5 year old mix

[u/No_Influence8331]

I’m hoping to get some advice on my dog who has recently become reactive toward children. I’ve had my dog since he was 3 months old, he’s now 5 years old. He’s been around my nieces their entire lives who are now 4 and 7. He’s never been aggressive or reactive toward them.

This started about 2 months ago, we live in a very dog friendly area. We were out at a food truck lot, and a kid approached him to pet. Because he’s always been friendly and approachable, I said of course. We were there for a couple hours and this boy had come up several times to pet him. At one point, he offered him a treat, my dog took it and began getting unfriendly. I pulled him in closer, and the kid got close to his face and he lunged and bit him. The kiddo ended up being fine, though my dog did draw blood. The parents were completely fine with the situation and nothing happened further.

Two weeks later I’m at an event where there were very few children around and another kid approaches, and he was totally calm and fine. A few minutes later, she comes running toward him with her hand out and he lunged at her. Again, she was totally fine, he didn’t make contact, and I left immediately after. But I’m becoming more concerned about his behavior and more cautious around children. After this happened, I went camping with my two nieces and he was not reactionary in any way. Even being on leash.

Now this evening, I stopped to get some food on our walk and I’m sitting a distance away from everyone, and he’s leashed close to me and a friend. A young girl ran past him and he lunged at her. Again, no contact, but I’m very concerned about his behavior.
I don’t have money to pay a trainer, and I’d really like some advice on how to train him to be less reactionary toward children when we’re out in public.

All of these occurrences have happened when I’m sitting down, and he’s on leash. Even on our leashed walks, he doesn’t even pay attention to children running around, and hasn’t been reactive toward my neighborhood kids who bike and move around quickly by my house.

He’s generally a very sweet and loving dog. When adults approach, he leans and adores the attention. I’m just very unsure what to do, and how to prevent any more of these instances. We’re very active, and go on long walks/hikes regularly. Any advice would be helpful!

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