[Mel's chi's]

I need your advice on getting 2 of my 4 chi's to be nice to my teenage son (my other 2 adore him....and he is very mature and great with the dogs). For some reason both of these chi's took an instant dislike to him from day 1. We have had them both for 5 months (one is 1year and the other 10 months). They both run from him and want nothing to do with him. If I'm holding one and he comes around they growl and back into my arm as if to say don't even think of taking me, which we often do, but not always. Once he has them they are ok, but not happy and run off quickly when released. We have tried all the traditional things we can think of (and that's a lot...have had dogs forever) and nothing seems to work. None of them have been to obedience school, I just work with them since I have shown others all my life, but was thinking of having him work on lead in an obedience type fashion (we don't have a class to attend). Any suggestions?????

 

[Amandarose531]

I'm definitely not accusing here, but your son hasn't done anything to pester them?

I know it's possible for dogs to just dislike people, Godric cannot stand one of our friends but Gretel loves him. Something about him just makes Godric really suspicious.

I would say examine their stances, is your son sending off dominance vibes? Is your chi?

Hopefully someone can be more helpful than me, I don't have to deal with it too often as our friend lives out of town, but I understand it can be very frustrating.

 

[wild.irish.rose]

:hello1:ive run a rescue n i volounteer at the spca.sometimes we would get dogs in that are shy or skittish around humans.i would tell him to ignore the 2 for awhile-even if they come all the way up to him.dont even look in their direction.when they do finally come to him(theyll usually start brushing against him or trying to get in his lap) pet them alittle but leave them wanting more.every time theyll stay alittle longer.its always worked before

 

[kimr]

I have a Chi/terrier mix that absolutely hates my son. He's 23, great with animals, and I've never seen anything like it. But, Pedro was 3 when we rescued him, so we don't know exactly where his fear aggression comes from all the time. We've worked with him as far as my son goes for over a year now, and made no progress. All is well as long as my son is sitting, but if he gets up and moves and we don't grab Pedro, Pedro tries to bite him - never from the front, always from the rear.

 

[Mel's chi's]

:hello1:ive run a rescue n i volounteer at the spca.sometimes we would get dogs in that are shy or skittish around humans.i would tell him to ignore the 2 for awhile-even if they come all the way up to him.dont even look in their direction.when they do finally come to him(theyll usually start brushing against him or trying to get in his lap) pet them alittle but leave them wanting more.every time theyll stay alittle longer.its always worked before

Yes, that is precisely what I had to do with the older one! Now I am her favorite family member (in all fairness though, I believe she prefers females)! I keep telling my son to do this too, but he wants to kill them with kindness. I finally blew up at him but he is as stubborn as the dog!! I do need him to interact some by letting them out to potty and such, but will insist he back off for awhile (the female is only with us Fri-Mon, then she travels with my hubby). thanks for the impute!