[FONT="Century Gothic"][B][COLOR="DeepSkyBlue"]We have recently adopted a 4month old black lab girl. She is VERY attached to me. She was super attached to the lady we got her from but easily tranferred her affection to me. I have 4 kids 16-boy, 15yo girl, 13yo girl and 11yo boy. She is great with my 3 youngest but is scary aggressive with my 16yo son. I took my son with me when we picked her out. I took my son with me when she had her first vet visit. On those occasions she was good with him. Most of the time when I am in the room with them she wont go after my son or really even growl but if I am not around she is very ugly with him. We have tried some training techniques and when I am with them and working on it she will come and take a treat right out of my son's hand. Thirty minutes or less later if I am gone she gets scary with him again!! Please HELP!!!!![/COLOR][/B][/FONT]
Wow! This must be very upsetting for you. Firstly, I recommend that you avoid leaving your dog alone with your children, particularly with your 16 year old son. If possible, encourage your son to accompany you as much as possible when you are interacting with your dog. Have games of fetch, go swimming, have obedience lessons. It will be important not to rush things, and you will also need to let your dog know when she is displaying inappropriate behavior by firmly reprimanding her (this does not include physically punishing her). Allow your dog to get used to the presence of your son before encouraging him to touch her. If she comes up to him, your son will need to be slow with his movements so as not to startle the dog.
You should also put your son in charge of feeding your dog so that she starts to create a positive association.
Please be very careful and firm with your dog. I also recommend that the entire family starts to use the Alpha techniques to that the dog learns that she is at the bottom of the pack.
