dog behaviour

[darwin]

hi, we have two small children 2.8 and 6 months, since the second one was born (and whilst i was preggers) the dog (bitch, rescue dog approx 6 years old had her for two years) behaviour has worsened in terms of pulling on lead, barking aggressively at other dogs when on lead . she gets 2 good walks a day, and off the lead is ok most of the time, but if we are out with the kids she gets quite barky with other dogs and runs up to people who come nearby. has anyone had experience of this please? starting to do my head in as its hard enough taking all three out without dog being badly behaved!!

I have experience of this, but no helpful advice. My dog (male springer, 4 years old) is the same. He started being like this when I was pg with ds, and has got worse since.(I did have another dog too until recently - long story, irrelevant to this - who did the same). Mine seems to think that he has to protect ds and I from other dogs and people.
I walk mine twice a day, 5/6 days a week. Dh does the other 1/2 days, and the dog is fine when he is with him.
We live in the countryside and rarely meet other dogs and people on our walks, thank goodness, but I dread it when we do.

I'd love to know if anyone has some helpful advice on how to deal with this.

yes our dog is fine with my husband, so he feels its my anxiety about the situation which has made the dog worse rather than her reacting to our kids.

i think your dog may be protecting you, so you may need to reassert yourself and the children in your dogs' eyes.Lots of google sites will give you tips on this.

good luck

from what our dog trainer has told us it sounds like your dog isn't taking you seriously as leader of the pack...so she's behaving as the alpha dog when you're out. this is an unhappy situation for her. to get her under control you need to show her who is in charge (you, your dh, then the children then the dog). ways to achieve this.

do not let dog on furniture

make sure you go to dog's places. sit in her basket if necessary (in wild alpha dog has access to all areas, the rest of the pack go where the alpha dog allows them to)

feed the dog only after you have eaten (it doesn't matter if it's late in evening)

make sure the dog goes through doorways last

there are lots more - hope this doesn't sound too mad. all i can say is our trainer was fab when we had dd and dog got jealous. they just need to be put in their place! (and they're much happier knowing you're in charge)

good luck!

ps disc training also good for when you out and about. works with our dog (who is over friendly with strangers)

disc training here

hi thanks alot for your tips, I think you're right about alpha dog thing, and certainly since second child has been born we have less time for keeping the dog in check so will have to keep that up