by Carrie Frost

Created on: October 24, 2009   Last Updated: October 25, 2009

Dogs, like people, are a pack animal. They work together, rest together, and play together. Just like people they have a driving need to protect their young from any harm that might befall them. When a dog is introduced into a family they automatically become a pack member.

A dog's mindset says that they are part of a group and that they must find their place in this group of people. Since the adults have more than likely established themselves as the alphas, then the dog may view the child as something weaker. When the dogs sees how the alphas expect their offspring to be treated, the dog will start to treat the children as one of their own. In wolf packs, the whole pack adopts the pups as their own. They all take turns teaching them, playing with them, and feeding them.

When a dog senses that one of the children in its pack is being threatened it goes into protect mode. You may see the hair on their back rise or their lips draw up to reveal their teeth as they growl. they may do this to a person trying to come into your yard or at a stray dog. They believe this to be a threat to your child, a litter mate of theirs that would be viewed as helpless. In the wild a predator will always go for the weakest in the group. this means the smallest, the sickest, or the oldest. since we are talking about children then it would be the smallest or youngest of the group.

Anything or anyone that a dog has never met before will be viewed as a threat and that means bared teeth and snarling. You must always make sure to introduce any family member or animal that you wish for your dog not to be defensive toward so your dog will have their scent and sound logged into their brain. If you ever see someone, like the mail man for instance, trying to enter your yard and you have your child and the dog out front together then stop him. Introduce your dog to the mailman, make it clear to the dog with posture and tone of voice that the mailman is no threat.

Your dog may still keep a wary eye on the mailman, but there will not be a dog bite case on your hands. In conclusion, dogs find themselves protecting children because they view them as their own.

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