Aggression

A.,
Do not leave your son alone with your dog for even 1 second and definetly get professional advice for your dog's behavior. If your dog is responding aggressively as soon as you turn your back, your son would be in danger alone with the dog and possibly with you present if he actively tried to reach for or pet the dog. Definetly get professional advice where the person can see the interaction between you, the dog and your son to help you with this or to help you determine if you can keep the dog and for your son's safety do not leave him alone or have him interact with the dog without professional advice. There are many types and reason's for aggression such as territorial, fear, possessive, etc and you will need to understand why your dog shows aggression to determine how to properly deal with it and to keep your son safe.

1 mom found this helpful

Hi A.-

Just a quick note of encouragement... When my son was about 18 mos. old we had a similar episode with our dog, a then 13-year old beagle/basset hound mix. Our son had, to a degree initiated the incident, sneaking up on the sleeping dog and then pouncing at her head while yelling "Boo!" loudly. The dog snapped at his face as she woke up, leaving welts (but no broken skin) on his face. Our concern was that, while we could see how our son had been the initial cause of the problem, we could also foresee similar incidents happening again and again, regardless of our best efforts to prevent them, and fault wasn't really the issue- we couldn't have the dog biting our son, no matter why.

So, like you we were off to the vet' as soon as they'd fit us into their schedule. We ended up doing a couple of sessions with a animal behaviorist that the vet' recommended, as well as putting the dog on anti-anxiety medication. And it worked- the dog is still with us, older and even more cranky, and our son is doing fine without any more dog bites in his history. Despite the fact that he delights in following the dog around and driving her generally nuts.

So there's definitely hope!! Good luck at the vet's office and with dealing with this issue!

M.

1 mom found this helpful

You can't keep this dog. Please find a senior home or somewhere without children immediately.

These situations can turn in an instant. My gut says act now. The guilt is hard to deal with, but the feeling of having your child safe overrides it.

We dealt with the same situation. The sweetest dog ever, really, so docile, and one day, it was growling, the next nipping, then he started really getting scary. I put him outside and didn't let him near the child (even supervised) until a friend came to get him.

Its hard, don't get me wrong. Good luck.

The question is will you ever be able to trust your dog alone with your son again??? And what is your dog bites someone elses child, then you would not only feel bad but be facing legal problems too.
We had to have our 9yr old Bassethound put to sleep when my kids were 1yr and 3yrs, I felt really bad about it but we couldn't trust her any more, she had been a wonderfull companion, never a mean bone in her body, until one day she started growling and tried to bite my husband. She lost all of our trust....
Your children have to come first, good luck

Hi A.,
I'm so sorry! I completely understand how you are feeling. I went through almost the very same thing about a year ago, except my dog turned on me and did bite. I was devistated as he really is part of our family, but I felt me and my 3 children were not safe. Although there were cercumstances that surrounded the bite (a much disliked bath), the fact was, my dog bit me and that put my children at risk. You said you were taking him into a behaviorust and that is great! We actually had someone come out to our home and do an in-home evaluation with us and our children. She was able to evaluate our dog in his surroundings which gave her a good idea as to what was going on. (Let me know if you want her name and I can look it up for you). We were successful in "re-training" our dog and have been able to keep him. My children are 10, 7 and 5 so they were old enough to understand.

It concerns me that your dog was unprovoked and that your little one is so small. As he gets older there may be times when he does go after the dog and then what? I'm sure you will get some good ideas from your vet and there is always just being sure that your little one and your dog are never left in the same room alone. It is tough to manage at times, but we were successful in managing that for awhile after the incident at our house. Either way, there is no easy answer or decision. I feel for you and wish you all the best in your decision!
Good luck.
J.

Hi A.,

First off all, I just want to say OF course you want to put your son ahead of your dog. It was silly for anyone to say different.

I have dogs and almost everyone in my my family has dogs so I really feel for you. One of my dogs showed aggression towards kids until our daughter was born now she just mostly stays aways from them,except for our daughter, she loves her up. So we were very lucky.

But here is another story. When my daughter was almost a year old we went and stayed with my husbands brother for Christmas. Long story short their dog bit her as she crawled by him. Luckily he bearly broke the skin and just missed her eye. So she had what looked like a few scratches and her eye was a little bloodshot for a few days.

My Sister-in-law made all sorts of excuses for her dog...he'd had never done it before, he wasn't feeling good and she also had the nerve to say my daughter crawed onto him. Which she didn't my Husband was right there and my Siter-in-law wasn't. Needless to say we left and went and stayed somewhere else for the rest of the week.

