Labrador behaviour

[trionam]

I have a two year old female labrador, and she really doesnt like my nine month old daughter she tries to pretend she's not there and looks away, my local vet said labradors tend to be protective around babies but this definatley isnt the case here,I am just worried about when my daughter gets older and starts to run around, the dog has always been let inside the house and I think to change that now would only make things worse, any advice would be great.

[andy hughes]

Your dog is confused by this new addition to the 'pack' - your family. Instinctively, she would expect that the new member would be bottom of the pecking order, and your dog would continue to be the 'senior' of the two. Obviously with a new baby, this doesn't happen, and your dog is confused at the attention the new 'member' is receiving, at her expense. It's best to reassure your dog that she's not forgotten. Give her lots of attention and fuss when baby is not around, so she knows she is still appreciated. You can gradualy reintroduce your daughter to her, but continue to fuss and talk to her while you deal with baby, so she doesn't feel excluded again. Once she feels secure in her new position, your dog should adapt to baby's presence. beware though, if it appears your dog is not going to accept your baby, and this 'ignoring' behaviour continues, you may have to look at re-homing your dog.

[trionam]

thanks andy both my self and my husband try to give her treats and make a fuss so she sho doesnt feel left out, but she is extremely sensitive and its hard to give her attention all the time I hope she will grow out of it would be heart broken If I had to re home her.

[Flanker8]

I have 11 and 7 year old father and son labs and a 14 month old daughter: the older ones gives her a cursory sniff and then ignores her - the younger one just wants to play with her: She crawls all over him, feeds him her biscuits, sits in his bed with him, and generally they just have great fun together. When she's miserable, we just let her loose with Murphy and she's all smiles and giggles immediately.

 

We were concerned at first about introducing older dogs to a new addition, but found by including them, patting them and generally making a fuss of them when our baby was on our laps or crawling around did the trick.

[trionam]

I am going to make more off an effort when my daughter is around you see at the moment she is in a walker and just wants to chase the dog every where so that she can pet her,hopefully more attention will do the trick.

[andy hughes]

Hopefully that will work. based on your additional information - it's possible that your dog is not to keen on the persistant chasing and 'petting' that a baby can do - and she may be a little reluctant to bond on that basis. It has to be a two-way relationship - your daughter must learn that your dog is a living animal, ot a toy, and she may not be in the mood to pplay all the time, and she may not appreciate being chased! While you are educating your dog to rerspond to and respect your little one, remember that baby has to learn to fit in as well! Good luck.

[PurplePixie]

Just had a thought. Dogs can be sensitive to eye contact, my dog definitely is wary of children especially if they gaze right at her for any length of time. You little ones eyes must seem very big to your dog & that might be what's making her avoid looking at your little girl. It would be the submissive thing to do to look away.

It's only a thought. The rest of the advice is great....especially about the dog possibly being a little unsure about the pack 'addition'. Perhaps you can find activities that your daughter can do near to the dog(but not looking directly at the dog or giving her any attention, this way the dog can take her time to sniff & get used to the random noises that toddlers make without being put under pressure) & in time include games that involve all of you. ...That way the dog would discover that your daughter being around is a good thing. Hope it all goes well.