I'm hoping for some advice. We have a Papillon, Freddy aged 7 months and we have had him for about 1 month. He had gone back to his breeder as there had been problems with his first home, and apparently he wasn't very well treated. He certainly was very nervous when we first got him, and very poorly socialised I think. We have been trying to build up his confidence and go over basic training, he still has a few problems but generally things have been going very well and we are all getting very fond of him.
We have 3 children aged 8, 6 and 4. They are good with dogs as we already have a small dog aged 3 who we have had from a puppy. But a number of times over yesterday and today Freddy has snarled and nipped at the youngest two children. I was not aware of it yesterday because it was my husband who was with them. Today however the whole family were in the room together when totally unprovoked he first nipped our 6 year old daughter, he was yelled at and put out of the room by my husband who was watching, then when Freddy was allowed back into the room he actually went up to the 4 year old and bit him on the nose, again completely unprovoked. We are quite taken aback because it appeared to be done aggressively. Luckily he did not actually break our son's skin but did hurt him and frighten him.
What is the best way to deal with this behaviour and how can we prevent it, as it is really a shock to us.
Just to say the children have not been doing anything to provoke him and were supervised.  

Oh dear poor freddy, he is still a baby at 7mnths and already sounds passed around.
7months is rather late to get a pup so wonder if he's picked up this habit from his previous home? Maybe they had children who tormented him or something? Or maybe he's never seen a child before so is acting this way.

Hard to believe he has agressive tendancies at 7mnths though, Paps are usually sweet little dogs, not sure what the answer is there, maybe he just doesnt like children.
All you can do is keep them supervised and see if it gets any better.

At 6 months he may well have already learnt the best form of defence is attack.

If in his previous home he was pestered by children constantly picked up (so easy with a toy breed) he may have very negative associations with children.

What were the children doing at the time of these incidents, as this may give more of a clue.

Could it have been over excitement if they were playing, even if not with him.

If they were sitting quietly, could He have been trying to start a game (albeit inappropriately), how does he attract your attention?

have you doen any trainign with him and the children, to make him se them in a positive light?

As he hasn't broken the skin it would seem teh intention was not to harm them, but we ned to figure out if this was a playful nip, warning etc.

Hi, honeybee, Im sorry to hear about this, but it sounds like action needs to be taken and taken quickly. Everyone has differences of opinions, but if a dog bit my child unprovoked, that would be a deal breaker for me, but thats just MY method,and the safety of my children come first. He's still yound so the bad habits can be led out of him so to speak, but you really have to act quickly b/c once behavior like that starts it will continue IF not corrected. Yes pups are usually sweet and nice, but every once in awhile you just get one that is not wired right, hopefully that is not the case with yours. Sounds like he needs to know who he is on the pecking order. If he hasn't bitten you or hubby, then he is dominant over the children b/c he thinks he's boss. Have the kids take more responsibility and have them implement some NILF(WITH you being present) When he see's them as the authority he will learn to trust and respect them and see them as he see's you and hubby(as pack leaders) Do they feed him, do they give him the sit command? What about walking him? All these can be primary steps to get started.

Hard to believe he has agressive tendancies at 7mnths though

  Believe me, if a pup is shown negative behaviours, teased or is afraid it can start much younger than that. This is why it is so important for any pup to be brought up and trained properly and shown security from 8 weeks of age, it can damage them so much.

Paps are usually sweet little dogs
Exactly, I'm sure this one can be too.

Honeybee apart the yelling at him, the segregation was the best thing to do, you must tell him No! in a very stern voice and pop him in segregation yelling will intensify his fear or whatever the reasoning is.  It is pretty obvious that he has not had the best of starts, but he can be sorted out.

I agree with Brainless that perhaps his motives were not to hurt, he may be play nipping or asserting himself over the children, even though he is small he is an adolescent and children are always much lower in the pecking order than a maturing/adult dog. I would at a guess say he is showing his authority........ but as always as none of us are there it can only ever be an opinion or a second guess, if it were to continue then a behaviourist can watch and judge immediately what is going on.

You can higher the childrens role by allowing them to feed him with their hands a little chicken, or a treat he likes, and by continuing to segregate him whenever he begins to do anything he shouldn't, hopefully with a NO! and if he nips you or the children they need to do an OW! so that he realises he hurts, and understands why he is being segregated. Above all else don't at the moment leave him alone with your children and always supervise play. Show him lots of love and cuddles and the children too, so that he can see the difference in all of your behaviours towards him when he misbehaves, nothing hurts a dog more than being segregated from those who show him love.

Remember he is now an adolescent too, being a smaller dog whom mature much faster, he is at his worst for behaviour anyway, and may perhaps get a little more cocky and disobediant, so just keep him in place with commands and segregation.

If things do not improve, please call in a behaviourist, while he is young he can easily be sorted out, don't leave things too late they are harder to fix.

