Yes. You have to make the child the pack leader. Lucy is only ever allowed from now on to lay in the presence of children, and she MUST be relaxed. That means head completely down, panting maybe, not tense at all. The child is to have power always, and you have to supervise. It's tough, but it works. She'll get it. Also, check out some stuff on the dog whisperer. I love him. =)

As a mother of 4 young children, I would be terrified to even try. God forbid she does something to your nephew before you can stop it. I love animals, especially dogs, but I would always pick the welfare of a child over owning a pet. There are some dogs that just don't like children (or even other pets), for whatever reason, and that's a dog I would not want around. Local SPCA's often do behavioral tests for people concerned with a dog's reaction. I'd call them to see if they would evaluate her disposition. It usually involves a trainer reaching for a bowl full of food or a bone to see if the dog will bite, they also quickly bring their hand to the dogs face to see if it will flinch or bite (a typical reaction to see if the dog was abused and is expecting to get hit), they also put a baby doll near the dog to see if it gets aggressive. If your nephew is going to be around often, this test could very well prove to see if Lucy can handle kids or has pent up aggression.

First off we have to address safety for a 10 month old human BABY...The baby at this stage CANNOT and WILL NOT been seen as any remote sort of PACK LEADER. Do not ever allow Lucy to be given free access to this baby. If you and the baby and Lucy are all in the same room together YOU have the lead on Lucy and YOU COME ARMED WITH....a bag of PRIME TREATS for Lucy! I suggest you pull out the stops and bring some sort of MEAT...cut up (plain) human grade beef jerky (if Lucy loves that)or even tiny dabs of peanut butter (not too many of those...the meat is better). Be sure that the baby's Mom or Dad is prepared to take responsibility for detouring their child's advances that would place the baby crawling up to...within...snapping distance of Lucy! This is important! Your ONLY goal right now, is to help Lucy to see that whenever she is in the ROOM with the baby ...SHE GETS REWARDED. Ideally, she should be sitting or laying next to YOU. IF she shows even a little ire at the baby...NO TREAT. She is rewarded for CALM behavior, for being RELAXED with the baby in the room. Lucy did not so much behave in a truly aggressive manner...what she did was to WARN THE BABY OFF. Of course it is hard for a baby to realize what Lucy was saying...it may have scared him, but he isn't old enough to really understand the message. You can also do this training with OLDER children who have prior experience with dogs and who understand that animals too need some respect and consideration. If their parents are comfortable with it...a MUCH OLDER child might even be able to offer Lucy treats after asking her to SIT..(and assuming she does!) Working WITH your child assistant, the child can ask Lucy to do behaviors that Lucy is trained to do on command and then reward her for doing them. This teaches Lucy that even "smaller people" are benevolent pack leaders who bestow REWARDS for good behaviors...and it acquaints her with being around "predictable" young people who will not pull her ears, hair, tail...but show her FUN in their presence! If your Nephew had reached Lucy....you and I... and evidently Lucy too...knows there is an excellent chance he would have grabbed a hand full of fur...and pulled. Babies have outstanding grips that can cause pain. I would not see Lucy as a bad dog, even though her choice of behavior was NOT acceptable. From her perspective she simply did not want to be mauled! Or if she had a toy at hand...she may have been resource guarding. (a good counter to that is to teach her to LEAVE IT...and to DROP IT..."IT" being the toy, some food, a bit of trash picked up on a walk...what ever is in her mouth...she should release on command.) Your best bet here is to work with a child that is at least 10 years of age and as Lucy becomes more relaxed, less stressed...introduce her to a child maybe 8 years of age...and so on. YOU have to also stay relaxed during training...aware and alert, assuredly...but you want to make the idea of CHILDREN a happy, fun, positive situation for your dog. Lucy is young yet and while SOME DOGS will NEVER be fully accepting of a child or baby...I would like to think that Lucy is young enough to reconsider and realize (with Positive Reinforcement training) that KIDS...equal GOOD TIMES AND REWARDS! (praise and treats and PLAY.)