Big Paws and Young Children.. Suggestions..

[Lyn]

I need some suggestions concerning Bubba and young kids.

Lastnight a friend came over with his 5 year old little girl. Bubba LOVES kids but he's used to being around older kids. My son is 9. So he was face level with this little girl. First thing he did was tackle her, lean into her and knock her down.  I immediately put him in a down/stay hoping it would settle him down a bit. Which it did. So I released him from the stay and let him check her out. He was a bit hyper at first but he settled down quickly. But during their visit he stepped on her countless times, headbutted her 3 times and leaned into her pushing her down 4 times. In between that he was bringing her his toys and licking her entire face. lol.

She sat on the couch and Bubba got up beside her and rolled over on his back so she could rub his belly but he ended up laying on TOP of her. Bubba weighs 110 plus and she weighs maybe 35 pounds. Luckily I was standing right there.. after I moved Bubba she says to me.. That dog is crazy. LOL

Let's just say he liked her too much and I know he doesn't realize his size. So I ended up putting Bubba back on leash and made him lay down. He just wouldn't stop mauling this poor little girl. With adults he settles down within 5 minutes..

I corrected him when he was getting too 'up in her face' but he just HAD to be right beside her the entire time she was here. Does anyone have any tips or suggestions on getting him to relax around kids?

[mastiffmommy]

Im afraid I wont be any help, Jennifer is 5 and has had giant dogs around her since the day she was born, so has the other kids too. when Galahad is being all over her, like when she comes home from school and he gets real excited, she is tough enough to push him off and tell him to "off" or "sit" or "leave it" and he usually listens well to her despite her age. She is also used to a dog who has no idea how big he is lol.

Hollys tips are great though, teach visiting kids to use "sit" or "leave it"

Poor Bubba he was just a baby wanting to be loved on and play hehe. I am sure if he spent more time around small kids it wouldnt be quite as exciting, and he would calm down faster.

Good luck and dont say I didnt warn you lol, I told you I was going to be of no help 

Marit

[Lyn]

I must be losing my mind because I did even think of teaching the little girl how to control the beast. LOL

They have a small dog.. Shih zu or however you spell it. LOL So she's not used to big dogs. The first word out of her mouth was "WOAH" She did try to push him away a couple times but she couldn't budge him. So I stepped in. You should have saw her face when I told her he was just a puppy. LMAO

Alot of the problem is as soon as you touch him he leans his entire body against you. If you step to the side he will litterally fall over since he's leaning all his weight on you. He's dam* near knocked me down doing that. But from what I've read that's a typical Saint trait. I've been trying to get him out since he started doing it. And my hubby let's Bubba lay on him.. which I'm now seeing was a bad idea since he squished that poor little girl trying to 'cuddle' with her. LOL

Bubba does listen fairly well to my son, so I'll have see if that works with the little ones. Usually though if he's extremely excited all commands go in one ear and out the other. So I'll probably have to step in first then let the little ones give the command. 

I wish we did have small kids around more often.. But I don't plan on having anymore kids so I'll have to rely on friend and family. lol

[AC]

Angus has adapted to the small kids finally, it took a while but he has figured out it is not fun to keep knocking them down. But I can offer no advice as Angus just has lots of practice, with 6 yr, 4 yr, 2 yr, 8mth and 4mth old (not all mine LOL) in the house he HAD to get used to it. I guess practice makes perfect. He leans against everyone as well but he doesn't knock the kids down when he does so he has learned different levels of his lean and applies those according to how big the person is.

[coonie1970]

Judge does the same thing with kids who he isnt used to. Eventhough he is used to my kids he still gets a bit carried away when we have little visitors. I do the same as Holly. All the kids who come by are told to tell Judge to sit, stay ect.. My 3 year old can usually make him mind better than I can. LOL I find it so funny how Judge just LOVES kids. He wants to play and a new playmate makes him so excited. I will say though that he is usually very carefull not to knock kids down or step on them I guess he has gotten in enough trouble for that or maybe its his age and now he relizes his size.
Good luck!! Maybe get your friends to come over for play dates with Bubba. LOL Might work.
Coonie

[Leah-n-boy-os]

One thing that might help is Bubba needs to be exposed to more kids of varying ages. Sounds to me that he hasn't seen enough of the littles to understand that he needs to moderate his behavior.

