Aggression Towards Children

Oh my dear, that isn't AGRESSION! [] She's herding the kids...doing the job that at least part of her was bred to do.  I'll email Spiritdogs...she's got quite the collection of herders and is a trainer, just to be sure she see's this thread.

We thought that too, at first, but then she nipped pretty good, more aggressive than anything we've seen before.
It looks like she is herding, but we are not sure how far she'll take it.  She herds our Cocker/Bishon dog as well, but she ends up biting his neck.  It's playful, but an infant (let alone their parents) won't find it so amusing.
We've tried to discourage herding the little one, but we have not been successful...

Welcome to idog Syring. I have an Aussie and I have to agree with the herding. I am no expert, but I will give you a few suggestions. First, I would suggest some herding lessons. If she is properly trained to herd, she will also become trained on when not to herd. You will beable to call her off. Secondly herders need jobs. Teach her to fetch the newpaper or other things around the house. She sounds like she was bred to work and without a specific job she has decided to work free lance.

We had the kid (Austin) throwing the ball for her earlier, thinking that would help her get "accustomed" to the kid.

I live two hours from the nearest herding trainer, and have a high drive stockdog type Aussie.  She herds the other dogs, she herds butterflies, she herds her f-r-i-s-b-e-e, but she does *not* herd kids.  Why? Because she is trained to "leave it" and "come" and a whole bunch of other behaviors that I can use to keep her busy and convince her that herding children is unacceptable.  Unfortunately, a herder might nip too hard, but that is why I trained my dog so diligently, and why I manage all her interactions with children (incidentally, at our play group, she's quite the fave with all the little girls who adore her and all call her name at once when she walks in the door).  But, it takes time to train a dog, and in the meantime, you need to keep kids and dog safe.  That means no running or screaming on the part of the kids, and it means the dog is contained when other people's kids are about.  My advice would be to find a good clicker trainer and really get going with this.  Herders are often very motivated by either food or toys, and they are brilliant dogs that learn quickly.  You can find a clicker trainer at www.clickertraining.com.  Or, if you can't locate one near you, grab a copy of Peggy Tillman's "Clicking With Your Dog".  That will teach you the basics of the method, and you will have some skill with which to work.  Get Leslie Nelson's DVD, "Really Reliable Recall" and start working on the "Come".  Dogwise.com or Amazon should have it.  If not, PM me and I'll give you her website.

If you want to see how nicely clicker training works with herding dogs, go here and watch the videos: www.clickertrainusa.com
Brookcove on this board has Border Collies.  Maybe she'll be along too for some support for you.

Here is something about "kid aggressive" dogs

http://www.dogpsychologycenter.com/blog/Season2ep01.php