daughter - HELP
Summary: behaviour patterns
Organization: Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, Australia
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 01:30:24 GMT

In article <1803j5INNf2b@moe.ksu.ksu.edu>, terry@eece.ksu.edu (Terry Hull) writes:
> isjrc@dcatla.uucp (John R. Caruso) writes:
> 
> >	OK, what am I supposed to do? The dog thinks he's a kid.
> >	He's 6 months old so maybe that's the way it's supposed to
> >	be but is he entitled to the sandbox??? 
	
	NO!  Who does it belong to? your daughter or the dog?
> As the proud parent of a 14 month old son, a 4 year old Rottweiler, a 
> 3 year old Border Collie cross and a 6 month old Rottweiler, I think I qualify
> to help here.  All dogs are house dogs, BTW:  
 	(point to note: I dont have children, but I have sisters, cousins etc...	and friends with offspring.. ) 

> You were probably not aggressive enough with the finger down the throat.  
> If the dog does not submit, you can go to the point that the dog will
> gag.  
	Question : I havent heard of this technique, what good does it do?
	in this case it doesnt appeared to have worked; what was it supposed 
	to do?

> >       He used to do
> >	the same thing to me and my wife but has stopped altogether.
> 
> Yes, you daughter is a lot easier to dominate.  He'll deal with you
> and your wife later.  ;-(.
	Agreed.

> >	Are there any alpha-type exercises I could do with my 
> >	daughter to establish her as superior? 
> 
> IMHO, no.  You cannot establish the child as superior, because the child is 
> not mentally or physically more capable than the dog.  Instead, you
> must establish yourselves as masters and have the dog respect the
> child because YOU say so.  
 and most Golden type trainers are { :) }
> not very good with dominant dogs.  (Obviously there are exceptions to this
> rule.  Many really excellent trainers that can handle all kinds of
> dogs prefer to train softer dogs themselves.)  
	One exercise that may help in asserting some form of dominance is the 
	grasping of the dog by his jowls (the skin around his throat), looking
	directly into his eyes and growling at him "BAD DOG" n.b. Do not shout,
	but use a low "gruff" tone of voice.
	This is a technique that (without the "bad dog" bit) a pack leader would
	exert on another dog.. watch an older dominant male grasp a younger one 
	in a similar place and wrestle him to the ground, growling at the same
	time.

	My chief concern is that though you may get the dog to "play nice" 
	while you are around, when your daughter is alone or later when she
	is older he may try to retaliate in some way.  There is an increasing
	incidence in Australia at the moment of dogs (pit bulls,GSD's and I'm
	sorry Terry), 3 Rottweillers attacking and in some cases killing small 
	children.  I would hate to hear of another such tragedy.


> .  You need to establish control before you try to control him
> around the child.  Also, I would be very careful with the cuffing
> under the chin.  If this pup is really dominant, it will not do much
> good and in fact may encourage the dog to fight you.  I find a slap or
> bump under the chin of my Rottweilers to be VERY ineffective at
> defusing a confrontation.
> 	Again my question, you put your finger INTO the dog's mouth?
> I do not allow my dogs to defend themselves against my son.  They have
> the absolute right to get up and leave, but growling, snarling,
> mouthing etc is not allowed.  
	These basic manners are something that your dog MUST learn, and now 
	before he trains you, not the other way around.

Amanda MacKinnell
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  Amanda J. MacKinnell		        	"I never claimed to be a hero, ~
~  macaj2@cspyr1.cs.adfa.oz.au   	       and I never said I was a saint" ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~