5 month old puppy, ran after small kids

I know as I start this, that I am going to get a slating. But nedd to know where I went wrong.
Last night I walked my 3 dogs as usual, we live next to an old pit heap, which is now an extensive grassy area used by many dog owners. Our old lady is 12 years and the 2 puppies are just turned 5 months old (Newfs). Across the field there were 6 children aged 5-9 years playing on their bikes. I did see them and was about to stop my girls at about 200 mters away. Suddenly without a backwards liook, Lola Newf ran, straight to the kids. She would not come back despite my numerous calls to her - she was going to play and nothing was going to stop her.
I gathered up my 2 other dogs and leadered them. By this time my Lola was bouncing around these small kids - I implored them to stand still, telling them she was just a baby. Nothing I said would stop them flapping and screaming. As I got close, I managed to get 4 of them to calm down and stand still, but one little girl of about 5 would stop. Lola knocked her over and started licking her. This just added to the girls screams. All my Lola wanted to do was lick her and play.
I eventually calmed everyone down and even managed to get 5 out of 6 kids to stroke my girls, so they could see that they werent vicious or nasty. I stayed there until the whole thing had calmed down- the kids even wished me a goodnight.
But I feel SO bad- I have let myself and my puppy down, I didnt expect her to run for them. I have 3 kids at home aged 3 -9 so its not like they arent used to kids.
I am not a person who just walks and lets the dogs do as they please. I am always on my guard for approaching people/ dogs/ kids.
We are in week 3 of the KC Puppy class, so I am trying to be responsible, and teach my girls good behavior. Maybe I need to teach myself some first.
Please can anyone advise me what I might use to attract my puppies attention back to me, or should I keep them on a lead whenever I am out with them?
I might add I am also dreading the school run. I have visions of irrate parents on the warpath.

Don't beat yourself up. You sound very responsible and yes although the parents could get funny and it could be serious, at the end of the day it was an accident and you are now taking all the steps to stop it happening again.
I would work on your pups recall more and if there is likely to be children where you walk them then I would use a long line until you can be certain your dog will come back.
Being such a large breed they can seem more intimidating to children and thier pure size can injure a child by knocking them down as you are I should think more than well aware of.
Get some nice tasty treats (liver, chicken) and get your dog focused on you not others. Good Luck.

Just as an aside, I can't understand why parents allow small children to be out with other young children and presumably no parents...it baffles me, but anyway...


I think this may be the problem, in fact. Your young Newfie has quite possibly learnt that children are fun, part of the family, and so on and so possibly has generalised that to ALL children. A bit like my friend with her buggy, and small children - my dog, who was not brought up with them, has often tried to race to other mums who appear similar (buggy, etc) but as my dog is older and I've put in loads of work on chase recall (have to, as I walk a lot in the forest) I have no problem in getting her back or even pre-empting it.

Often younger dogs do tend to get very excited by children, I recall my friend's flatcoat doing very similar to your Newfie; this was on a beach and the parents were there and were very cross, even though they could see the dog was just very friendly, he was of course big!

It may be best at the moment to keep her on a long line and harness for safety/control until she's more mature and able to listen more to you.
Also I'd suggest doing lots of training and fun exercises out on walks so that she gets used to listening to you out and about - this is so beneficial!

hth a bit - in a way it's lovely she's so sweet towards children but sadly it's backfired a bit at the moment ...

Wys
x

Just as an aside, I can't understand why parents allow small children to be out with other young children and presumably no parents...it baffles me, but anyway...

I feel at this point I should add that this was at 7-45 pm, and where were my kids? At home in bed. These kids were half a mile from there home and nobody was there supervising them. But still that is besides the point. I am desperately hoping that I havent put at least one of them off dogs for good.
Managed to do morning school run without being challenged.
I just cannot helping feeling really sad and guilty

I agree with Wys what were these Children doing out unsupervised at this time anyway ? Baffles me. I understand you feeling guilty I own a BMD I have always had him on a harness and long line especially while a pup just for these reasons. Sounds like you are very responsible and aim to correct it so as MM says don't beat yourself up about it it was an accident and sounds like it is one that won't happen again.

Your girls sound lovely by the way can we have some pics ?

I wouldn't let a dog of mine off lead, unless he/she had a 100% perfect recall...

That said I do let Ben off in specified dog areas, and they're always fenced... Unfortunately that the only place we can practise recall, and you still need 110% control of your dog...

Admittedly, the kids shouldn't have been out at that time but that's another thread

Have to say, if it were my five year old being knocked over by an off-lead dog, I'd be livid. Even if the parents had been around, doesn't sound like they could have done much about your dog.

I understand you are feeling bad about the experience but, tbh, I don't understand people letting dogs off-lead until they are 100% sure of their dogs recall.

Sorry if I don't sound understanding but I've been at the other end of an off-lead dog that won't return to it's owner, resulting in one of my dogs now being terrified of strange dogs

To me, it doesn't matter where you are or at what time and whether your dog is friendly or not, a dog should not be off-lead without the owner being totally confident of its recall.

I think this could have happened to anybody with a playful pup. Maybe running ahead making daft noises and waving your arms about might have distracted your dog, but that`s hindsight. It was good that you took the time to talk to them, but personally, I`d avoid that area for a while.
It sounds like your training is coming along fine and the main thing is that no-one was hurt.

Nobody was hurt, admittedly but who's to say that the child won't be fearful of dogs for years to come, because of that experience? Whether one is understanding of kids or not, there's no excuse for a child being frightened by an off-lead dog imo

i dont think you should beat yourself up at all, as you say it was an accident and all you can do is work on your dogs recall, perhaps not let them off until you are more confident they will come back - so a long line for now.( although with two newfs not sure how that would work - are they both the same age? Might be worth taking them out independently to try and enforce training more.

Also as an aside, if the parents say anything and are so concerned about their childrens safety then they have a bit of a cheek as at that time of night and with no parent present a lot more could have happeened to their children than getting bowled over by a big fluffball !!!

some people shouldnt be allowed children. You sound like you did everything you could in the circumstances and all you can do is try and work towards it not happening again. And yes whilst this wee girl may be scared of dogs, it sounds like she was before and if her parent in particular says anything you could offer to try and encourage her to come round to your dogs by desensistizing.

I dont think that there is much more you can do.