agression towards dogs and children

Question
Hi

im sorry this is so long, i thought the more information the better you could understand the situation.

My dog, Nemo, is a mix of all kinds alegdly including pit, lab and shar pei, in my opionion definetly some terrier. she is 3 years old. she is welbehaved and loving, she will generally follow me around, she loves all adults we know. strangers she will ignore unless they are "strange" - drunk, loud or disabeled or - children, in which cause she will be very protective very alert, hair standing up and growling. She has never bitten neither human nor dog.
We lived in the city till she was 1,5, which she seemed to love,  probably due to all the people to interact with and she had alot of socialisation with dogs she  generally saw and greeted at least one a day. we have since moved to the country had a baby and another dog, who died of bloat about a month ago.
We have two problems with her and will split it in to two - children and dogs (though it is probably the same problem, when you get to the bottom of it)

She has always disliked children and tried to avoid them, i thought this was maybe because of the neighborhood we lived in when she was a puppy where the children where all very scared of dogs and would generally scream and run when they saw nemo. She has since learnt to interact with family members age between three and five and has even played with them on occasion, but will still get nervous if there is too much yelling og jumping, and if anybody pulls at her she will run of and hide under a table, I let her be in the room if she wants, when children are around because the worst punishment for Nemo is to be locked up away from me,but i do not trust her and would never leave her unsuperwised with children. she will growl if we walked by strange children, and There has been three incidents with children before, once she has barked at a 2 year old for coming to near to a chewbone, once she has barked at our daughter for coming to near her empty food bowl and once when i had accidently dropped the leash a child came around a corner saw nemo, screamed and ran and nemo barked and chased her around the corner i shouted at Nemo and the child stopped nemo stopped and did not make contact just stood and loooked confused. She seems to have accepted our daughter, will lye next to her, greet her when we come home, but will walk away if she crawls towards her or pulls at her, she has a safe zone chair and dogbed and we allways keep her bowl and food away from our daugter. My concern is that her behaviour will get worse as our
daughter grows older, is there anyway to improve her opinion of children? f.ex what should i do when she acts negativly too a kid (growls when we walk by one)?


dogs. She has always shown very dominant behavior towards other dogs, (creeping, standing tall, hair raised and humping) ever since 8 weeks old, but generally very good with other dogs when playing of the leash and has never bitten. Nemo has lately started to be very aggresive with other dogs, indescriminetly, when she sees a dog she will pull in the direction of it, the hair on her back will stand up, then she will croutch down on the ground, let the dog walk up to her and when it sniffs her longe at it snapping and barking. i cant figure out why she does this. is it fear? dominance? aggression? i dont think fear because she seeks out the dogs, but i dont understand why she would be aggresive? she has never been treated bad by humans or dogs. though her mother seemed to show similar behaviour. is it in any way possible to correct this behaviour or do we have to avoid other dogs?

I really hope you could give us some advise..

thankyou

Answer
Some aggression is inherited and some can be learned by puppies when they observe the dam (mother.)  Other sorts of aggression are the result of fear (lack of socialization or improper management) or an artifact of desperation (a dog attempting to control its environment because no one else is in charge.) In your dog's case, perhaps some of her antipathy toward other dogs is learned, but most is acquired.  This dog seems to have suffered from a lack of appropriate socialization.  You may have introduced her to other dogs, but your reaction to her behavior may have set her up for a fear response (raised hackles, creeping, over excitement, all can be a display of fear, not dominance.  And fearful dogs can, and do, approach other dogs in a state where they are not cognitively able to manage their physical reaction.)  How you live with the dog may have complicated her behavior; she may have a predilection toward dominance, but rarely is true dominance aggression toward humans seen in the domestic dog.  If it can be construed as dominance, it is what is called "rank opportunism", in other words: a dog that has been psychologically promoted and is responding from anxiety and fear.

However, since your dog demonstrates active aggression toward children, and since you HAVE a child, I cannot advise you in a text box.  This situation needs to be personally evaluated by a certified applied animal behaviorist (NOT A DOG TRAINER.)  Her resource guarding (growling even over empty bowl, and growling around treats) is a clear and present danger to a young child.  You have no psychological control, nor do you have physical control.  A professional is required to observe your dog outdoors and indoors, do an in depth interview of you and your partner, and establish a behavior modification regimen along with teaching you how to use positive reinforcement training to provide your dog not only the psychological comfort of knowing she doesn't need to be in charge, but also with behaviors she can offer (on command) for reward and praise.  Avoiding other dogs is the least of your problems.  Rehabilitating the dog's fear of, and aggression toward, children is of paramount importance.  NO ONE can advise you ON THE INTERNET.  Call the veterinary college in your geographical area and ask for referral to a specialist.