Does anyone have any idea as to why she does not like my kiddos?
...it could be because they're 9, 6, 3, and 3.
Look, I'm sure your kids are great kids. But you say yourself that they "all try to mess with her" (in a gang?) and that they "try to pick her up". By and large, female Shelties are not fond of loud noises, rough games, or being grabbed at - and those are all things that come with 9, 6, and 3-year olds. It sounds like Lyla is making it clear that she would like them to leave her be. Why not reinforce that with your kids?
Maybe I can give you some of the kids' perspective. I grew up with dogs - lots of dogs - and other pets, too. The first dog I have a memory of was "Daisy", an elderly Schnoodle who was my mom's roomie and BFF when Mom was single. Daisy didn't care for my dad (the joke was that she was always waiting for him to
leave), and wasn't fond of me, either. I can't blame her, I was three years old. She would lie on her little dog bed and growl at me if I came too close.
Did Mom rehome her? Nope. Did she try to train her blind, deaf, 16-year-old best buddy to "like children"? No. She trained me to leave the dog alone (the growling helped). I would bawl that I wanted "a real dog" (like Lassie!), but Daisy wasn't going anywhere. She lived to the ripe age of 18.
Our next dog was an old-fashioned, sturdy-gal female Sheltie named Maggie. I was so excited to have "a dog of my own"! But I was also five years old. I was loud and uncoordinated and wanted to play rough. Maggie was patient, but she loved Mom and would go to her when I got to be too much. Did Mom try to teach Maggie like me better? Of course not. She taught me to respect that Maggie didn't always want to play (or have anything to do with me, for that matter), and that if she went in her crate in the kitchen, I had to leave her be.
With all of our dogs, and with all of our other pets, too, my mom made it clear that I was to respect their wishes for space. If they didn't want to play, the game was over - tough cookies, kid. I might have been a little sad (I still wanted Lassie, the dog who would protect me from mountain lions! I suspect Maggie would have saved me, but only because she knew Mom would have been distraught if I got eaten), but we all survived, and I like to think that I'm a better pet owner for it.
Layla is making it clear that she doesn't like certain ways of interacting with the kids. Maybe there are other ways that would work for her. Maybe there's a certain kind of playing that she likes ("Let me show you how to throw the ball for Layla - she likes that."). Maybe there's a certain kind of petting that she enjoys ("OK, one person at a time, pet her very gently, like this - see, she likes that."). But be her advocate and her champion - if she makes it clear she doesn't like something, put a stop to it.
