# How alarmed should we be with the interactions of my 8 year old daugher and 8 month old cockapoo puppy?



## mhill (Mar 21, 2021)

Hi

Our cockapoo is very boisterous and friendly. She isn't fearful or aggressive. She still play bites and jumps up when excited, but we are working hard to turn her into a respectable citizen.

She gets on really well with our 5 year old daughter who likes to pretend she is a dog and there is a lot of boisterous play between them. There are no issues there and I can tell you my 5 year old is a force of nature and not subtle in her handling and play. I believe the puppy actually thinks she is a dog.

My 8 year old really likes her puppy too , is a bit more the conscientious responsible type and we involve her more with training, feeding and disciplining like sending the dog to her pen if she has done something wrong. She is a bit like our deputy handler when we are not in the room.
We thought that would be a good thing for bonding and teaching responsibility. Generally I'm not concerned and she shows affection towards my 8 year old.

However sometimes there are some interesting interactions which results in this little growl and a snap. It sounds like a baby Chewbacca noise more than a growl. Then she might put her mouth around my daughter's hand and bite. Not hard, so there is definite control there. If it wasn't for the little growl, you'd think it was play. 
This might happen in situations when the 8 yo wants to get her to move away from doing something naughty or get her to go to another room.

One thing for sure is that she doesn't do it with us , the parents or the youngest who doesn't really get involved as a 'handler'. Our 8 yo is a bit sad because she thinks the puppy doesn't like her , even though she does so much for the dog like feeding and taking her out to the garden. This makes us parents sad in turn of course, but also a little bit alarmed at where this might be heading.

Does anyone here have insights of what is going on in the dog's head? Is she not accepting the 8 yo as a handler? Is this some kind of power play? How do we proceed with nipping this in the bud?

Thanks

Max


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## 2ndhandgal (Aug 29, 2011)

I am afraid I would say 8 is too young for a child to be involved in any sort of stopping dogs doing things for this type of reason. 

By all means get her involved in some positive reward based training - clicker training is a superb way for youngsters to get dogs working for them and I would be very happy to get her working on some tasks with the pup to teach some new tricks if this is something you are interested in - but anything involving stopping things or removing pups get the adults to do not her.


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## uniquelady17 (Aug 2, 2017)

mhill said:


> Hi
> 
> Our cockapoo is very boisterous and friendly. She isn't fearful or aggressive. She still play bites and jumps up when excited, but we are working hard to turn her into a respectable citizen.
> 
> ...


Hi there Max, cockapoo which we call spoodles over in nz is a very vocal dog and has been since a puppy, hes only 3 now but even when me and him are playing with a pull toy he is always doing his little growl thing but that is the way he expresses himself, you would know if a growl is a growl. I do agree with the other comment for your daughter though let her do some clicker training with him and they will both have a blast together. In all the training I have done with Cosmo I have always had the trainers say to me that he has more of the poodle personality, and if he doesn't like something that someone is doing to him ie grandchildren sometimes he will do a little growl but ive come to know and the kids that this is his way of say to them i don't like what you are doing and i trust him that he will never bite them this is just his out there personality that a poodle has. Get your daughter involved with him and they will grow to love and trust each other  Good luck Debra


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