So, I am wondering how other people would handle this.. lol. Gosh, I never thought I would have a post about this with Stark... lol.

Anyways,

Stark is kid obsessed.

Yes, I said it. He LOVES his kids, especially his two "girls" who he sees all the time and now who come over to our house to play with him.

When we are outside playing in the green way, and the kids are out with us Stark is so concerned where they are. He is constantly watching them and if they go to far he will run after them and just be with them.

I haven't had any problems with him jumping, or nipping or being rough.

But..

When the kids go into the playground area which is fenced off from the rest of the green space (dogs aren't allowed in the playground area) he starts to whine and bark and kinda freak out and wants to go to them. Nothing aggressive, but you can tell he WANTS THOSE KIDS NEAR HIM!!!

If the kids are being silly and he can't be RIGHT THERE WITH THEM (just walking next to them) he will start to whine and cry and sometimes bark like a maniac until the kids come back out, give him a pet or a cuddle.

I usually down him or try and re-direct his attention to a ball or toy but sometimes that doesn't work. If I down him, he will remain in the down but will still whine, cry or bark.

There can be other dogs around, people, etc. but he doesn't care and wants his kids.

He has met so many new kids and has been superb with every one of them! I am very proud of the progress he has made thus far and don't want to do anything to change his view of kids (in a bad way).

I should mention, this is not all the time. Most of the time he is content to be playing ball or playing with his doggy friends. And if he does start up, I usually can get him re-directed to something else.

I wish I had advice, but I don't. I've seen this with other shepherds and I think it is common, but also wonder if it is too much? Siena doesn't like kids, but she does that for her ball. I think the kids scare her

Stark is so handsome!

Herding instinct. Keeping the flock he feels responsible for together.

Yup, had a gsd that would do that with my moms, nieghbours youngest girl. The other kids could play with him but it was Kelsey that he kept his eye on. If she wandered too far towards the road he would 'herd' her back.

Like kutzro357 says, Starks herding instinct is kicking in.

Yup, herding instinct. Gracie does it when I'm out with my friend with 2 daughters. If they get too far off from us and Gracie is leashed & unable to reach them, she goes ballistic!!

Last weekend (Father's day) Gracie was upstairs, racing back and forth between my office and my husband's. She was squealing. She was beside herself. We had no idea what was the problem. My husband said "show me". Gracie flew down the stairs to the back door, sat (perfectly) and stared at the door. He let her out. She raced to the fence.......our neighbor's grandchildren were over. Gracie was missing a play opportunity So they picked them up, put them on their shoulders, I handed each a ball and they played with Gracie over the fence. All was then again right in the world.

Our shepherds sure do love those kids!!!!!

Mine does that with MY kids. I don't know if she would do it with other kids when mine aren't involved, since we are never around other kids without my kids. If we go for a walk and they are riding their bikes and get too far ahead (in her opinion) she goes nuts, starts to whine and pull on the leash, etc. When we go to a park where dogs are allowed and the kids all go seperate directions, she is constantly checking on them. Once my oldest was out of sight and he got stung. He suddenly started screaming - guess who was the first on the scene?

Once in a while she does get overexcited and rowdy with them - she is bigger than all of them and twice as big as my youngest, so I do have to watch that.

Recon used to do the same thing with my nephews. They are two boys, 5 & 7 and if they went over the back fence to run around in the field - it was game on. He would pace, bark, jump on the fence until one of us adults took him out with them.

He would also do this when the kids were in the bathtub ... I think it's their desire to keep their pack together.

Elisabeth...a year ago...did you ever dream you would have THIS particular problem to solve?

Thanks guys, this is what I was thinking too.. herding instinct.

I was just wondering how everyone deals with it? Should I just continue re-directing or should I verbally correct him?

And no, I never thought I would have this issue to deal with.. but I'LL TAKE IT!