My dog is 3 has been scared of children for about a year and a half, luckily he doesn't attack them just runs away and hides.

He's fine with them out of the house and doesn't mind being chased infact he loves it, but inside the house he hates it and just runs away and hides.

The only two times he has gone near a child of his own free will was when we visited my parents and they were looking after my cousins two daughters, he couldn't get enough attention off them, and when my nephew came round to see us shortly after having an operation. This was weird becuse he's normally scared of my nephew.

A freinds daughter came round to visit us and he did his usual trick of running and hiding and had to be coaked out of his hding place with his favourite treat. He soon darted back to his hiding place before we gradually coaked him back out for a bit of attention and then he backed himself into a corner right behind our freinds daughter. I was slightly worried that he may attack but instead he waited for a gap to get through.

He's also scared of my sister in law, we don't know why and this only started about 6 months ago. It's really weird, at first we thought it was her new partner but when she came round on her own he continued to avoid her but will now go to her partner.

He is a rescue dog, and during the socialising period he was cooped up in an out house. If anyone can come up with a way to help get my dog over his fear of children it would be a delight. I would like to have children some day and don't want my dog to be suffering as a result.

Many thanks in advance my appologies if this has already been mentioned.

It's wierd that this only started recently, in perspective to how long you've had the dog. Because of this, your situation differs quite a bit from my dog's. I got her when she was just 3 months old, and she was very shy around just about everyone, other children included. She's 5 years old now, and tonight as I was walking her through the park several people, from age 2 to parenthood gathered around to admire and pet her. She was fine. The way I got her to this point was, when children asked to pet her, and she just laid down all scared, I let them come pet her anyway (this is tricky, because some dogs will bite when they are this scared). Eventually we graduated up to adult women. I'm still wary with men, since she can become aggressive with them, but rather, I let HER approach the man at his invitation, if she's willing. If he steps toward her uninvited, it doesn't usually go well. That brings up a thought: All these people your dog is afraid of-- do they approach her, causing her to run? Or does she run even if they are standing away and "croon" to her? Even tonight, at first, my dog showed initial signs of shyness. I told the mother of the toddler to let my dog approach the baby first, explaining that she was a bit shy. It worked great. She even went over and let the baby's dad pet her-- that surprised me! Then more children gathered around to love on her, and she handled it all like a veteran.

[wishbone]

Have a happy events around when playing with children, let the kids give him some treats, just be there to supervise their play.

You need to understand triggers, thresholds, counter conditioning and desensitization. Read The Cautious Canine for a start. Do not force the dog to deal with kids or lure it close to them. If the behavior is very different from behavior of the dog in the past, see a vet.