Tori,
what Julie says is very important and something you may read in the literature that PeggySue has recommended. We don't have kids in our home but we have children who live next door and all our puppies are trained from birth to respect those children as superior to them. Higher in the pecking order.

But in a home situation, the behavior has to be reinforced constantly, especially with new puppies in the home. The child has to know how to "manage" the puppy but also how to me a manager. Keep in mind that most children have been at the bottom of the pecking order in their own home and now they are being asked to behave with authority over another living being. They have to learn how to be in charge without being cruel, or inconsistent or unreasonable.

It's like people in a work situation that suddenly get promoted to supervisor. They may not know how to lead or how to give direction. If you've always taken direction, that's not something that you learn by osmosis. Same with children and dogs.

As Julie says, most dogs -- even the most dominant -- don't want that responsibility. They want to know that their humans are in charge -- even if they test them from time to time . Our Annie Fay would express her dominance by tunneling between our legs and pausing so we could scratch her butt. We accepted that behavior because it was adorable (she'd dance when her butt was scratched) but we gave it a command so we could tell her "no tunnel". And she'd obey with a twinkle in her eye to let us know that she knew the game.

I second Julie's suggestion that the pup should be from a reliable breeder or a good rescue organization. We do a lot of one-on-one teaching of new puppy owners who buy our pups. It's the only way we can be sure the puppies will be integrated properly into homes with children or other animals.

Jim