Thankyou for these replies. I do think he was trying to assert himself over the younger children. At the time they were just talking amongst themselves, not being excitable. Freddy has so far tended to be unsure and submissive so that is why we were really surprised with the way he behaved.
We didn't really know how to handle this so will watch extra closely and segregate him at any sign of this. Will also try getting the children to feed him as so far only my husband and I do this.
I have noticed Freddy growling before if the children have gone near him when he has a bone or chew. I had just told them off for bothering him! I always say they should listen and pay attention if a dog growls because they are saying they are annoyed and the children should move away but now I am a bit confused.
I am especially concerned to sort this out because when I was a child we had a rehomed dog with food guarding issues, my brother and I knew how to behave but one day another child got in between the dog and its food, the dog bit and was then put to sleep. I of course have other children round sometimes to visit mine and the idea of Freddy doing what he did to my son to someone else's child is awful.

Sadly it's the norm for most Papillon breeders to cage too much and not sociaise. Papillons can also be VERY strong characters -in fact this is why I like them, I call them Mini Malinois as they so remind me of my bigger dogs. My 6 months old bitch was a little sod to start with, she really would sink her teeth into everyone, and it wasn't due to lack of socialisation or fear, it was just sheer bloody midnedness. <grin> I've seldom seen anything so angry -and so small. I'm usually one for doing everything the kind way, clicker etc, but with this girl, I had enough. She wasn't scared at all. So the next time she bit me, I picked her up and held her in the air until she calmed down. That's all I did, held her, but by her scruff. (We ARE talking a 1 kg dog here! Had she been bigger, I'd NEVER have done it.) She never bit me again. She then tried the same thing with my kids. After they each told her off just the once, she stopped biting them. We then had a dog food rep visit, Pap pup jumped on her lap, when the rep was about to leave she picked the pup up and again she sank her teeth into the nearest hand. (Thankfully she was teething then so didn't have many teeth!) Now this was an experienced GSD breeder so she just laughed at her ("I've dealt with dogs much bigger than YOU!") and told her no and put her on the floor.

Papillons can need a firm hand if they are NOT shy. My other bitch was 9 months when I got her and she was terrified of everything and she believed attack was the best defence. Tha's a totally different scenerio and she had to be taugth gradually to be around the things that scared her, without ever being told off, just ignored when she did wrong and praised when she did right. What you are describing sounds more like the first scenario unless something happened immediately before to scare the dog.

My male Pap (neutered) I had from a small pup and I have never had a problem with him but being into obedience  I started training him very early on. One of his littermates however was returned to his breeder aged only about 12 weeks as the could not cope with him. Some people are very taken aback at just how much DOG there is in the tiny package. But once trained, they are so loyal and so cuddly and friendly I can't imagine anything nicer. Training classes is a VERY good idea as they also very often get aggressive towards bigger dogs unless they learn to be around them.

I always say they should listen and pay attention if a dog growls because they are saying they are annoyed and the children should move away but now I am a bit confused.


Your right, he can't speak and he is giving a warning, as far as the children are concerned they need to move away immediately before he moves onto the second stage which is to teeth bare, charge with noise or bite.

He does sound as though he is food guarding, (he's a proper little bossy boots isn't he?) probably due to his previous upbringing, it is a terrible shame when this happens but there are techniques to help to put it right, he has a fear of his food being taken away and quite rightly is guarding his food, particularly from your children, it needs to be addressed, you can help with this by adding food to his bowl whilst he is eating, so as to view you not as a threat, but a giver of food, by swapping for things he has in his mouth, never taking and hand feeding aswell. This is going to take time, and needs to be done very slowly as he is not a wee pup and this is part of his make up now, it may take weeks, months, so I would recommend you gradually teach him these things and keep the children for now well away from his feeding quarters, but allow them to feed him by hand away from his bowl, until you have broken the back of this behaviour and earned his trust. Then the children may too add extra's to his bowl eliminating his fear that they will take it.

Just keep listening and watching his behaviour, addressing most of his behaviour with trust issues which you can eventually put right, but if he oversteps you need to put him in his place.

[iSo the next time she bit me, I picked her up and held her in the air until she calmed down. That's all I did, held her, but by her scruff. (We ARE talking a 1 kg dog here!  ]

I agree what you did worked but I'd just like to air a little caution, your experienced with dogs, and you did it the correct way calmly, without shouting or showing any negative emotion whilst doing it, you just held her in the air, keep your arm still to show you are the authority here and it worked very well.

But when some people do this they show negative shaking, shouting and other negative behaviour which when a dog has done something like bite you can not always hide, which can have an effect of making a pup/dog fight backl, therefore making the behaviour even worse. So I would say this method should not be used unless you know you are of a calm disposition so as not to have any negative side effects.

Segregation although not as fast a method as this, usually has no negative effects and gets the message across very well.

Sorry just wanted to point that out although it can be a good method in the wrong hands it can fail miserably.

I fully agree with you Carrington.

