Showing fear?

[abbsisspartacus]

My son went to his dad's today his uncle was there with the husky he has met the dog before and got along fine apparently this time ds "showed fear" and the dog growled and showed his teeth his owner grabbed him by his scruff and dragged him away but I'm concerned by this they seem to minimise what the dog did putting the blame on ds surely the dog can be controlled in a better way and how can I protect my kids when I'm not there?

His dad does know he is nervous around dogs any advice from dog owners? (I have three cats not had dogs for years never even met this dog)

I don't think you have been given sufficient information about the situation - I'd bet good money that there was more going on than that stated. As you haven't been able to give us much information it's really difficult for us to give you much advice.

However, a dog growling and showing teeth is really giving a final warning that it's not happy. You can also bet that a wide variety of more subtle signs of fear and anxiety were displayed by the dog and ignored by the owner (see the "canine ladder of aggression")

I wouldn't accept the line about your son having caused the situation by "showing fear". It's not really how dogs operate (unless this dog has an unusual past and is very non standard). If this was the case then that's not a dog that's safe to be around young children.

Is it possible that your DC, like many children do, grabbed at the dog or otherwise did something to make the dog feel uncomfortable, and this was what led up to the growling?

To be honest as the dog's owner seems to lack even basic knowledge of canine behaviour and body language to be able to avert a future situation, I think the safest thing is to keep the dog and child separate. They don't live in the same household and do it seems that there's no need for them to mix.

Ds hadn't laid a hand on him as he had just walked in the door he was going towards him to pet him they normally get on well 🤷‍♀️ i cant understand it unless the dog had already had enough of the people there he had been there all day before ds got there and they are a loud family perhaps dog had just about had enough?

If they've normally got on fine together (how many times have they previously met?) it may be that the dog had had enough and the owner needed to recognise the signs earlier and allow the dog to retreat somewhere quieter. I think Christmas can be a confusing time of year for some dogs - we've had some out of character behaviour from DDog today too.

Ultimately, however, from what you've said your son isn't at fault in any way and there's nothing he or you could have done to prevent this issue. Do you think the owner will take this as a learning matter and rake steps to prevent a future reoccurrence?

Hopefully he will he is usually very good with his animals I think I would ask he only sees the dog in his (the dogs) home environment that's where they have been previous with no issues whatsoever im thinking he was not comfortable in my ex in laws house it is very cramped and hot there his home is open plan with loads of bolt holes he can go to

I think dogs can find Christmas quite overwhelming! We didn't do too much out of the ordinary but we had guests and things happened at different times which I think he found quite confusing and a bit stressful.

The biggest problem in what you describe is that the people around the dog seem to know nothing about dog behaviour. Dogs do not attack people who are fearful of them. Your DS did not do anyting wrong to provoke the dog's reaction.

It sounds like the dog got scared by DS's arrival, probably an issue stemming from insufficient socialization as a puppy.

The owner's reaction was then wrong. Scruffing a dog that is fearful only makes the dog more tense and reactive. The owner should have asked your DS to go to another room while he removed the dog (this is not about blame, your DS should have moved to another room to be safe not because he did something wrong. The best thing to do with a fearful dog is to give it space).

In general a fearful dog should have room to retreat, should never be forced into interactions and the person the dog is scared of can try throwing food in its direction, but these are not things I would try without a behaviourist supervising.

I'm not a dog behaviour expert, just a dog owner, but I'm pretty certain dogs do not growl at people who 'show fear'.

Very much sounds to me as if the dog was feeling overwhelmed by the situation it had been put in, probably nothing to do with your ds.

My dog can get quite stressed when my grandchildren visit. She's okay if they're quiet and will usually lie down on the floor near me but if they get noisy she'll either take herself off upstairs, where she knows she can be alone, or she'll come and sit on my lap, where she knows she safe - obviously a lot smaller than a husky.

Unfortunately, it sounds like this dog didn't have the option to remove himself from the situation.

Agree with pp, the people around the dog do sound pretty clueless regarding dog behaviour. It's highly likely the dog was giving off all sorts of calming and distress signals that weren't picked up on by its owner before it resorted to growling.

BTW OP and I do realise this is scary, but I do think you should be scared, DCs in households with dogs that are not used to DCs is the most common situation for dog bites. Nana’s dog, uncle’s dog meets the DCs only infrequently, is not used to children, gets scared, the adults are not knowledgeable or vigilant enough and things go wrong,

Absolutely right Booboostwo.

When you read about dog attacks there always seems to be someone saying that the dog has never behaved like that before, which always makes me think that the person saying that hasn't been aware of how dogs show they're unhappy with whatever's happening to them and the dog has just got to the end of its tether.

As I said in my pp my dog shows signs that she's not happy sometimes when my DGC are here, so as a consequence I watch her like a hawk to make sure nothing could happen to cause her to react aggressively towards them.

She is probably one of the sweetest natured dogs you could wish to meet and a hell of a lot smaller than a husky, but she is a dog and vigilance is always required when dogs are around children, even children they know well.