Fear aggression towards small children

[tiggerwillow]

Is it possible to teach Willow that she doesn't need to pin her ears back and fly towards the gate to get children walking home from school to back off?

She only ever does that in the yard, she'd rather run away from the scary children but when she's in the yard she seems to feel threatened by the existance of children

 

[ArtNJ]

If you want to recruit some neighbor children to throw treats, spend a couple of minutes at the gate not doing anything scary, that might work in time. You know, if you clear it with their parents first so you don't get the police called, lol. Most likely your just going to need to wait and see if time fixes this.

 

[FeebysOwner]

So, an adult can walk by and Willow doesn't care. or do you not know because adults don't generally walk by? Kids can be taunting, so that could be something to consider. The quickest fix is to not let Willow outside during the kids' school schedule as to when they go to and come from school. Or, you could confine her space away from getting so close to the gate so sheis less bothered. If she can't get near the gate, the kids wouldn't possibly taunt her and she would have no reason to 'attack'.

 

[tiggerwillow]

She won't eat if someone she doesn't trust offers her food, I tried trying to teach her that men are not dangerous by having my older brother give her food, she would not touch it until I picked the bowl up, pretended I was adding food, then put it back down again, so I don't think she'd eat treats if children tried to give her any

I got a work colleague with a 6 year old, I could rope the 6 year old in to help every now and again, once Willow (hopefully) gets to the point where she isn't possibly going to literally scratch the child out of fear, cause at the moment she is likely to bite or scratch a child who comes in through the gate, I haven't been able to move her past this yet since the age of 3, she's about 9 now, the rescue themselves said she will never be safe around children. That's why she ended up in rescue - owner had a baby and the baby was literally in danger from Willow, is what they had on record

I don't know whether a child was already there and annoying her, which is why I thought I'd give her the benefit of the doubt and teach her, if possible

Adults she is generally okay with (men she would rather run away from, women she generally likes) so a adult only home was ideal for her when she came to me

 

[tiggerwillow]

So, an adult can walk by and Willow doesn't care. or do you not know because adults don't generally walk by? Kids can be taunting, so that could be something to consider. The quickest fix is to not let Willow outside during the kids' school schedule as to when they go to and come from school. Or, you could confine her space away from getting so close to the gate so sheis less bothered. If she can't get near the gate, the kids wouldn't possibly taunt her and she would have no reason to 'attack'.

If an adult walks by, Willow runs back inside

Her and Tigger do not go outside without me being with them, so I know children are not tormenting her through the gate

Whatever's left her this scared of children happened in her previous home, cause it was on record the baby in the house was in danger from her

Her previous owner didn't want to give her up, but cause Willow could not live in the house with children there, her hand was forced

 

[FeebysOwner]

Her and Tigger do not go outside without me being with them, so I know children are not tormenting her through the gate

As I said, easiest solution is to not take them out when there is obvious kid traffic, or restrict their space so that it is not so close to the gate. At this juncture, you are not going to change the dynamics otherwise.

 

[tiggerwillow]

she is currently curled up near me, dreaming about birdies, me typing is the tapping the birdies do to make wormies come out of the ground she saying

tappy typings

 

[tiggerwillow]

As I said, easiest solution is to not take them out when there is obvious kid traffic, or restrict their space so that it is not so close to the gate. At this juncture, you are not going to change the dynamics otherwise.

yeah I don't take them outside any more while children are walking to and from the nearby school, I normally let them out (on the days that I'm not at work, due to my work schedule) round about lunchtime so they can check what's been going on outside

Interestingly, Willow does not attack when she's at the garden end of the house, even when kids are walking around, although if they are screaming and shouting she will run to get back inside, rather than attack

 

[tiggerwillow]

Tigger, on the other hand (paw) absolutely loves everyone - seriously she would love all over Hitler if he happened to walk anywhere near her, she assumes everyone is a friend

That's part of the reason I supervise her as well, the other reason is Tigger cannot move fast any more to get away from danger, she would need me to pick her up and move her away from the danger cause last time she tried to get away from a danger fast (the bin lorry rumbling past the house), her bad leg gave way and she was laid up for 2 days with it, she was able to walk still but that leg gave way a lot as she was moving around, poor baby