[Melanieu]

I'm sorry that I haven't been on in a very long time. We hada baby..and actually it's his first birthday today.


Please help! Creasey Bear is 4 1/2. She has only shown aggression towards one woman, who honestly probably gives off an air of evil


Creasey has growled at our one year old son twice in the last week. One time he sat on the arm of the sofa behind her and touched her back. Then today he crawled up to her and touched her butt and she growed. These definitley sounded liek warning growls. Any suggestions before I freak out???

 

[SerbDude]

Love his name creasey bear, sit him down bring the kid over and let
him touch bear and keep ur hand on his collar, just let him get used
to your kid, if he still growls then deffinetly keep an eye on him
around the kid, hes just jealous cuz' he doesnt get all the attention
anymore

 

[Marylou Mader]

You need someone (a knowledgeable dog handler) to get to your home and observe this behavior. This is a warning. When your dog growled was he with an object or was it in between you and the baby?

The source of the behavior/s need to be found and dealt with. If you just force your baby to the dog, you will cause your dog to become agitated, please do not leave your baby alone for a blink of an eye, get help. is your dog from a breeder???? if so, they should be helping you. If you are located near a kennel club, or dog training school, these people should be able to help.

Your baby is one year old. How long has this behavior been brewing, because dogs don't just get up one day and do this, this is a progressive process.


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[Kitty]

That is called a dirty bump, he doesn't have the nerve to face them. YET ! IMO you need a good trainer to help you with this problem. Because eventually he will get the nerve up to bite full frontal!

 

[PAGreatDog]

Marylou has provided excellent advice. This is not behavior that you should ignore, and you need to do something immediately. That being said - not all behaviorists are equal. Ask your vet if he/she can recommend a veterinary behaviorist. (A veterinarian who has studied extra about behavior). If no recommendation, check with rottie clubs, other dog clubs in the area.

If you do not feel comfortable with what the behaviorist advises, find someone else. Unfortunately, dog behavior is a gray area partially filled with many people that think 'their way' is the only answer.

In the meantime, your child and dog should not be together, period. Dogs move too quickly to be able to prevent an accident.

 

[rockbrain]

Hello and Congratulations on your baby...


While I am not a vet nor a canine behaviorist, I can surely say that you need to not have your baby together with your dog at this time, at all...This growling is not a good sign and sounds like an indication that more aggressive behavior is yet to come. Because your dog is almost 5 years old and maybe not used to having any other "human attachments" other than yourself and other family members your dog was raised with, it could be a protection issue going on?....Maybe??


Your dog may be exibiting signs of jeolousy and competeing for attention with your baby, or just is becoming aggitated with the fact that a "new" being is in the family picture and is disturbed by this...either way, you need to address this as soon as possible and be aware that your dog could in fact be aggressive enough to bite your baby.


Your dog may not be aggressive by how you know it, but there is a factor that exists between your one year old and your dog's thinking. You need to try to find out what is causing this, if you can, to help make things better, if possible...


Be very careful and IMO, seek the advice of your vet or someone who is skilled in canine behavorable issues immediately, as this behavior may escalate very quickly. You are very wise to know that this behavior is not positive in nature. Please keep us posted on how things turn out...

 

[Melanieu]

First I want to thank everyone for their advice. We are definitely aware that this is a serious issue that needs to be dealt with immediately.


To answer a previous question, no, the baby has not had something in his hand when this happens. And it has now happeded a third time - this time was a nip at the face. I am calling our vet tomorrow and seeking immediate help.


Creasey is definitely attaced to us. She doesn't even like to be outside without one of us. If we let her out to relieve herself, she wants right back in when she's done and will scratch and howl until we let her in.


She was laying down resting each time this has happened. Once on the sofa, once under my chair, and once in bed with us. I know that allowing her to be on the furniture and in bed are dangers that only add to her feeling of dominance. It ends today. The bed will be easy to break. The furniture is another story. Any suggestions?


Thanks again and I will post something as soon as I talk to the vet and breeder.

 

[RottiMomCT]

Keep a leash on the dog at all times. When the dog gets on the furniture, tell the dog to get off - if the dog does not get off, remove the dog using the leash. Praise quietly and calmly when the dog gets off.

Keep at it until the dog learns that furniture is now 100% off limits at all times.

"Bad habits" or ones that one wishes to change are very hard to break, and take a long time, and 100% compliance at all times by all adults in the home.

As for the growling - what was the dog doing and what was the child doing when this third attempted bite occurred - and where were you and/or your spouse when the baby was interacting with the dog?

 

[Melanieu]

RottiMom - Thanks for the furniture advice.


The third time was last night. It was about 12:30am and the baby had woken up and was restless. My husband was not in bed yet, so it was just the dog and me. I brought the baby in...something that's happened about a ten times since he was born. The baby was next to me on the bed and like I said he was restless. He rolled over a couple of times bumping into her behind. Then he rolled one time and touched her behind. That was when she turned and nipped at his face. I was right there and immediately made her get off the bed and my husband put her in her crate...something we only use sparingly and she goes in freely.

 

[tigerpaw709]

I think the use of her crate should be increased until you can get a behaviorist in to help you. This way she can have her own space and not worry about the baby bothering her. Using the crate will helpgive her her own place to be without being bothered and will also protect your baby from being bitten. It is likely that if she has progressed from a warning growl to a nip in such a short amount of time that she may go to a full on bite that could have devastating consequences for everyone in the house.

