Sorry in advance for the long post..just wanted to get all the details outta the way.

So Kota is 9 months now and pretty big, about 55lbs, maybe a little more but he's very high energy. Sarabi is only 6 months and she's very calm. I babysit/tutor and 3 kids come over to my house Tu-Th, ages 6, 7, and 11.

Sarabi obviously does really well with the kids. She's calm and only gets excited when they initially come over. Kota on the other hand, is too friendly. He jumps on them and knocks them over. That part we've worked on correcting and he's much better.

What concerns me is Kota occasionally pounces on the kids. If they walk by him too slow, he snaps at their feet. If they bend over, he snaps at their heads!! If they give Sarabi more attention than him, he snaps at their hands. It's happened often enough now that the kids are scared of him, which only inhibits him more, I think. For example, one gets scared and walks by him really slow which makes him want to snap at her. The kids also play around too much and make the dogs overly excited.

What's the best way to solve it so we can all be in the house peacefully? These kids are far behind academically and take FOREVERRR to do their homework, so keeping the dogs in their crates for the 3-4 hours it takes the kids to do their homework seems unfair to me. Normally the dogs can just sit by the table while we all work. It's just occasionally when they walk around that Kota snaps. We've tried many tactics but sometimes Kota decides to rebel. I've also tried my best to inform the kids of the best ways to approach the dogs so they don't feel threatened. Any advice or suggestions are welcome.

Kota hasn't hurt the kids yet but I'd like to prevent that from happening. He just expects everyone to be able to handle his high energy and large body hah :/

The kids are at an age where they can be told how to behave while the dogs are around.

Giving the dogs more oportunities to interact with kids of all ages will hopefully help them learn how to behave in the presence of children.
Giving a firm no and putting the dog(s) in time out every time they do one of the unwanted behaviours may also help.

I know with my 3 yo son, he was frightned of Freya because she occasionally presents with unwanteds behaviours. With alot of persistance and coaching of my son on how to behave when around her, they can now get on with ease.

Thanks for the response, Francine! That's what I've been doing so I hope with persistence it will get through to Kota. I just wanted to be sure I was going about it the right way haha. With 3 kids and 2 dogs it's hard to keep an eye on all 5. I suppose I can work more on time outs with Kota.

When it comes to time outs though--Sometimes Kota refuses to go to his crate when in trouble. When he knows he's in deep trouble, he'll go without a problem but when he feels his punishment is unjustified, he's headstrong. If I try to escort him to his kennel myself, he just plops on the ground and becomes a 55lb mass on the floor that can't be moved unless dragged, and I don't want to drag him :/ any recommendations for that?

It's best not to use the crate with negative assiciation eg time outs, bad behaviour etc. Sometimes it can have repocussions eg, not wanting to go there and or regressing on crate training eg crying.
I use the bathroom.

Definitely keep at the training. If you don't already, I would keep a lead on Kota when the kids are around so that you can quickly correct and remove him if necessary. if you can tether him to you that might also be a good idea. I would keep a very close eye on him with the kids and issue a verbal warning at the first sign that he might react to them so that you prevent it from happening in the first place. Better to prevent it before it happens than have to correct it after the fact. Of course this means extra close attention to him and his body language and cues.

As Francine mentioned, do not use the crate for punishment as you don't want a negative association attached to it. Rather use a bathroom or even any other room for a quick timeout so that he can calm down for a few minutes before bringing him back out.

The thing about using bathrooms to put him in timeout is he destroys everything. When he's in trouble and he knows it he already goes straight to his crate anyway, so is that a problem? It's when he's learning that new behaviors are inappropriate that he doesn't want to go in just yet because he doesn't understand why he's in trouble. After several time outs in his crate for the same bad behavior, he eventually learns that it's a bad behavior and stops that behavior. I know several people who use crates for timeouts and the dogs still absolutely love their crates. Kota has always had a positive association with his crate because he grew up with one, including when he was still weening from his mom. He eats in there, sleeps in there and takes all his stolen goodies in there. It's his sanctuary. If ever I felt that he had negative associations with his crate I wouldn't let that continue.

I don't have him on a lead because he tugs at me (he's much stronger than I) and I move a lot. He'd rather stay in one place and play with Sarabi nearby so he's in our company. If he was tethered to me he'd never let me do anything, he'll just go limp and I'd have to drag him where ever I need to go in the house, which I don't want to do.

I do appreciate all the advice, but as of right now I have tried other methods that seem to have progress and will continue with these so long as there is progress. If the progress reverts, I will refer back to this thread for advice. I've taught the kids proper ways to handle the dogs, i.e. not looking at them in the eye when walking past them, walking at a normal pace, and encouraging them to use a stronger tone of voice to command Kota and tell him no. I've let them practice those methods with Kota while supervising and so far he's listening, and they're able to walk by without a snap from Kota. Every time they come over we practice the same methods and it gets increasingly better, and I hope that eventually they will be able to implement the practices with me not visible to Kota, and ultimately at all times.

I have 5 kids. yep you read it right 5 kids. nikita is well behaved around our yongest. oh btw our kids are 8,5,4,2,1. Nikta seems to think everyone and thing is a play toy. she also nips and jumps up. only jumps on the older ones 8 and 5 year old. but likes to nip our 2 year old. we have been training her and she is doing really well. with our older kids we have learned nikitas triggers. so we explain to the kids what to do and not to do while approching nikita. this helps. she gets most hyper when the kids are getting ready for school or playing around. so we put a lead on her in the morning, this is alot easier to correct her behaviour if it gets out of hand. we also ask our kids to take a deep breath and relax before they sit to do up there shoes. this makes it a clamer surrouding for nikita and it tends to clam her as well. the kids say there good byes at her level so nikita does not need to jump up. i gave her a treat when done in the manner i wish it to be. I also make sure when someone comes over nikita is not the one to great them. making her wait untill the person comes though the door and approchs her. she still gets a bit excited but is learning to wait before engaging. the nipping we still have not figured what is the best way for nikita to learn that this is not ok. I sit with my 2 year old when nikita plays with him.

You could try having him attached to you while the kids are not there, at least get him used to moving with you , and reinforce very positively when he follows. That way its not a completely strange thing when you attach him and the kids are there. I would definatly make sure you tell the kids how to interact with him, and be very consistent with the nipping, Always be on top of him. If you can afford to follow the behaviour for an entire day then do it. He needs the habit broken so that you are more comfortable leaving him unattached.
For time outs we use the bathtub actually. It started with Tika because she was too small to jump out, but Ripley gets put there too. If he gets destructive, you could block it with a baby gate and make him sit behind it. If he gets up to jump or start destroying something react immediatly and discourage it.
Hope you have progress
Kelly

Thank you Tashauna and Chris for your advice. I'm sorry for a late update but things have been going great with the kids. I taught each of them how to address the dogs and things couldn't be going better. It's gone so far above my expectations, I'm thrilled.

The kids can now play with the dogs, and they absolutely love getting down on the floor and playing with the dogs and then cuddling when they're all done and tired. I never have time to snap a picture but here's a quick one I got of the oldest boy laying on Kota while he shares a toy with Sarabi. Sorry for the poor quality, my phone sucks.



Thank you again for all your help, it really shows how useful this forum is