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16 week old fila to introduce to child

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shanelm2010

Member
my boyfriend brought home a female fila two days ago that he got from a friend. after doing a ton of research i am a bit nervous. Her name is Lola. She has already bonded to me and follows me EVERYWHERE. my son met her yesterday and she nipped at him. but then kept her distance for the rest of the night. She was not previously crate trained which we are working on. and she was never put on a leash, which i am also working on. I am not sure the best way to get her used to my son that will be safe for him. Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
fila4me

fila4me

Well-Known Member
How old is your son? Do you all live together? Is he calm? Dog savvy?
Patience and exposure.
Do not force them on each other. Let the pup come to him.
Without knowing more about your living
situation it makes it harder to give better advice.
 
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shanelm2010

Member
fila4me said:
How old is your son? Do you all live together? Is he calm? Dog savvy?
Patience and exposure.
Do not force them on each other. Let the pup come to him.
Without knowing more about your living
situation it makes it harder to give better advice.
Click to expand...


My son just turned 4 and we all live together. My son is not very calm. He has been around dogs but either very young puppies or adult dogs. The fila went up to him yesterday and my son gave her a bone and went to pet her and she nipped at him, which scared my son. So now my son is hesitant and nervous. After that incident the dog kind of just stayed away from my son all night. I know that it will take time, but now I am scared for my son.
 
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shanelm2010

Member
and i have had a few people say she doesnt look fila.. im not sure.
 

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Hector

Hector

Well-Known Member
She looks like a fila to me.

The dog is showing signs of resource guarding if that's what triggered the nip.
 
angelbears

angelbears

Well-Known Member
fila4me is the one that can help. She is one of the experts here with Filas. Which are NOT like other dogs.

What jumps out at me is your son approached your dog while it had a bone. This is a huge NO NO. Any breed could react that way. Fila's are known for being wonderful to their family but you are going to have to go slow with your son and pup. Fully supervised. Do not let your son approach the dog, especially when it has either a toy or food. Once they bond you will notice the difference and I will be willing to bet she will become your son's best friend but do it slowly.
 
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shanelm2010

Member
no my son was bringing her a bone treat. and she took it from him very nicely. after she ate it my son went to pet her and she snapped at him. my son now wants nothing to do with her.
 
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shanelm2010

Member
the guy that we got her from said she was english mastiff, but her vet papers said fila. so im not exactly sure :-/ i just want to be prepared as we have a lot of kids that live next door.
 
Max's mom

Max's mom

Well-Known Member
Trainer! If you have a Fila and you are around children, having issues, not used to big dogs...that kind of dog, you need some professional help right away. I know the dog has to settle in, but getting some help from someone familiar with the suspected breed would benefit you and the family greatly. Good luck.
 
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shanelm2010

Member
Max's mom said:
Trainer! If you have a Fila and you are around children, having issues, not used to big dogs...that kind of dog, you need some professional help right away. I know the dog has to settle in, but getting some help from someone familiar with the suspected breed would benefit you and the family greatly. Good luck.
Click to expand...

i contacted a few local trainers, and none of them have experience with filas :-/ and the one that does wants an outrageous amount. We just had to put down our black mouth cur who was extremely territorial so i have some experience but not with filas
 
DennasMom

DennasMom

Well-Known Member
I would make sure the puppy knows your son is an extension of you. Back up your son on all things over the dog. Make sure the dog respects your son.

Having your son be respectful of the puppy, now that he knows there are teeth in that cute face, is not necessarily a bad thing - but you want to work with him to get over being afraid, too...

A trainer with fila (or at least mastiff) experience would be great if you can find one. Otherwise, being just 16 weeks old, you still should be in major socialization mode with the puppy - take your son and the puppy to new places every week (a new park, a place to swim, a strip mall, garden store, pet store, etc.), and introduce one new thing every day (umbrellas, people wearing hats, new noises - vacuum, blender, hair dryer, etc.). Then give the puppy a nice quiet place to nap and absorb all the new sights and smells he was exposed to.

