Kingdom of Pets

Posted by hollaway3
Feb 8, 2008

We have a 14 week old Australian Shepherd puppy and 3 kids ages 8, 5, 2. Whenever the kids run around our puppy starts chasing them and jumping and grabbing their clothes and ripping them or scratching their skin with her teeth. I think this is part of her herding nature, but the kids don't understand that. What can I do to stop her from doing this because it bothers my older 2 kids but is starting to terrify my 2 yr old.
Thanks

Posted by MaxHollyNoah
Feb 8, 2008

Hi hollaway3! I bet your 14 wks old Australian Shepherd puppy is really cute!

Have you ever looked at the situation from your puppy's point of view? Puppies love to play chase and when they get excited they tend to nip and jump. If you don't want your puppy to act like that, I would like to suggest you teach your kids how to behave around the puppy. As you said it is part of her herding instinct.

Dogs that live with humans are expected to adjust in our way of living. Even their natural behaviors such as barking, chewing, jumping, digging, pulling, etc. are not allowed in our life. It is a tremendous amount of adjustments from their side. Don't we humans need to compromise in some situations? This is a very good example for kids to learn how to behave with and around your puppy. If they don't want the puppy to jump at them, don't run around the puppy. There are more important lessons they need to learn when they deal with stranger dogs, including don't chase dogs around, don't get to close or try to pat on the head of stranger dogs, etc.

Sometimes puppies can get overwhelmed and it is possible they snap or bite too when kids are chasing or screaming, shouting, etc. So It will be beneficial for your kids to learn how to behave around your puppy.

I am not saying that your puppy doesn't need to how to behave but your kids can take their share of lessons while you work on your puppy training. You puppy will also get used to kids behavior as she gets older.

There is no quick fix or magic wand in training puppies, it takes patience, patience, and patience on top of understanding them...

Good luck

Posted by MaxHollyNoah
Feb 8, 2008

Hi hollaway3! I bet your 14 wks old Australian Shepherd puppy is really cute!

Have you ever looked at the situation from your puppy's point of view? Puppies love to play chase and when they get excited they tend to nip and jump. If you don't want your puppy to act like that, I would like to suggest you teach your kids how to behave around the puppy. As you said it is part of her herding instinct.

Dogs that live with humans are expected to adjust in our way of living. Even their natural behaviors such as barking, chewing, jumping, digging, pulling, etc. are not allowed in our life. It is a tremendous amount of adjustments from their side. Don't we humans need to compromise in some situations? This is a very good example for kids to learn how to behave with and around your puppy. If they don't want the puppy to jump at them, don't run around the puppy. There are more important lessons they need to learn when they deal with stranger dogs, including don't chase dogs around, don't get to close or try to pat on the head of stranger dogs, etc.

Sometimes puppies can get overwhelmed too when kids are chasing or screaming, shouting, etc.

I am not saying that your puppy doesn't need to how to behave but your kids can take their share of lessons while you work on your puppy training.

There is no quick fix or magic wand in training puppies, it takes patience, patience, and patience on top of understanding them...

Good luck

Puppy and Kids