Joel Beckman is a wizard!!!

Yeah. When I first got my German Shepherd (my first dog) I had a little kid run at him. He was a shelter dog and we’d been told he was extremely reactive so I remember feeling my stomach drop. My dog started barking and luckily the kid moved away. Now I now he’s a really gentle guy, just loud but he doesn’t bite, but back then I had no idea what to expect. The fact that he doesn’t bite came in handy with a severely Autistic man that got too close to him when his guardian wasn’t watching him properly. This was worse than the kid because he didn’t seem to react to the barking at all. He lunged at my dog and I thought I was going to have a heart attack. My dog was growling and barking the whole time as the guy rubbed his hands all over him. I was moving back and the guy just kept following. I was so scared but the worst my dog did was buck like a bull. He didn’t even nip. Then his guardian finally came over, yanked him off my dog and yelled at me. That was when my dog decided to lunge like he was going to bite (the whole time before he’d been backing away with me), because he thought I was in danger but all he did was push the guy. It’s still kind of frightening to look back and realize it was all just luck that my dog is a gentle guy and the reactivity is fear, not aggression and not him being a jerk. Back then I’d had no idea how bad some parents are at keeping their kids safe or how irresponsible people in charge of disabled people can be. It’s important that dog owners go in knowing most people won’t behave well near dogs. Because of the pandemic there are so many more unsocialized dogs out there and people need to be aware that they can’t let their kids just go up to any dog.

@@HyperWolf I agree unfortunately there are too many people who do not know not to run up to a dog they do not know, and too many parents who are busy working full time , and trying to put food on the table and cloths on there child's back, that they forget or simply do not have time to teach these important lessons.. Which is why I love this channel.. because Joel Beckman is real and honest. Children and dogs are everywhere and are bound to have interactions.. We can not control other people.. but we can control ourselves and our dogs.. Joel Beckman is the perfect person to show us how to handle a situation of a little kid running up to you when your walking your reactive dog or in my case just simply excitable and high energy dog My pitbull (who past away) was great with children and in that situation. I had that situation happen with her on a few occasions.. I was able to place her in a sit .. and when the child got to her she would it would be all kisses, rolling over, belly rubs and laughs.. My current Shepard mix.. even though she is very friendly and loves people and children.. I have had that situation happen with her she has a jumping problem when she gets excited and a new person running up too her cause s instant excitement. So she jumped on the child in a friendly way, and knocked the child over.. no one was hurt.. and since we have leash laws where I live, which I was obeying, and a security guard witnessed me tell the child no stay away, many times as I backed away. And the child not listen, and the parents not paying attention.. my dog and I was not blamed for it..

@@tiffanymonti2782 Oh, yeah. My dog does that. When he’s not anxious he’ll tackle anyone because he wants kisses. He tackled a cop once and I was so sure something terrible was going to happen (I’ve heard too many cop shooting dog incidents) but I got lucky he was a K9 handler and just laughed. The relief I felt. I nearly passed out. 😂 As for parents, I’ve had the ones that do seem responsible run after their kids and grab them. Or ask if they can get close. The ones that bother me are the ones that are sitting at the park not even looking at their kids, just on the phone. The kid that ran at my dog was a toddler, maybe 2 years old. The dad didn’t even look up from his phone during the barking, until the kid ran up to him crying, and then only to look annoyed. I witnessed a close call with a different kid running into the street. The kid got lucky the car stopped in time. The mom had literally been in her car on the phone and we couldn’t finder. The driver that nearly hit the kid helped me look for close to half an hour. Then she got all upset a man was with her young child and yelled at me for not being the one holding her kid’s hand. I was like, lady, that man helped me look for you for so long because I couldn’t get too close to the kid with my dogs. They would have squashed him. Then she took it out on another kid that was at the park that was “supposed to watch her younger brother,” but she looked to be about 7. There have also been several parents that are somewhere across the park and come up to me only once they see their kid is throwing a tantrum because I told them not to get too close, and some even get mad at me for it. Every single time I just think to myself how if I were a kidnapper or my dog bit them, those parents would have had no idea what happened to their kids. It makes me so upset.

Yes! My dog (rescue, shepherd mix) barks and lunges at kids. Considering muzzle training but any sort of desensitization training without a muzzle is stressful and potentially dangerous, I feel like if we use a fence even she would be defensive / guard the property.

Yes mine is barking and jumping on kids

He's a cocker spaniel mix, a rescue. I'm sitting at a water park right now while he watches kids at a safe distance in case a child wanders over. He is paying more attention to his ball while occasionally looking over at the shrieking kids. Basically he doesn't care.

@@smith12885 He reminded me of my English Cocker. I am reminded I need to do more desensitization with mine. Today on our walk we endured a fire truck with lights flashing and siren wailing, a skate boarder flying by us ( she didn't do well with that) and then a deer that crossed about 6 feet in front of us ( which she did lunge at). Every walk is a training session. 🙂

I’m sure I can help you but it’s going to be difficult over YT comments. I’d like to offer you a free 30min phone session. Email info@beckmansdogtraining and we’ll get back to you.