Maybe you can enlist your son to help you brainstorm new places & things to introduce the puppy to... are/were there things your son was afraid of that he'd like to help the puppy learn about, so the puppy isn't afraid of them? Understanding dog communication styles, and that the puppy can also be afraid of stuff might help your son bond with the puppy, too.
 
fila4me

fila4me

Well-Known Member
Sorry it has taken me a bit to get back.
She looks like a Fila from pics, so we will go with it.

What happened is nothing to worry about, honestly . It is easy to deal with
and the bond that will develop will blow your mind! My son is 5 and his girls are 6 and 2.
When the 2 yr old Maddie was introduced I had her meet my kids (daughter is 11)outside in the front yard. No treats are allowed to be given for the first week, daddy and I are the only ones that can feed,treat the first 2 wks in my home. Kids are not allowed to go up, they have been taught to ignore pup, no running, yelling or quick movements. Pup is allowed to approach them, I make them stay seated, pup is allowed to sniff, licking them. I do not allow my kids to pet pup during this. I am like a hawk circling waiting for any sign from pup. I let pup do this for a few minutes or so then I remove pup. We do this a couple of times the first few days if pup and/or kids are still cautious. I then let my kids one at a time start to do one of pups feedings and assist with potty time. By time week 3 rolls around, my kids were doing all feedings and we all did potty time . We all were involved with socialization and leash training by then too. I personally have found it is easier to do majority of socialization without my kids, as my pups want to protect my kids more so than me, lol.
Your poor son, you need to work with him to trust her. Sorry he got scared. My daughter has gotten scared in the past, what worked with her was to tell her how scared the poor little puppy must be and how we have to be so gentle and easy with the pup. With my children, it worked wonders. Luckily, my son is my mini me and has a gift with animals. He was born with no fear of them and for all of his wild craziness he is extremely calm and gentle around new animals.
I would have the crate in a common area and have her in there while your son is playing calmly. This way she gets used to his voice and mannerisms. She is scared and confused.
My children were born into a home with multiple adult Filas, so I went overboard on discipline the kids and pups when I brought home Flower and Maddie.
Just remember to be consistent and have tons of patience.
 
Ivan

Ivan

Active Member
Am I the only one doubting if it's a pure bred fila Brasileiro?

Nice dog that's for sure but mayby it's a mastiff/fila cross?

Overhere also 2 children 8 en 10 years old, we choose they never give commands to the dogs. They can cuddle with them, pet them but never tell them what to do. Playing also is a no-go because the dogs are way to strong. The dogs are verry sweet with them and when the children are commanding them/telling them what to do, they sure wil listen.

We got both dogs at the age of 8 weeks and gave them their space and time. When the dog gets interested he'll search for contact mayby it'll take a little time :)
 
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shanelm2010

Member
THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH FOR THE HELPFUL ADVICE. I was thinking maybe she was a mix with something, she seems very tall for a fila.
 
TWW

TWW

Well-Known Member
That would be a big female for a EM, though there are some and some females a lot bigger out there, most likely the normal case of 120lb dog being called 200lbs.

I would say it looks a lot more Fila than EM to me, though could be mixed.
Ivan said:
that's a little to much fo a fila ;)
Click to expand...
 
Z

zebraworks

Well-Known Member
If your dog is a fila I would tell you DO NOT have any neighbor kids near him and make sure you have a very secure fence. I think you should read up on Filas and decide if you can live with not having strangers around and all the precautions that must be followed to protect others and yourself. Sounds like maybe you should get a dog that can socialize with strangers instead of trying to get a fila to not act like a fila (which is a terrible idea for everyone).

here is a read on different types of temperaments in Filas from a experienced fila owner: http://www.sombraultrajantefilas.com/documents/dowdyarticle.pdf
 
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