my lab pup is 9 weeks old and when i make eye contact with him for any length of time he gets aggresive and trys to bite me . should i not do this or is it just because he is young ? as i have small children i want to be able to trust him 100% !

In 'dog-language', staring is considered a threatening action, and makes all dogs very uncomfortable. Even the nicest dog is likely to react negatively, and your pup is very much a baby. So basically, don't do it!

Never look in your dogs eyes unless you are telling them off,  the term given in "eye-balling" and male dogs will often do this before they fight.  you and your children need to learn NEVER EYE-BALL A DOG.  It's challenging the dog, hense why you do it if you tell them off.  But then you would only tell a dog off the servely for attaching another dog.

Also, you might already know this, but in order for a dog to be trusted around children 100% the children MUST learn to respect the dog 100%  that means, the dog's toys are his toys, the dog bed is his bed etc and the children must know that, also never make a fuss of him when his sleeping, never cause any harm to the puppy.  even the best natured dog will not always put up with ears being pulled etc!

Hi guest my mother bought a rottwieler about four years ago not knowing to much about them she bought a book, this said you should train the dog to look into your eyes without becoming aggressive and i'm not being funny but you will have to look into his eyes i have to children a two year old and a one year old you can't tell them not to look into our dogs eyes or it might bite them they have no perception of fear.  Look into the dogs eyes if he starts to become aggressive tell him no in a firm voice, after time he will realise that you are no threat, when he is quiet and keeps your contact without becoming aggresive reward him really exagerate and keep doing this, i.m sure he will turn out to be a lovely dog take him to obedience classes and see what they say. i'm no expert but you can't have a dog without looking in his eyes, i look in all my dogs eyes and they come over for a stroke they dont become aggressive you to need to stamp this out especially because you have kids.  Get some  books on dogs.  i hope this helps, good luck frank/

Frank - please take a step back and 'think dog' on the situation you've just described (especially with dog with as much potential for damage as a Rottweiler)
Dog looks at owner and catches owner looking back, dog thinks ' hummmm - are they challenging me?' Owner maintains eye contact. Dog thinks 'hummm, I'm not sure about this, I'd better let them know I'm feeling threatened   prepared to do something about this if it carries on' and lifts lip.......  Owner uses a 'firm voice' and says 'No!' - Odds are the dog thinks..... Ops, better not raise a warning lip again, I'll go straight for the face next time, unpredictable things these people. All I did was ask them to break eye contact and we can be friends.........

Ofcourse, it's perfectly possible to teach a dog that maintaining eye contact is a good thing, by over coming these fears by rewarding the dog for maintaining eye contact - which is what I've done with my ESS, and she now has a command 'watch me' and will gaze into my eyes for hours........  It is a childs natural human reaction to look into the eyes of another being, and dogs have to be socialised to this aspect of living with humans.

If we stare our dog out, which may i add we don't make a habit of he jumps up to your face to let you know he doesn't like it, but if he is having a stroke and looking into you your eyes he has no problems. I didn't realise you were never mean't to look into dogs eyes, i always do this when i am talking to him.

Hi Digger i did sit back and think what a dog thinks and i understend that eye contact is threatening to the dog but you cannot let a dog become aggressive when you look at it, i'm afraid, my mother's rottwieler is five and she is great she also does the watch me but she has never ever been aggressive when eye contact has been caught as a matter of fact none of my dogs have, you can't just say to the guest never ever look your dog in the eye as jeangenie did, what is going to happen when the guest takes this on board and never ever looks in the dogs eyes then some one accidentally looks at the dog , the dog attacks and bites then it gets put down for aggressive behaviour.  This dog can be trained not to feel threatened by a human beings gaze. It's similar to training your dog not to be possesive over it's food.

Go back and read what I actually said, frank, and not your interpretation of it! ;) Where did I say "never ever look your dog in the eye"? I said "staring is considered a threatening action".

The OP said "when I make eye contact for any length of time the dog becomes aggressive". Yes, because staring (long eye contact) is a threat and the dog's responding in a species-appropriate way. When confronted by a strange dog, children are taught not to look it in the eye, but to look at its chest, so they know exactly where it is as they back away, for the very reason that staring is a threat, and may cause an ill-temepered dog to challenge further.

Of course you need to be able to look in a dog's eye (to get grit out, etc) and normal brief eye contact is accepted by most dogs. But not staring. As I said, don't do it!
:)

Hi jeangenie i have just looked over your post and you did say not to stare but the guest could take this as not looking at the dog at all like i did, now you have explained yourself i can see where you are coming from.

Apology accepted, frank.
:)

Good we're back on the right foot, i do apprieciate your experince.