Dog hates kids at dog park?

We have a 3 year old Catahoula that is and has always been very nervous around people she doesn't know. Our biggest problem has been at the dog park. She is very athletic and needs constant stimulation so we started taking her to the dog park a few times a week. What we've found is that she HATES little kids. I understand the reasoning (eye-level, sudden movements, high pitched voices, etc...) but how can we correct this?





Maybe 2 or 3 times has a little kid been too close and she will aggressively bark while keeping staying out of lunging distance. Today, however, she ran up to a little kid (maybe 3-4 years old) and got far too close for comfort. She's never bitten anyone but this was far too close for comfort and we can't risk her biting a child.





We have been racking our brains thinking about how to train her to feel comfortable around kids but can't think of anything outside of a remote shock collar (which would teach her to fear kids). We're had her professionally trained so on a leash she is fine, but she's quite hard to control off a leash





Any suggestions?|||If your dog is "quite hard to control off a leash", you need to keep her on leash when kids are around until she is trained to be more reliable off leash. You really can't take a chance of her biting a kid. Get a professional trainer to help you with socializing her with kids. Don't try this on your own, because if she bites in the process........bad deal.|||You have no choice. She MUST be kept away from children. period. You will never be able to trust her. You can try to take her to a professional trainer to manage it. but having a weak temperament, as evidenced by her nervousness, and knowing that she has acted aggressively towards a child, you are on notice that she may someday bite a child. She will never be trustworthy.|||OK...The dog is AGGRESSIVE and is going for CHILDREN...you need to keep the dog away from children and out of the public..this is serious.





Teaching the dog to fear children is not good at all, fear can easily turn into aggression and aggression is mostly promoted by fear, in dogs. The dog needs to be socialized to children, but since the dog is aggressive and children can't be near the dog you need to take the dog to a professional trained that could help you, or have a close family member be around the dog from time to time, when the dog learns that children are no harm and acts calm, you need to reward the dog.|||I have a fantastic suggestion.





You find a REAL professional and get help, or you take this dog for a one way trip to the vet before he seriously injures a child or worse.





Those are really the two best suggestions I can think of.|||I'm not sure why getting a correction for poor behavior, i/e the remote shock collar, would teach a fear of the target. Rather, it will teach her to avoid children. I have seen the shock collar used effectively on an aggressive dog with livestock. He quickly (within four minutes) learned that an aggressive move toward any of the animals would be unpleasant. He didn't exhibit any signs that he felt fearful towards the animals. He became a dog that could be allowed to accompany the owner while she tended the farm's many animals. It was better than keeping the dog confined to a run all day.


Catahoulas are determined, aggressive hunters. Her obedience training taught her that you have the control with the leash, but it didn't teach her that you always have the control. That's too bad. Rather than let her off leash in the park, I would put her on a long-line. A 50 foot clothesline attached to her training collar will give you the ability to enforce a command. Let her go to about 30 feet away and then call her back to you. You'll have the line to grab and insist that she comply immediately. Do not go about calling for her over and over without backing up your command because it teaches her that she can ignore you, over and over, without consequences. If she needs to stay within 40 feet of you for a few weeks then so be it. She can get plenty of exercise running to you every time you call.|||I would consult with an animal or veterinary behaviorist, and find a dog park that does not allow children under a certain age to be present.





You can start searching for a behaviorist here:


http://dacvb.org/about-us/diplomates/


http://www.animalbehavior.org/ABSApplied鈥?/a>


http://www.iaabc.org/suchen/





Kudos for wanting to be a responsible owner, and good luck.|||The actions and antics of children can be extremely scary to adult dogs that are not socialized with children during puppyhood. Even well-socialized adult dogs may get into trouble, since much that children do excites dogs and incites them to play and chase. Puppies and children must be taught how to behave around each other. This is easy and fun to do, so let's do it.





For puppy owners with children, the next few months present a bit of a challenge. It is infinitely worthwhile, however, because puppies successfully socialized with children generally develop exceedingly sound temperaments 鈥?they have to 鈥?and once they mature there is little in life that can surprise or upset them. However, to maximize the relationship between dogs and children and to ensure the dog's good nature and solid disposition, parents must educate their children as well as the pup. Teach your children how to act around the pup, and teach your pup how to act around children.





Puppy owners without children have a different kind of challenge. You must invite children to your home to meet your puppy, now! However, unless your child-training skills exceed your puppy-training skills, initially invite over children only in small numbers. To start with, invite only a single child. One child is marvelous. Two are fine. But usually, three children plus a puppy quickly reach critical mass and emit levels of energy unmeasurable by any known scientific instrument. And, after all, we are trying to teach the puppy and the children to be calm and mannerly.





First, invite over only well-trained children. Supervise the children at all times. I repeat, supervise the children at all times. (Later on, puppy classes will offer a wonderful source of children who have been trained how to act around puppies and who have been trained how to train puppies.)





Second, invite over your friends' and relatives' children 鈥?children your puppy is likely to meet regularly or even occasionally as an adult.





Third, invite over neighborhood children. Remember, it is usually neighborhood kids who terrorize your dog through the garden fence, exciting him and inciting him to bark, growl, snap, and lunge. Then, of course, it is the children's parents, your neighbors, who complain because your dog is barking and harassing their kids. Dogs are less likely to bark at children they know and like, so give your puppy ample opportunity to get to know and like neighborhood children. Similarly, children are less likely to tease a dog they know and like, owned by people they know and like, so give the neighborhood kids ample opportunity to get to know and like you and your puppy.





Give children tasty treats such as freeze-dried liver as well as kibble to use as lures and rewards during handling and training exercises. Thus, your puppy will quickly learn to love the presence, and presents, of children.





For the first week, make sure your puppy's interactions with children are carefully controlled and calm. Thereafter, however, it is important for puppy parties to be festive. Balloons, streamers, and music set the stage, and treats for the puppies plus presents, noise-makers, and costumes for the children set the scene.





It is so important that your puppy be very young when he first encounters and becomes thoroughly accustomed to the noise and activity of children. If your dog is already an adolescent before he sees his first child running and screaming in the park, generally you will be in for trouble because the dog will want to give chase. However, for the lucky puppy who has hosted numerous puppy parties with children (or adults) laughing, screaming, running, skipping, and falling over鈥?well, that's just old hat. Been there, done that! After just a couple of occasions partying with children, it is unlikely anything in real life will be as weird as what has become the snoring-boring, established status quo during puppy parties.|||Dont use electric collars or anything like prong collars or anything around those areas.Just practice with a fake dummy the size of a kid and record squeals of kids and when go to the park and record the noise. Put it inside the dummy and when she barks put her into a room without you (start at home) for 30 seconds and when you teach her no to bark at the dummy at home (oh make the dummy look like a kid) then move to the park. Do the same thing at the park but put her into your car then later on practice with a little cousin or sibling or something. It will work trust me.|||maybe cuz ur kid is really ugly or fat