Using the crate will also help to keep her off of the furniture. When you are not home she should be placed in the crate (or outside) that way she can't go on the furniture whenever she pleases. Keeping her on a leash as Anne suggested will help when you are home.

 

[Melanieu]

Thanks, TigerPaw! We are swimming in baby gates and will use them when we're out to keep her off the furniture. We shall see.....


I blocked her out of the living room (tough because we have an open floor plan home), and I made sure her bed that she rarely uses was accessible. She has slept in it almost the entire day and night. Hopefully, coupled with the crate, she will feel that she has her own space. We don't let the baby near her crate, bed, or food.

 

[Thorvone]

Hopefully you find a behaviorist and soon! My dogs cannot tolerate the high pitch noise of little ones. I believe it either hurts their ears or reminds them of an animal in distress. Either way, they cannot take the sounds and puts them into prey drive. Very likely your dog is going into prey drive and is confused as baby is a cherise to you. I don't know the bestway to desenitize a dog to this. I lock my dogs in the crates when Grandbaby visits. Way toeasy a markfor them!In a perfect world you could make the baby'shut up', but that won't happen. So in some way you need to make your dog ignore. Good luck!

 

[Marylou Mader]

Just out of curiosity, since it appears the dog sleeps with you, when you or your husband come into bed and the dog is already there, does she ever growl at either of you???? At anytime????

This has reached critical mass and you MUST NOT allow this dog near your baby.
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[Kitty]

IMO the dog should NOT be in your bed at all! It will make them even more dominant. It's a good idea not to let her in the bed at all. Mel, do you have a good trainer by chance? It's never to late to train a dog.

 

[Melanieu]

So here's an update....Creasey stopped sleeping in our bed and lying on the furniture about 2 weeks ago. The baby gates are up and in full force when the little one's around. She is finding strange places to lay lately. I do notice that she is acutely aware of him when he's out of his gated areas, but he is never alone at these times. She has been falling asleep under his high chair while he's eating. She even licked his face a few days ago when he was crying. They have little contact. I have noticed that she is listening to me less when called and really doesn't want to go upstairs at night. I'm thinking it's just her little rebellion????





Thanks for all of the great advice. I'll keep you posted.

 

[PAGreatDog]

No, it is not rebellion in the sense that humans act rebellious. And at 4.5 years old, I doubt Creasey is rebelling in any way. She is behaving the way she thinks she should behave, because she hasn't been taught anything different. Your dog is not listening to you probably because she doesn't see you as her leader, and she doesn't think there is a good reason to listen. (This is not to say that you need to start using harsh measures to exert your dominance.)

I have to say that I developed a high degree of anxiety while reading your post. Although your dog has changed some behaviors, you have not indicated that you are doing any training, or that you have contacted a trainer or an animal behaviorist. You say they have little contact, yet the dog (who not too long ago snapped at your baby's face) was licking the baby's face. The fact that the dog is listening to you less is a very, VERY serious problem.

I am afraid for your child.</span> Your dog needs to be evaluated by a behaviorist; a definite training program - which should include daily training sessions - needs to be established. Part of this training will include working to have your dog safely in the same environment as your child. But this is best done under the supervision and guidance of a behaviorist. Training means constant repetition until the command is practically hard coded, and the dog responds automatically. This can mean as many as hundreds and thousands of repetitions until this is achieved. That is why you do it daily.

Your dog requires almost as much care and attention as a human child. And when you cannot provide that attention, Creasey needs to be put somewhere (crate) that is safe for her and others.

My fear, is that if you do not get your dog evaluated, and establish a program to improve your dogs obedience, the worst will happen. Your dog will do serious harm to your child, and the dog will lose her life because of it.

 

[Kitty]

Sylvia, I couldn't agree more! Mel, listen to what she is saying please.....for you and your child and Ceasey!

 

[Marylou Mader]

Mel:

Have you maybe thought about contacting a local kennel club, or maybe even a Rottie club that may be near you, there may be some very informative people that could help you at a more reasonable cost.

Please understand that these problems do not resolve themselves, they escalate and with proper diagnosis and then a plan to modify and remodel your dogs behavior will be the best options.

You also must realize that if you do not do something for the interest of your child, you could be found negligent due to these postings.

For instance, If I read in the paper tomorrow that your dog hurt your child, I would contact the authorities and report this.

Even if you don't want to do ANYTHING, please KEEP this DOG AWAY from your child...

That is the least you can and should do.
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[Marylou Mader]

Just for Mels info, in Florida yesterday a child was killed by a
Rottweiler, the child dropped a cookie, went to pick it up, and the dog
attacked him. He is dead...

 

[Melanieu]

I come on here so randomly due to the craziness of daily life. I apologize for not being more clear. We are handling this situation.We have devoted our lives...our home, our love, our attention, our money...everything to Creasey. She is our baby. It breaks my heart that any of this is happening. I cry...actually cry...at the drop of a hat when I think about the fact that she may be gone from us one day when she is old.


I take serious offense to the threat of calling the police. Ridiculous. I didn't come here to be called negligent. I have emailed the breeder and am waiting for a response. I guess I will have to find my information elsewhere...I'd hate to post something looking for help from those who could relate the mostand be put in jail.


A huge thanks to all who have constructive and supportive advice over the years!