Dutch Shepherd Forum

My mother is here visiting for the weekend. She has met Stella once before very briefly. She greeted her at the door and was very happy to see her and doing her "pet me pet me pet me" dance a while later my mom was holding my 6 month old and pretending to "munch" her belly.... the baby was laughing hysterically.... Stella stood up and started barking at my mom.... tail was high.... hair on her back was up. She stopped the second I called her name then ran to me whining.... when my mom set the baby down she frantically sniffed her from head to toe..... I'm a little confused on what just happened.... I want her to be protective but not like this.... she has her eval with the trainer tomorrow and I will definitely bring it up but wanted to run it past you all too!

She's never batted an eye at my husband or I when we play with Vivian.

She has identified your family as her core group. She tolerated an outsider interacting with the child, but a giggling baby sounds no different to a dog than a squawking one. Dogs don't giggle. Calling her off was perfect and telling her that you have the situation under control. I would do that under no uncertain terms. But I would not really "correct" her or add more conflict to the situation. She came into a whirlwind of an environment and she just has to learn what is or is not her job. In the future, I would have her leashed or more confined to prevent her from having to interpret anything.

Thats interesting about the giggling. There are times when I laugh Thalie will give me a worried look. If I make any sounds that sound distressing she gets worried and comes up to me. A sound of laughter that dosnt sound distressing she wont care. Sadie dosnt have that type of concern (except for pumpkins).

It is interesting, the topic of discretionary vs. non-discrestionary scenarios and communication/interpretation concepts.

If the husband and I are wrestling around and laughing/giggling, Thor stands down. He watches, but will not get involved.

I might make a peculiar sound, even on purpose, his reaction is one of curiosity ("What does that mean, Mom?") However, if I make a distressed sound, he's right there, serious as a heart attack. I broke a couple of toes once and he knew the severity of it before I did; I thought it was just a really bad stub. (Until the healing began, he only wanted to walk on the side of the breaks, which is different than the side he was trained to walk on, and it drove me nuts...until I appreciated it--inevitably, if I made him switch sides, I'd stub the broken toes.)

I'm sure the giggling sounds you and your hubby make are very different from the ones the baby makes, combine that with the fact that your mom, the semi-stranger was eliciting those strange sounds, I'm sure she was just confused and concerned which is actually really sweet I think. It's also possible her reaction was to the sound itself unless she has heard it before? I think it's a great sign that she came right back to you and snapped out of it and didn't feel the need to take on the situation herself.

generally agree with everything that has been said in a positive vein about Stella and with Christie's sound advice of a LITTLE added caution, but i feel the need to say more pointedly that Stella did exhibit very good judgement.
she warned [ you as much as anyone: you did not say she growled ], she barked, hair is adrenaline, so she was worried in an urgent way, but she kept herself in check and yielded seamlessly to your voice intervention. that is very good. she did not really know your mother yet, but she knew she was warmly welcomed into the family; this was a new and strange circumstance. [ i as a bachelor and an autistic who has not much been around babies can attest to the oddity, i.e., potential danger, a dog would feel of an adult shoving its face into the belly of ''my mom's'' baby treasure and making strange sounds that result in more strange sounds from the baby. YOU would not want a relative stranger to do that even tho YOU understand it.]
and you learned much more about Stella's view of the baby - it is fragile and needs protection. a little caution is always good, especialy until you all get to know one another, but don't go overboard. she alerted and was fine when you said it was ok. she is figuring it all out very fast; one would not want to put up too many barriers to that process for a dog that is showing such good judgement.

Just a thought - there is a Cd called Preparing Fido available at http://www.preparingfido.com. It has a whole array of baby noises that you can play for your dog. It would allow you to make her familiar with various sounds that babies make - but you could do so in absence of variables and stresses.

Tons of great advice.... thanks guys!!! Stella has heard Vivian laugh... cry.... make all sorts of noises the only thing that was different was a "stranger" was there. I'm so proud of her she is un-phased by my older boys wrestling and my 3 year old throwing tantrums.... she is calm in the house when we're calm and a nut when we're outside playing.... I'm shocked at how loyal she is to us after only 3 weeks. We don't know much about her past and while I'm trying to be very cautious I don't want to go over board.... over all she is very respectful.... she just seems so grateful to be in a home we're on our way to the eval with the trainer right now... Ill let y'all know how she does! Thanks again for the help you all have made being a first time dog owner so much easier on me.... and Stella