# Barking at children



## Tashi (Oct 6, 2018)

This is my first post and I am in desperate need of some help. I have a Vizsla cross (not sure what with) who was surrendered to a dogs home. We adopyed him at 16 weeks. He has been amazing to this point and is such a gentle, energetic and lovable dog. 

He has never been fond of children or new people (he barks a lot at adults, sniffs them and then loves them). But, today when we were out for lunch at the beach he would not stop barking at kids and the first time ever, he lunged at a child, just barking, no growling or agressive behaviour.There was a lot of noise with a lot of people around. I have never seen this behaviour from Dixon before. There was a man there that told me 'I should put bullet in him'. There is a life least section at the other end of the beach where he is happy to run around with any other kids or dogs that happen to be there... is it a leash thing?

This whole incident has really shaken me up and I am not sure how to fix this. Any advice is greatly appreciated.


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## gunnr (Aug 14, 2009)

Tashi said:


> This is my first post and I am in desperate need of some help. I have a Vizsla cross (not sure what with) who was surrendered to a dogs home. We adopyed him at 16 weeks. He has been amazing to this point and is such a gentle, energetic and lovable dog.
> 
> He has never been fond of children or new people (he barks a lot at adults, sniffs them and then loves them). *But, today when we were out for lunch at the beach he would not stop barking at kids and the first time ever, he lunged at a child, just barking, no growling or agressive behaviour.*There was a lot of noise with a lot of people around. I have never seen this behaviour from Dixon before. There was a man there that told me 'I should put bullet in him'. There is a life least section at the other end of the beach where he is happy to run around with any other kids or dogs that happen to be there... is it a leash thing?
> 
> This whole incident has really shaken me up and I am not sure how to fix this. Any advice is greatly appreciated.



Kashi
You don't mention how old he currently is, but I am assuming young?


The sentence I have bolded in red is the behavior I would like to address.
This is not an unusual behavior in a young dog of any breed. That he lacks any aggression is a very positive thing. He just wants his way and to play. The leash is stopping him and probably frustrating him.
The answer is that he just needs to be obedience trained. Specifically jumping up on people needs to be addressed, as well as holding and walking at the heel.
I do not let my dogs jump up on me, or anybody else. It's a very bad habit that some folks seem to really like, I too used to like it, but it can have some pretty negative consequences. My first Vizsla jumped up on a friends 6 year old son and scratched him right below his eye. Deep enough that it left a permanent scar on his cheek about an inch long. It could have been much worse had he scratched the eye itself, or caught the eye lid. Boone, my dog, was still very young and meant no harm, just trying to play.
Get you dog into an obedience program and start teaching him leash manners.


Disregard the idiots comments about putting a bullet into him. That is such an arrogant, ignorant, statement.


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## Tashi (Oct 6, 2018)

Hi Gunnr, 
Thank you for your reply. He is only 18 months old. He didn't jump on the child's, he was just barking at him. More so when the man was yelling at us. The more he yelled, the more Dixon barked.
He has had some basic training, but I agree he needs some more and we have found a few trainers near by. 
Hopefully he can become more settled around children.


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## InTheNet (Jun 1, 2016)

Maybe the fast movements of the kids make him nervous. On leash keep him around kids and try not to make a fuss. Just gently correct him.


Our male is racist . He barks at black people. Also camo clothing will set him off.


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## MaxB (Mar 11, 2019)

😂😂 Inthenet. Ours barks at the Islamic woman in the park in the full burqa as she goes around with her prayer beads. It’s so embarrassing. 


Good advice from the others. When Margaret was barking at kids, we spent a long time sitting near kids playing to socialize and normalize their screams and arm waving. 

Won’t work with the woman in the burqa though, she screams as soon as she sees us. Mortifying.


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