Scared of kids.

Nicole

Nicole

Inactive Member
Is anyones else's Newfie scared of kids. Lately Tayla seems petrified of them. If we are walking and a kid comes up to pat her, which is alot, she will try and run off or hide behind me.
Any suggestions on how to overcome this. Quite a few of our frinds are pregnant at the moment or trying to have children so we want Tayla to be relaxed around them.
This behaviour seems quite sudden and we really want to sort it out quickly.
 
M

mollysmom

New member
How old is she? A pup?

What I would do is take her everywhere with me, even to the playground until she overcomes this. Quite unusual for newfs to react this way to children, I'd think.

I'm sure there's someone here who knows much more than I do.
 
Nicole

Nicole

Inactive Member
She is 18 months old and has only started this behaviour recently. Before this she never really paid kids much attention. She has never really had much to do with them before.
 
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Greg L

New member
Fezzik isn't really scared of them but he is much more considerate around them.

We were at Ian's soccer game yesterday, and I had my usual fuzzy sidekick with me (I had a kid from the other team run up to me (Fezzik really) after the game and shout "I remember you from last year..."). With kids he is very reserved and ignores them/hides behind my legs. With adults he is all over them, drooling on their pants/leaning on them/sticking his nose where if I did I would be (justifiably) slapped/etc.

(And to split the topics to make Jeannie's moderator job that much harder
...)

I tried to attach two folding chairs to Fezzik's backpack once we got there (it worked well at home, really). Unfortunately once he got an audience he decided to become a real PITA. I ended up carrying all the chairs off to the sideline while he was off greeting his fans. Needless to say he was in the doghouse afterwards (of course that is where he lives so it didn't bother him too much
).

Greg
 
E

Emilymonet

Inactive Member
Nicole,
I'm not a expert by any means.
However, I do have some experience with this.
Our last Newf. was scared to death of children. We found out that is was due to pain induced and fear aggression. The poor guy had elbow & hip dysplasia. At some point, (we think) a child may have come up to him and hurt him in some way when he was soar, we did not notice anything because in the begining he never acted on his fears.

My opinion would be to first have your girl examined by your vet. Rule out any health problems right away. If everything is ok, (and I hope that it is) talk with a trainer/behaviorist about desensitization with children. Meaning that you get her used to children slowly and move forward at her own pace. To much exposure to kids right now may scare her even more or make her feel threatened. I wish you the best of luck, I know this can be scary with such a big dog.
Hang in there!


Melissa & Emily
 
Kodiak

Kodiak

New member
Sorry, I can't be of any help on this topic because Kodi loves children...the more the merrier! He's always shown an interest in children even as a puppy.

Brenda and Kodi
 
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mollysmom

New member
Molly, usually the holy terror pup, becomes sweet, gentle and adoring to children. It's so nice to see that she has a gentle side.
I can see her smiling as we come closer to the children while walking. The tail starts, she sits down, stopping right in front of the child and waits for the child to touch her. If they ignore her, she looks back at them and we just continue our walk. Can't blame them, some have no experience with dogs, (what a shame) and Molly is a big girl. But when they do pet her she melts. She's so cute
 
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