Also I meant to say, if this little chap has been mistreated and is so confident anyway Im surprised the breeder rehomed him to someone with three young children! (no offence to you)
It isnt fair on anyone especially Freddy.

I cant say I know a lot about papillons but they are a small delicate breed to have around a group of small children and if he's already timid I would have thought this would make him worse.
Just my thoughts, maybe it would be better to rehome him now to save any further stress to all?

The breeder knew me and my other little dog already, and I am sure she wouldn't have homed him with us if she had any idea he might behave like that. He is a large example of the breed and a very similar size to our other dog who the children are excellent with. I am sure we wouldn't have been allowed to take him home if the breeder hadn't watched the way our children behave round small dogs and felt confident there would not be a problem.
We will make more effort to get the children to feed him and be involved with positive training. He really is otherwise a lovely dog but he has some issues needing to be sorted out through his past experiences. At the moment we want to do our best to resolve this before we would consider moving him to yet another home.

If part of his problem is an inflated self image then using the NILIF program can be very helpful.  It is non confrontational, and teaches the dog that all good things come from you (and the kids) and to get the goodies he has to earn them.

If you type NILIF into Google you will get lots of articles on the subject.

There is a  book on resource guarding called 'Mine' that is supposed to be good too.

Thanks, I will look at that thoroughly, I have had a quick look at the program and really Freddy never demands attention from me, he waits with interest to see what I am going to do/expect him to do, he is eager to learn and please and ever so responsive. I doubt very much he would behave like that (nip or growl) around me or my husband. I think I really have to involve the children more in this kind of training. I agree with Marianne, Freddy is very much like a big dog in a little body if that makes any sense! He is very different in personality from our other dog who tends to be a lazy plodder and like to be spoilt, Freddy is really alert and aware of everything and incredibly agile, I reckon he could be very good at agility when he is more mature. 

Yep they are great Agility and Obedience dogs.  Nothing ploddy about them.

Most probably he thinks he has you lot fairy sussed > dogs always test the boundary's cute little baby everyone loves him so hes just think he can boss the kids .
For dogs they do seem like funny creatures children-they  smell different, they have squeaky voices and run/stumble about a lot. A little dog expecailly is very high spirited 7 month old not ever being around kids does not know how to act.
I would start by getting everyone to ignore him then making him wait to walk through doors/ gates until the whole family has gone first. Maybe let one child once a day let him start to learn "give paw" for a piece of chicken/cheese rather than them feeding him his tea aren't they a bit on the young side for that? An indoor crate in some quiet corner so he has a place for quiet time might be an idea ?

Yes I agree he is probably testing the boundaries with the children to see if he can boss them. Why would the children be on the young side to give him his tea? I thought it would be beneficial for them to be seen as giving food and possibly in a position of authority like my husband and I. The children certainly don't bother him and are not allowed to disturb him when he is resting, I don't think he dislikes them at all just testing the situation.

I personally  think this way  because you've only had the dog for one month, it takes them a while to adjust to everything/ everyone its a whole new world, and if he is not used to children and  has now gone for you little lads face?  I just think when its there tea time its the most important time for them- getting food. Of course  letting the kids give him extra treats through the day will introduce them slowly that's a nice bonus for them far more controlled too. You children are on the young side am i right in saying your eldest is 6 and your youngest is 3 ?

The eldest is 8, they are aged 8, 6 and 4. Like I said they are used to little dogs as the yongest child was only 18 months when we got the other dog, we have never had any difficulty but then we had the other dog from a puppy so could ensure all the correct training and socialising took place. It is obviously different when you take on an older puppy with an unknown and difficult history. We feel we have already achieved quite a lot in the month we have had Freddy and are quite hopeful that if we address this issue properly we can sort it out.

> are quite hopeful that if we address this issue properly we can sort it out

I agree, I'm sure he'll turn out fine The poor little thing has had a rough start and nobody (before you) has taught him how to behave, he'll get there.  I took on a 4 year old dog (from a rescue centre), he snapped at my youngest child over food, we cracked down with training, and he has never done it since (he's now 14yrs old).

Your brood is older than I thought sorry ! I'm certain your new addition to your family will find his feet. Its not the children I'm worried about obviously there used to dogs being brought up with them > Its his sensitive mind that could just read a situation wrong hurt your kids and cause upset. I took on a Belgian Shepard 18 month bitch and frightened the stuffing out of me when she snapped into a terror when my 9 year old son wondered in to the kitchen when she was eating out of her dish!! She became a great dog in time. I'm sure the same will be for you too . 

Thanks for the words of encouragement. We feel much more optimistic already, it has been very useful to get advice on how to handle him if he does this eg not to be so angry as to scare him, but to say a firm no and remove him. He really is a very quick learner and I do think we will get there. The children have been clearly told how to react too and are also getting him to sit for a treat and so on, they all still love him and now we have more idea what to do so thanks everyone.