Australian sheppard bites/growls at children at ballgame?

i have two little dogs and a 13 month old son and if one of them ever bite my son (or another child) i would get rid of him in a heart beat. but i know it can be hard to get rid of a dog you have had for awhile. you could possibly keep him/her an outdoors dog? and when your children go outside to play you could bring your dog inside for a little while?

Well, there are two possibilities here. One, you either have an outright aggressive dog, and that is what I am leaning toward. She is growling at the children, which is showing more then just a frustrated herding dog. She is also outright attacking before giving any warnings such as barking or hackle raising.

It could also be that she is just a frustrated herding dog, and kids are a prime target to "herd". I don't think that is a likely. I think you have a poorly socialized, aggressive dog. It is going to be very hard to fix, but you need to get it under control.

Don't ask on here. This isn't something you can fix on your own. Unfortunatly, it sounds ike she wasn't taken out enough as a puppy. if she only got walks around her neighborhood, then she had no idea what the outside world is, and that's a big, scary place, and she is not likeing it. You need to find a trainer ASAP. And not some run of the mill petsmart trainer. Someone with years of experience, with your breed or aggressive dogs is a plus. I have an extremely fear aggressive german shepherd pup, so I found a trainer in my area who has 30+ years experience with german shepherds. In 3 weeks of training the pup has already improved.

Find a trainer first, have them evaluate your dog, and see what they recomend. It may come down to it that they feel the dog will not do well around your kids. But see a trainer before jumping to any conclusions.

EDIT: I don't think it is just a herding issue because you said yourself, the dog growled. And you also said when strangers come over the dog almost gets scary. That is not herding behavior. That is aggression.

And also, saying physical corrections such as a leash snap should never be given to a fear aggressive dog is very ignorant thinking, IMHO. yes, it can make a dog worse, but each dog is different. You should always start with positive reinforcement, but some dogs just need a firm hand. As I said, I have a fear aggressive pup. We tried 100% positive reinforcement for 2 months, no corrections, just ignoring the barking and growling and praising silence. The pup only got worse, and snapped and lunged at several people in the process. So we went to a few different trainers, these ones with experience with the breed, and they all recomended correction. They said that by just sitting there and letting the dog act up, you are inforcing the behavior. So, whenever he growls, or barks, or raises his hackles, he gets a firm "uh-uh" and a leash pop. That dominant action seems to reassure him. Like I said, 3 weeks and he is already better. Now he rarely barks and we are just down to raised hackles. No more lunging and growling. Of course, you don't want to try anything on your own. Get in with a trainer that knows what they are doing. We only did physical corrections as a last ditch effort, after no others worked

The problem here is your first sentence 'my two year old australian shepherd has not been out in public'. She's undersocialized and was probably overwhelmed, plus this breed has a very strong herding instinct that includes nipping uncooperative members of that 'herd'. That herding instinct can often be directed towards children because they are small and fast-moving if you do not provide an appropriate outlet for their drive and energy (like agility, herding trials, etc.) This breed often does not do well as 'just a pet'. They want and need a 'job' to be happy and well-mannered. I am guessing that the root of her discomfort at the ball game was fear. By 'correcting' your dog with the leash snap, you further reinforced that the situation was bad and she should be afraid. Physical corrections are never appropriate for any fear-motivated behavior as they only increase the fear! It's totally counter-productive.

The responsible thing to do in this situation is to have an experienced behaviorist evaluate your dog and advise you. This is very likely correctable with the right approach and with patience and lots of work. If after hearing the behaviorist's assessment and recommendations you don't feel you are able to follow through with what needs to be done, the best thing you could do would be to find the dog a 'working' home that is prepared to deal with a herding breed.

I think they should. It was compulsory for me to study a language from year 7 to year 10. We got to choose from French, German or Indonesian. I studied French but really wish I'd done Indonesian. Having a second language enhances other aspects of learning by building additional neural pathways. Bahasa Indonesia is apparently the easiest language to learn, and could be the default second language taught, unless another choice is made. The double benefit is that they're our nearest large neighbour and have a huge population. One thing I object to currently is that native speakers of, say, Mandarin, can do it as a second language at HSC level, and they naturally blitz the field and make it harder for non-native speakers to progress. Those people should do English as a second language. Many, of not most, Asian students do learn some English at school but I bags you tell the Asian nations that we're all going to use English from now on! I wouldn't like to be told that we have to speak Mandarin because more people in the Asia Pacific area speak it than English. I took Gillard's comment about pairing schools to be more general than just for language tuition. Also, I didn't think she meant all tuition would be done via Skype, but would be internet based due to lack of specific language teachers here in Australia (surely this would only be a short term problem?). And I think if schools in your state are missing out on the "every student gets a computer" thing, that should be taken up with your state government. My children, years 9 and 11, have both got a laptop this year, finally, after many hold ups at state government level. Edit: my daughter has been studying Japanese since year 7 and the school has a partner school in Japan. This has built very good cultural ties between the two. Sheila Jnr was lucky enough to go to Japan a few months ago and prior to that we had a group visit from the Japanese school. Establishing cultural ties like this between the younger generation is how we gain understanding and co-operation between different cultures.

The dog has a combination of prey drive and weak nerves, which is a BAD COMBINATION. If it were my dog, that first correction would've made the dog think twice about chasing kids again. From a scale of 1 thru 10 the dog should be given a level 11 correction. If the behavior consists, then you simply didn't have a hard enough correction. Remember to give the dog lots of love when he responds and listens.

Australian Shepherds are high energy herding dogs. They have very strong herding instincts and it sounds to me like your dog saw a field full of little kids and he felt he needed to get them in order by herding them. Herding dogs often nip at their herd to get them to go the direction in which they are trying to move them. I don't think your dog meant any harm especially since he didn't show any signs of aggression. My suggestion would be some obedience classes, and to socialize him with children (I HIGHLY suggest a muzzle while doing so) and show him that kids are not his intended herd.

hi,

Mouthing and biting are natural, normal behaviors; all puppies do it. During teething (generally starting around four months), the urge to mouth is extra powerful because it feels good on your pups' tender gums. Lacking opposable thumbs, puppies also use their mouths to catch, carry, and play, making it all the more crucial that they learn how to control themselves in the presence of human skin.

here's a treatment:

http://www.mediumurl.com/?r=9704017426722690773718...

hope this helps.