If you have a park nearby, start taking him on field trips. Keep him on the leash, and put him in a down/stay, then invite the kiddies over in small doses to get him used to the various sizes they come in. (snicker) If you don't have a park nearby, even a grocery store/pet store will work. The key is just teaching him to moderate his behavior based on size.

Believe me, Bubba sounds like a PRINCE compared to Apollo (santan's spawn) the first couple of times my sons brought home friends.  I didn't know a four year old could skid across a room that fast.....

[ZooCrew]

I agree that teaching visiting kids is a great idea.

I'm trying to get Gunther to stop the leaning thing myself.  Not that I'm worried he'll lean against a child (he hasn't done it to one yet), but I'm worried he'll knock over some little old lady. 

I dont' really have any tips, as I had to go thru the opposite problem with Gunther.  He was terrified of children, and I have no idea why.  I suppose b/c they're loud and unpredictable.  He's slowly getting over it, and is much better than he used to be (no longer pees if more than 2 kids come up to him).  In fact, we've had several people come up to our fence with kids when they think I'm not watching (I peek out the window often to see if they are getting into mischief) to see the giant beast, and also people occasionally bring kids to the dog park.  Normally, I don't like kids at dog parks, but it certainly has helped him get more confidence around kids, and even play with them.

[Lyn]

Thanks for the all the great tips everyone. I will be putting them to use. I'm sure we will be having more young visitors over the holidays. Your all right though.. Bubba hasen't been around too many little ones. Just kids my son's age and older.

Coonie, That pic is adorable. Hopefully one day Bubba will be that way. I swear he didn't even blink, nevermind sleep the entire time that little girl was here. 

One thing I discovered also is that little girls do NOT like slobber. LOL That's the reason I didn't bring out Bubba's treats, he turns into Niagara falls when food is involved. She thought the hanging drool was funny until he wiped it on her. Then she was grossed right out.

I find now that Bubba is bigger that kids don't come up to him like they did when he was little. His size puts alot of them off now, expecially if he's bigger than they are. Actually even the adults that used to stop me all the time now just watch from a distance and point. At least I'm not getting the horse/saddle comments anymore. LOL

There's no dog parks local to me.. and the kids park I'm pretty sure has a no pets sign. I'll have to double check that though. I live in the middle of nowhere. About a 10 minute drive to town. So I'll have to load him up in the truck. Actually the owner of the pet store has been asking me to bring Bubba in. I'll arrange a day when we are not doing any shopping. If we have groceries and stuff to get I usually leave him home. Hubby is worried about him destroying the truck if we leave him alone in it. LOL

[NoDogNow]

little girls do NOT like slobber

That is NOT true. 

PRISSY little girls don't like slobber. 

Normal little girls don't mind it a bit.  They want to play.

My cousin's 5 year old, Ainsley, is PRISSY.  She likes Bingo, her grandmother's horrible never shuts up talking dog because he's clean and neat and even when he kisses her, it's not very wet.  He also doesn't shed much. 

Her 3 year old sister Emmy is normal. 

Em is friends with an enormous slobbery mutt that lives next door to their apartment complex.  She introduced us while I was watching her while her mother went to the mall.  He appears to be part yak and part slobber fountain, with a little Appaloosa thrown in for color.  When she's outside, she runs to the fenceline and climbs up on the cable box. The part-yak runs over with his ball, and she stands there on top of the cable box, hanging on to her side of the fence, throwing the ball, and being slobbered all over every time it brings it back and stands up with his head and shoulders over the top to slurp her.   He's a sweet dog--Em just calls him My Friend.  But after 20 minutes of throwing the ball, she was slobber over 70% of her front.  Didn't phase her a minute.  All she said to me was, "Need  clean shirts 'fore Mama comes home!" as we went to the apartment.  OK, I was slobbery too.  He was a lover!

Find Judge some nice, normal little girls to play with.  They won't mind the slobber a bit. 

But your friend's little girl probably needs a little de-prissifying before she plays with Judge again.  Maybe a little mud-pie therapy would be in order??