pug attacked my 7 year old

I'm an owner of a difficult pug and also mother to a 6 year old boy. The first thing I noticed about your thread is that your pug was sitting by you. Child approached. This would have been a classic reaction from my pug to that situation. Add a little surprise, a pull to the collar by a "lesser" pack animal (your child) and you get aggression from your pug. Your pug might have been protecting you.

I'd say you need to watch your dog very closely for other signs of dominance towards the kids. I'm no expert by any means - I definitely have my own pug issues that seem to be unfixable, but my dog is always expressing dominance over others or controlling them in some way.

I'm not sure if what I do helps, but I try and get my son to establish dominance over Ruby, my pug. My son feeds her, makes her wait for "release" over her dinner. Makes her stop eating mid dinner via voice commands and basically controls her food. However, I have to monitor closely for any little sign (and they are small) of Ruby getting "worked up".

No answers here really (still figuring it out myself), just observations.

Jeanette, I'm really impressed at how proactive you've been with Ruby and Sean. I know that she's not the easiest pug, and it sounds like you've done a great job at working with both of them to make it work.

GingerSnap wrote:Jeanette, I'm really impressed at how proactive you've been with Ruby and Sean. I know that she's not the easiest pug, and it sounds like you've done a great job at working with both of them to make it work.

Gee, thanks! She is tough, but I've learned to watch her very very closely for the little signs that she is starting her nonsense. No rest for the weary in my house! Maybe original poster sees some signs too and can catch her pug before there is another incident.

I'm no expert but I learned a few things the hard way. Juneau has never given me any problems, but Rosco has been my learning curve. When I got him in December he had on a ratty old collar that was so embedded into his fur/neck, that 8 months later, the fur is still ruffled or growing weird. I took the collar off on day one (because I learned from all these awesome people on PA that pugs should be walked with a harness) and he tried to nip me when I was taking it off!!! To this day, he does not like to have his neck touched or his paws. So we don't.