Last night we had a incident with our new adopted shelter dog and our 6 year old daughter. Some quick background, we've had her for about 2 weeks now. She's a very sweet, timid 2 year old female black lab mix. When we met her they really didn't know a whole lot about her other than she was a stray and had a sister she ran around with. They did make mention that she was a bit food aggressive with her sister and is typical in strays, given the circumstances. When we met her at the shelter we had our kids with us including our 7 year old son. We got to spend a good 30-45 minutes with her in a private room, got her to interact with the kids, got to take her for a walk, everything went great. Got her home and initially we had her food bowl in the kitchen since it was the most practical place for it at the time. From the get go we told the kids to stay away from her food, especially when she is eating. For the first couple days, everything went fine then while she was eating my daughter and I were talking in the kitchen, she stared intently at my daughter then gave her a growl. Nothing super vicious, no ears back or teeth, just a growl. It scared her a bit but nothing too bad. We immediately moved her food and water bowl to the laundry room where she is completely alone to eat away from the kids. Finally, last night while we were on the couch, my daughter next to me and the dog at my feet, I had just got done giving the dog some scratches and she was very relaxed. My daughter leaned down to give her a kiss and the dog darted her head at my daughter with an open mouth and bonked her in the nose. She did NOT bite her, there were no bite marks. I think when she hit her some of her teeth touched my daughters face and that's what really scared her. There was no indication that it was coming. No growl or showing of teeth, it just happened, super quick. My daughter was very upset, cried and cried for a good hour. As far as the dog is concerned, she knew she messed up because she went and hid in the bathroom for the rest of the night when she has always laid on the rug next to us. As far as how things eventually turned out for the rest of the evening, my daughter came back out to sit with us while the dog stayed in the bathroom. We did our best to talk to her about incident and what happened. Personally, I don't think the dog would ever become super aggressive with my daughter to the point where I am worried for her physical safety. At the same time, I don't want my daughter to be terrified of the new dog. As far as how this morning went, while my daughter is still very cautious around the dog now, she still interacts with her and talks to her, just in a very timid and almost submissive manner which has me slightly concerned. We were hoping for some advice from a family that may have had a similar situation. If there are any animal behavioral specialists with some advice that would be most welcome. For right now we are just monitoring the household, especially when my daughter and the dog are in the same room together. Just a bit more "extra-aware". via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/2LhozHE
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