I don't believe this.

ILoveBoys

My sweet sweet dog....growled very nastily at my kids a couple days ago. I still can't get my head around it. The three of them (2 kids and dog) were running around the playroom, they do this almost everyday, several times a day. And she turned around and just growled at them. Like, I got up because I thought she was going to bite them.

This makes me so sad. My husband and I always said the two things we would never tolerate out of a dog was either acting hostile towards or biting at/biting the kids. Sigh.

MrsCorbin

Maybe she wasn't feeling good.  Our dog is so good with the kids and plays with them constantly.  One night DD pulled her tail while she was lying down and she snapped at DD.  I never thought she would do that and she hasn't done it since.  I think dogs can have bad days too.  Can your dog get away from the kds if she wants?

momofolivia

ugh. it's hard to know exactly what to do in those situations.  I personally would chalk it up to a one time thing and if it happened again, then take whatever action you deem appropriate.

We have 4 dogs, and two poodles who are 15.5 years old.  One is slightly blind, three-legged, has a growth on his eye and a heart murmur.  He has become super mean, constantly growling and snapping at his brother.  He doesn't bite really hard - just nips.  We keep him away from Olivia as much as possible.  She knows not to touch him and she does good leaving him alone.

But I do worry about 'what if'. 

ILoveBoys

Yes absolutely the dog can get away from them if she wanted to, and she knows it. She has run up the stairs away from them before when she was "done" playing. Yeah....so...I don't know. She's been fine since we got her, DS2 was only 4 months old, so not mobile or anything, and now we have 2 rambunctious boys.    I just worry since we're getting ready to start TTC #3 in like a week, we'll be moving again (2nd time in a year) in May, and the baby hopefully would come not too long after that. *shrugs* I don't know. I just fear letting it slide by as a "one time thing" and something bad happening. We don't really have a place where we can close the door and give her some alone time. The boys sometimes don't listen very well when we tell them to leave her alone bc she's resting or whatever.

triplea1819

It does not sound like you saw it happen.  Could the kids have mistakenly hit the dog, or kicked the dog in their running around? 

 

I also agree, that a dog growling at kids is not cool, but if the child did something, you also have to be upset with the child and discuss not doing that again. 

 

ILoveBoys

triplea1819:

It does not sound like you saw it happen.  Could the kids have mistakenly hit the dog, or kicked the dog in their running around?  Sorry. I DID see it, I was sitting right there watching while they were all playing. I don't let them play with the dog without supervision. They were all running in circles around the playroom (again, done daily at least twice) and midstride she turned around and growled.

I also agree, that a dog growling at kids is not cool, but if the child did something, you also have to be upset with the child and discuss not doing that again.  I completely agree with you 100%. If they had kicked/hit/threw something at her, whatever...they would have had a talking to.