This concerned pet owner has a female dog who is apparently scared of children. The moment they start running around and being loud, she gets nervous and attempts to bite them - this is very strange behaviour. With a new toddler soon to be around, how can her owner put a stop to this?

Question

I have a 6 month old Boerboel female dog called Delilah. We have a safari lodge and always have new guests coming and going. There are no children living with us and children rarely come on our safaris, but we have found that when young kids are around, she reacts very strangely to them. You can see she is curious, and if they sit very still, she will smell them and let them stroke her, but the moment they start bopping around playing with the other dogs, she gets very scared and if they come too close to her, she will try and nip them. Its not vicious or aggressive behaviour, but I am petrified it turns into a nasty bite one day.

We have another family coming to live on the property in November and they have a 2 yr old son. I would hate for her to react badly towards baby Ryan. We got her as an 8 week old and have no children so she hasn’t had a bad experience with them. We also have an older sausage dog, but she’s a snob and doesn’t play with anyone.

My sister has the same age Ridgeback cross and she is absolutely fine with little people. its just Delilah and we don’t know what to do about it. We have to fix her fear of children to we’ll have to find her another home because we can’t have her behaving like that when Ryan comes. Please give me any advice!!!

Hi Samantha
Firstly the fact that your dog is scared of children is not her own fault; it is your fault for not socializing her with kids in the first place. How on earth is your poor dog to know what these mini-people are unless you have exposed her to them? They look different, their movements are different and they sure smell different!
I am shocked by the way you glibly say, “We have to fix her or we’ll have to find her another home because we cant have her behaving like that when Ryan comes.”!! That is so unfair … I’d rather not have Ryan on the property.

The way I see it is, you made a 15 year commitment when you took Delilah on, and now at the first sign of a problem you want to get rid of her. My advice is to get her on a lead ASAP and get her into your nearest town and school, and start walking her around kids so she gets to know what they are.
If it is too late, please try to find her a good home where she will be loved like a member of a family, and do not ever take on another dog unless you are prepared to educate the both of you.
Very sadly
Glynne