[pepper]

My dog is a Staffy x dalmation and in the last few months has started snapping at other peoples kids. Shes fine with our own 2 kids. When she snapped it was totally unprovoked as i was standing there watching. I cant walk her now as Im scared she might bite a child who walks passed. Does anyone know how or why shes doing this and if they have any suggestions as to how we can stop this behaviour?

[LuvMyMutt]

Well first thing you need to do is go to the petstore and get her fitted with a muzzle.... won't do you any good if she bites a child and is taken away, which is what they do with dogs that bite children.
So get a muzzle, usually under $16. and worth it, since it could save your dogs life in preventing it from biting anyone.

How do the children approach her? How old is she? How old are your kids, and the ones shes snippy at? Is it only children? Has she ever been to obedience training? When was her last vet check up? Sometimes they say health problems can make a dog or any other animal to act out because of pain or some other reasons as well.

Good luck with everything dear. I know it's frustrating and hard right now, but you'll make it!

[Dollydog]

Just to confirm that she is actually snapping and not just 'mouthing,' at them.
By that I mean, taking their hand in her mouth or something like that.

It sounds, from what you say that she is just taking bites at kids as they walk past, which sounds very odd if it's completely unprovoked.

Do you kids torment her with sweets and things? This would encourage a dog to grab at the food. She may have started to associate kids with food that she must grab at.

Just trying to build a better mind picture about what is going on.

[pepper]

My dog is about 3 yrs old. My kids are really good with her, they never tease her with food. One child is 7 and the other is 3. The children she had a go at range in age from 2 - 10. They did nothing to provoke it. I think a muzzle is a good idea for walks as i dont want her to hurt any kids. Someone told me its the staffy in her, they are very protective of my kids but i had a staffy x lab before and she had the most beautiful nature.
Thanx for all your replies

[PitBullLvr]

I would definately say it's not the staffy. I've always heard that Dalmations can be like that. I don't really know from experience. I've never had one. Maybe the mussle will teach her not to do that. Do you have any pics? I just wanna see what she looks like

[pepper]

I'll get a pic of her on here soon. i put one of her somewhere in my profile but its not a good shot. Shes black, it's hard to get a pic where i can see her properly.

[spike]

I would also really like to see a picture of her if you get around to it. I love dog pictures !

As for the snapping, that's not normal of staffys at all. Any human aggression should not be tolerated.. Is it possible that she is just trying to play around with the children?

I agree about the muzzle, until you can figure out why she is doing this and work on stopping it. A dog trainer is always a good option too, I'm thinking.

I hate breed descrimination.
I heard of one Dalmatian biting someone in the butt, unprovoked, but I don't think all Dalmatians are like that.

[LuvMyMutt]

heh takes a whole new meaning to taking a bite out of crime aye?

I heard that Dalmatians are very excitable and are like 2 year olds...I would imagine sometimes they are just hard to control but I would defiantly look into obedience training if its unprovoked aggression and the vet does not find anything that could be causing it.

[Dollydog]

Staffies are bred to be aggressive towards other dogs, not toward people.

In fact they are bred to be non aggressive toward people.

Whatever is happening here, you can be sure that something in the dogs mind is triggering it and you need to find out what that trigger is.
A muzzle is only a temporary solution, you don't really want a dog muzzled everytime it goes near somebody elses kids.

I would get in touch with a behaviourist and get them to assess her in action. What may not be obvious to you may be very obvious to someone else.

I used to have a staffie that would nick ice-creams off small children. She was very adept and could get them in passing.
Then again, I know she did it simply because she liked ice-cream and the kids were at the right height!

[pepper]

I've got a photo of her in my profile. I cnt seem to put one in as an avatar. I need to work out how to use this properly