GSD concerned for my Son... - Page 3

RS, that may be, but I have a 3.5month old here who is hell on wheels, and I mean HELL. He's a monster. He is an awful biter, really hard, unpleasant, but for some reason, he has never bitten my son. Is it just chance? He does jump all over him and lick him to death, but while he has actually suddenly yanked my pant leg hard enough that I lost footing, he has never done it to my son. My son is really little, though. I will say that his brother lives with older kids and is not nearly so considerate in the biting department. I do think that most dogs can discern and defenseless infant from a school age child and act differently. I'm sure when the OP's kid fell, the crying had a lot to do with the dog's reaction. I'm not saying what happened in that case, just that to automatically be skeptical is sad; GSDs should be like that. 

As far as knocking people over and continuing on...it depends. Caleb likes to take long logs and "accidentally" knock into certain people's knees. Is he just more coordinated around me? Doubt it. He's done it to guys I dated and no one else. Capri can be wicked with a tail, and she doesn't care...except with my son, so my point is not that they are all like that in all situations, but that they are CAPABLE of that kind of alteration of behavior. My dogs wouldn't care a bit (GSDs anyway...Pits are different) if they knocked anyone over except probably my son or I. But they have ALL shown altered, more careful behavior around babies and small toddlers. I don't think that's so unusual. 

Blitzen, people need to watch their kids (and dogs). It's really easy, actually, if you have half a brain, lol. I want to pinch those kids I see messing with dogs. That is the one thing I show no leniency about w/mine. If he even teases one slightly, he's in trouble. Kids used to play with dogs. What changed? Did the dogs change or did parents stop managing their children?! 

That's just awesome wunder! Wonderful sensitivity! I agree with sunsilver about the hgh lines!
I've had a few show those kind of caring instincts. One in particular started alerting his diabetic owner when things were not right, with no training what so ever! It has happened on many occasions and has also been documented by physicians. He has since been certified and is allowed to travel in cabin in airplanes and to go anywhere his owner goes. He also on one occasion, after his owner came in the door from having surgery, and the dog would not leave him alone. He told me he first thought he was just happy to see him, but he would not let up with nosing his hand and whining and eventually barking. Because of the past alerts, the owner's wife took him back to the hospital to be checked out. On the way he started having trouble breathing and was loosing consciousness. As it turned out there was a problem with the spinal block that they had given him and some of his systems were becoming paralyzed! The doctor told him if they had waited much longer he most likely would have died!! All this before the dog turned 1 year old!!
It just amazes me that a dog cares that much about his owner, to let them know when things are not right.
Debby

Jenni, if I thought parents watched their kids with dogs, I'd have had no problem selling them a dog. In my experience many pet dog buyers owners don't. My mother always told me - what you do to the dog, I do to you. I found out pretty quickly what hurt and what didn't LOL. 

I think I posted about my Commander before (RIP) who stopped a carkjacker and would never be backed down, not even a step and whatever you gave he gave more.  This was a very aloof dog who only listened to me and barely tolerated anyone else, and then it was only at my request.  No doubt in my mind, this was a dog that could and would kill a man.  One day, at the lake a little girl who was mentally disabled was following him/us back and forth, something he normally would have not liked...he just would walk away from her...then she suddenly picked up a rock and threw it at his face so he could "catch it" hard enough to break his canine.  God bless him, he not only did not yelp he never reacted to her at all, not a growl or anything.  He knew...he just knew she was disabled.  Had it been anyone else, there would have been an full out attack that I would have had to call off.  (BTW Her parents who were letting her play in the water unattended had to pay 1200 for his root canal).  When my youngest son was a baby, he let them crawl all over him, sit in his bowl, etc.  as they got older he was less patient.  These are some of the same characteristics that caused me to seek out a puppy from Jenn, because I recognized her dogs had the character in Commander.  

Mahan, is a dog I have that does not want to be patted by anyone but me..the least friendly dog I have, other than the family (he's great with the kids).  This dog is a waiter...he waits and then BAM...strikes. When he was younger, he was very rambunctious as well.  One day a bunch of kids ran up to us and wanted to pat him and I told them no...and told them he bites.  One kid in a diaper still, ran up to him and grabbed him...at this time Mahan was not one yet, but probably 85 pounds...he just turned to the baby and gave him a very soft kiss.  He also knew...

Just yesterday, my youngest son, who is going through an annoying 14 year old stage, was, surprise,  annoying me.  I did not react but I could feel myself getting upset..suddenly my dog Raja, that I got from Melinda at vom Gildaf, put his head in my lap and then climbed into my lap..he is NOT a cuddler and he weighs 95 pounds.  He just lay there, as if to say it is ok.   Mahan, the dog I got from Wilmothhaus, does the same thing if I am not feeling well.  And with all of these dogs, I not only looked at bloodlines, but how they reacted as thinking feeling beings in situations that could not be trained for.  The dog I got from Jenn enforces all the "rules" and tries to lead the other dogs away from things I don't want them doing yet he is very careful around my elderly female who is unstable on her feet.    

Jenni, when I first read you last post I thought you were talking about you child - 3 1/2 months old, monster,  a biter, hell on wheels. I realized you were referring to a dog when I saw - he has never bitten my son 

As for kids and dogs, the gal in my sig is the only GSD I've ever had that was not trustworthy with children. Even though I didn't have kids of my own, I bought Brian Killcommon's book on Childproofing Your Dog. His number one rule? DO NOT LET YOUR KIDS PLAY WITH YOUR DOG UNLESS THEY ARE SUPERVISED, NO MATTER HOW CALM AND GENTLE YOUR DOG IS!  Even your gentlest dog may react to something very painful by biting the one who caused the pain.

My WL male used to come and nudge me when I sneezed or coughed, obviously showing concern for me when I was ill And don't think that young dogs - puppies even! - can't show the sort of sensitivity needed for a service dog.  This year, an 8 week old Shiloh pup went to a man who suffers blackouts as a result of a traumatic brain injury. The pup hadn't been home a week when the man blacked out while climbing the stairs. As he lay on the floor, the pup was obviously distressed, and whined and licked his face until he regained consciousness.

At 15 weeks, this same dog saved his owner's life, when he had an amnesia episode, and wandered away from home. The pup broke out of its crate and followed him. He fell into a stream, which caused him to come back to himself. The pup sensed he was in trouble, and grabbed the neck of his clothing, and pulled his head out of the water.

When he was finally able to regain his feet, he had no idea where he was, or how to get home. (He carries a GPS with him at all times, because this sort of episode happens frequently, and is the main reason he thought he'd benefit from a service dog.) He told the pup to take him home, and he did, even pulling on his pant leg when he stopped for too long. At one point, the dog even got behind him, and pushed on his back with its paws. When he finally arrived home, and collapsed into a chair on the porch, the pup climbed into his lap to keep him from wandering off again!

Blitzen, people need to watch their kids (and dogs). It's really easy, actually, if you have half a brain, lol. I want to pinch those kids I see messing with dogs. That is the one thing I show no leniency about w/mine. If he even teases one slightly, he's in trouble. Kids used to play with dogs. What changed? Did the dogs change or did parents stop managing their children?!


so true

Parents changed parenting techniques, and the children today do things at young ages that would never be considered in my youth. The social workers tell me its for the good.