protecting the kids.... - Page 1

just something ive just been wondering about, thought it might be best to go ahead and ask.....

yesterday, i had to spank my little girl, something i almost never do unless its completly necessary, but anyway..boss was laying on the couch...and with the first pop on her butt (with my hand) he suddenly jumped up, ran over to us, and put his paw on my arm and forced his way in between us, while whining....this is the second time he's done this.. he has never shown aggression towards us while doing this ...but it seems to stress him out.....

my question is, should i correct him for doing this?will he eventually become aggressive towards my husband or I for spanking/ fussing at the kids? or is this a good thing....my worry is, that by stopping him from protecting the kids from us, that it may teach him to NOT protect them from others? should i just take the kids in another room if i have to spank them?

also, earlier this morning, i was sitting outside with DH's aunt..the dogs had been playing and boss had slobbered all over daisy...well daisy ran up to the aunt and went to jump in her lap, the aunt pushed daisy back a little and said "uh,,un...no! your covered in slobber!" as soon as she did this boss jumped up and gotin between them....and for a split second he did look pissed...never growled or showed teeth, just looked kinda stiffend up...but it only lasted a second, and he was fine as soon as he was in between the two... maybe im wrong about his reaction, could be he just wanted to see what was going on?..i was told that a GSD would also get protective over the other dogs in the family, just the same as they would over the people...is that true?

julie

Is Boss more attached to your child than the rest of the family?  Boss might have some hormones beginning to rage. I think if you do not want Boss to think he can tell you whatsup, you probably should let him know your the "boss". I don't think it will affect how he percieves someone he doesn't know, just that you are in charge in the pack to do as you please. I had a male (love of my life) that decided at a young age who he liked best in a particular order. I was top of his list. If me ,hubby and or kids (teenagers taking wrestling in school) wrestled when he was around I had to put him outside. At first he would try to join in but would always latch on to the other guy a little bit to hard. If he got shoved or slapped for it (by who he was holding) he got worse and wanted to fight.  Otherwise he was just a sweetheart. I probably should have nipped it in the bud but didn't so I just had to be careful not to rough house with him around.

no, not more attached to the kids, mainly me....but he does seem to be very protective of them, and watches over them....when he does this its more like he is 'asking' me not to do it....kinda looks at me in a confused way, whines like hes saying.."mom, please dont hit the little ones.."lol...its kinda cute in a way, i just know that with some dogs..something that can start out cute when they are young can turn into a problem when they get older....i really dont want to make that mistake...

Easy fix...smack the kids around in their bedroom and then leave them sit in their a few minutes to think about what they did. The dog wont see and the kid can stop crying before they come out. I had a dog as a kid that would bite my mom if she hit me. LOL I had fun with that a few times.

I think you need to either do as 4pack suggests or let him know its not OK to get in the middle. He could take it as your complying with him and get worse as he gets older. The only thing about 4packs suggestion is you may need to swat your kid sometime when there is no bedroom around.

I think you need to correct him for it now and let him know that you are in charge and not him.   What if you had to grab one of the
kids in a hurry,  say they were going to fall into something and hurt themselves?  Boss might see this as a threat and bite the
person grabbing the child.  Just a thought.  I don't see that this will alter how he sees someone outside the family interacting with the kids.

I believe they can get protective over certain "pack members". 

When we were kids (6 of us), our sable working line male who was our dad's dog really, would be so very possessive of our dad.  If we were outside playing, he would wait to hear our dad's truck come up the long drive and quickly "herd" us all to the front porch, nipping at our heels until we complied.  Once there, he would wait for dad to get out of the vehicle and approach, pet him and then turn and look at us like "well, come on now, I'm done" and he'd be fine then.  He had to be the first to greet him.  However, if dad was outside correcting any of us and he would grab us or try to spank us, Sam would come growling and barking at him.  He never tried to latch on or anything but, he hated dad to touch us like this.  My dad would get so darned p/o'd at him saying, "who the heck's dog was he anyway".  Sam would never challenge dad except when he tried to lay a hand on us this way.  And let me tell you, we knew it, too.  We preferred to get all of our spankings in front of Sam when possible. 

Julie,

I'd try NOT to spank in Boss' presence. 

lol...4-pack.....thats just what i was thinking......but keeping in mind what trailrider says to>>>you may need to swat your kid sometime when there is no bedroom around.<<<<  hummm, so im still a little unsure of what to do, i guess just take them in another room when i can and correct him if or when there is no other room...hopefully he wont confuse my correction as meaning to never protect the kids...lol, that would suck cause thats the main reason i got him

i'd put on the stained "wife beater" and spank em' all!  Seems that Boss thinks he is the boss.  I could be wrong, but reading your posts, I would guess he is.

lol...we all posted at the same time...makes things confusing huh?  really bugs me when that happens, makes it look like i completly ignored someones post.....

thanks for the help...all of you have great suggestion and advice...

i guess one other thing, i do keep boss kenneled when the kids have friends over...u know kids, their gonna wrestle, and even hit or fight...wouldnt want to take a chance with that......dont know if i told this on here before or not, but back when boss was prob about 3 1/2 months old, we had new neighbors move in next door....they have big boys, 11 and 13 years old, and one of the boys started walking across the yard to come see my kids....well my daughter is one of those kids that never meets a stranger, she ran up to this boy and threww her arms around him like she had known him forever....well here comes boss..tearing across the yard and shoves himself between the two and barking and growling at the boy...never bit or anything but boy was he pissed, shocked me mainly, wasnt expecting that reaction at such a young age.... i got boss, i told the kid to let boss smell him, after that boss was fine, but i put him up anyways just to be sure.....still, everytime these kids come over boss seems to just not trust them....i guess he is a good judge of character, because now that i have gotten to know them, i dont trust them either....have had to fuss at them and send them home for teasing my kids, who are much younger at 6&7...one of the boys usually sends my daughter into tears by his constant teasing, calling her a baby and mocking her...the kid so rude and hateful he will do it right in front of me.....now when i see them coming i usually just tell them that my kids or sick and cant come out and play...