Rescue dog growling at my kids :/

[FatBottomedGurl]

So, rescued a 4 month puppy from Spain. She arrived to her new home with us around 3.5 weeks ago. On her paperwork it says she is a Belgian Shephard Cross, which we were never advised of previously, although I assume its more of a guess than hard facts as she seems to have been found as a young pup on the street, along with two "brothers" who look very little like her. Having researched Belgian Shephard breed, they don't seem to make very good family pets and I think if they had advised of this, we may have went a different route, but anyways, she is here now and 85% of the time, a very nice dog. She is a little timid, calm, good with other dogs, doesn't chase the cats, knows all basic commands and toilet training is going great.

BUT she keeps growling at my kids, which is obviously worrying for me. I assume she is not used to kids/pre-teens (kids are 11 & 12 yo), and we are willing to work on this and hopefully help her adapt to new and probably scary surroundings. We have been working on the kids being in "her" space, and them touching her when she is eating, taking food bowl away, kids giving her treats etc and all of the "pack mentality" stuff such as them walking in the doors first, everyone being fed before the dog etc - everything that google has told me is a good idea. I have reached out to a friend of mine who is a dog trainer and she is giving free advice but cant do any hands-on classes due to lockdown limitations.

Not sure what I am asking here, I am worried but also not jumping to anything, I want to love this dog and have her love us. But, my kids are the most important thing and I need them to be safe. Any advice welcome.

This is the doggy in question, soggy after a day at the beach!

OMG - she's beautiful! We've got a Labrador / German Shepherd cross and when we rescued her, around 6 months, she had one ear up and one ear down just like that

Sitdowncupoftea Veterinari isn't being rude here, they have shared invaluable, practice and experienced advice.

One of the lovely things about mumsnet is the range of people from different professions who can offer practical advice to strangers. Im really glad the OP came on here to hear from experts, general dog owners etc because if it gives this dog a chance then all the better for it.

She is an absolute beauty!

Awh bless her, she does look like she may have have some shepherd of some sort (there’s lots of different types!) in her.
She’s lovely, I hope it all works well 😊

She's gorgeous OP. Love the ears

@FatBottomedGurl I have a rescue pup at the moment he's a work in progress. His problems are due to lack of socialisation due to lockdown. At the age pups need the socialisation aspect the UK lockdown happened. My pup is almost 7 month now so missed a lot. He hasn't seen many people so was nervous of strangers and growled but I can see massive improvements everyday with him. His growling and was down to nervousness. He's 23 kilo so a big pup. In the four weeks I've had him he's doing great. It's exposing them to new things and new people in their own time. Give it time. I can now take him for a walk and he can walk past strangers without growling so stick with it. If you need any advice feel free to message me as some responses on here are unnecessary. You have help and reassurance from a behaviourist. Belgian shepherds make great pets. Well done on helping a recue dog too.

[quote FatBottomedGurl]@Sitdowncupoftea Thankyou, appreciate your advice & input very much. We are optimistic. I may just get "Leave the dog alone", "Practice the 3 P's" and "Safe space" put on a record and play it on a continuous loop. Children are much harder work than dogs!![/quote]
They really are btw... I’ve often wondered if I should have clicker trained my kids, lol

@Veterinari I'm not sure you understand what being polite and manners are

@Sitdowncupoftea
Oh I absolutely do. You can rest assured that if I'm rude it's a deliberate choice 

@FatBottomedGurl I wouldn't set too much stock in the 'breed' listed on her paperwork. She does look like she has some shepherd in her but could be German or Belgian and it's difficult to say what it's mixed with. Regardless it doesn't change how you'd manage her (or the fact that she looks lovely!). And yes - the real key with behavioural modification is consistency - as you've rightly ascertained, training the kids will be a bigger challenge than training the dog!

@RealLifeHotWaterBottle thank you, that's very nice of you.

FatBottomedGurl that visit sounded really good, did you like the behaviourist? It seems very encouraging to me, clear things to do and work on it and see what happens. Best of luck.

I also have 'Give DPup his space/he's a dog not a toy/leave him alone/get out of his bed' on a loop in my house too.