[aime1030]

My 14 week old Springer Spaniel puppy is wonderful with everyone except my 7 year old daughter. She has never done anything to provoke bad behavior or to harm him. She only has to try to pet him (or even just walk past him) and he growls. If she is trying to pet him, he growls and then tries to bite her. I keep hoping that he will grow out of it, but it only seems to be getting worse. Today he bit her face twice. (luckily he has lost a few baby teeth and only caused a couple of minor scratches) I am afraid of what will happen when he gets in his adult teeth. He will not growl or bite her if I am in the room. When it happens, my 7 year old generally tells him no and to stop, but he just ignores her. If she pushes him away, he lunges at her - showing his teeth, growling. This is not puppy play! (as my mother-in-law keeps trying to tell me) I am so distraught over this, I don't just know where to turn. Does anyone have any idea what I should do? I really don't want to get rid of him, but I don;t want my child to be seriously injured from him either. Please help.

[sanju123]

It is a brilliant idea to train your dog before you introduce it to your family.You may be as sure of doing no kind of injustice,but animals are super sensitive.They are very conscious,and if they feel ignored,they retaliate very vigorously.

[aime1030]

We recently took him to Cornell University to see a pet behaviourist. They decided that he has fear based aggression towards children (no big surprise to us- but at least we now know we're not crazy!) I have no idea why - he came to us this way. They are running his pedigree to see if he has the blood line that has Springer Rage Syndrome. I had no idea when I got him that there was such a thing!! They also took his blood to try to located the gene that causes agression.
He has actually gotten alot better (still not great though). He only growls if he is hugged or an arm is around him - kids ony. He has not bit anyone since I posted the 1st time. We live in a rural area, so there are not training classes anywhere nearby, but the Dr's at Cornell taught us clicker training - focusing on my 7 year old training with special treats and the clicker. It seems to have helped. Thanks for your advice.