Less than a year later they had a son. And guess what, the dog did the same thing to him, again on the head. My husbands Brother was ready to bring him out back and shoot him. But my sister-in-law made more excuses. They still have the dog. Supposedly they just keep him in another room. Thats not really any sort of life for the dog either. I don't think I will EVER be able to have any respect for my Sister-in-law again. Luckily we live 1200 miles apart and we actually haven't seen them since. I don't know if I will be able to not say anything to her. I have been in such fear for my Nephew that I have almost called the police in her town and just asked what to do. He is a big dog and I have no doubts that he could cause serious damage. She is clouded by the fact that the dog was her baby for 8 years before she had her son. I think she is a terrible person for it. It has caused kind of a huge rift.

I know this isn't your situation exactly but I wanted you to know, what ever you decide to do, keep in mind that the people in your family will have their own thoughts and feelings about it too. Like I said we were lucky and I couldn't imagine getting rid of one of my dogs but I would in a heartbeat if they had ever showed any aggression towards my daughter. It is easy for me to say though because I have seen what can happen.

Also if it makes you feel any better I have a cousin who had two rescue dogs. He put lots of time in "puppy classes" and training because they were strays. He loved both dogs a lot but when his son was born, one of the dogs showed aggression. He kept working with it but it didn't really help and he had to bring it back to the shelter. He felt aweful but not as bad as he would have felt had something happened to his son.

Wow this got LONG sorry. I just really feel for you. This is such a personal choice. No matter what you choose it isn't fun.

Good Luck!
~A.

Hi A.! That sounds very scary. I don't have a dog
so don't have the feelings about a dog being a part of the
family. I guess I would get rid of the dog though!!!
I wouldn't want to risk something happening to my child because
of a dog. I know it would be very difficult for you though!
V.

please get rid of the dog.
as much as you love him, he IS an animal, and unpredictable.

Hi A.,
I have to say that I have seen this often and most of the time it is jealousy or territorial issues. I can only say that the people I know have gotten rid of there animals for the fear that they will harm there kids. And that the parents will be on constant watch for fear that something will happen. I am not sure or know anything positive about the classes that you are taking if they are helpful. So I can't give you advice on that. I wish you and your family some comfort after you get advice from the vet. If you don't mind
Please keep me posted on how this goes. I take care of alot of animals and courious to know if classes help.

Thanks
S.

I don't know whether you should find another home for the dog, but if you decide not to do that yet, I recommend obedience training. I have a dog with a history of aggression, and I took her to a puppy obedience class when she was 2 years old. I worked intensively with her for the six week class and the improvement was amazing.

If you work with your dog on obedience consistently and really rein him in...like making him sit and come and stay often throughout your day, I think you will see a great improvement in inappropriate behavior. When you assert your dominance over him, and he knows aggression toward baby is out of bounds, he will behave. Sometimes the way you have to treat your dog seems mean, but the dog will be happier if you enforce his place in the pecking order of your home.

Good luck, I know it is horrible to consider getting rid of a family member like that!

A.,
I am guessing you have already visited with your vet about this issue. However, I am a vet too and felt I needed to respond based on my experience. Aggression is a very difficult issue to say the least. Like any behavior problem, aggression can be addressed with a referral to a behavior specialist for consultation and devising a plan of behavior modification, etc. However, aggression is different than other behavior problems in the sense of the danger and risk involved when children especially are in the equation. Try as you might, you can never be sure that this scenario won't happen again and your child could be seriously injured or worse. Some dogs just don't mix well with kids. My best advice for the protection of your child would be to find a new child-free home for the dog. Sorry! I know it would be heartbreaking, but less so than the nightmare of your child being injured. I know it's hard but it is the right thing to do. Until then, the dog and child need to be completely separated at all times. Wish I could advise you differently...thanks.

I'm late here because I see you have found a solution (sounds like a good one too), but the Mpls Star Tribune for Saturday, Jan. 26 on the front of one of the classified sections had a piece on touch therapy to calm dogs and deal with behavorial issues. I understand how difficult this is--I have two boys and two terriers. There have been some bumps in the road, but fortunately no serious aggression issues and the boys are 8 and 11 and the dogs are 15 and 12. If you ever get another dog it can be socialized from the beginning with your son. I would research the breed too; terriers do have a tendency to be aggressive--it's their hunting instinct.

My husband and I are huge dog lovers, but we had to find a new home for our dog for the same reason. Our vet told us that once a dog crosses that line and shows aggression, he will only get more aggressive. Good luck!

Hi A.,

You need to get rid of that dog. Are you actually considering waiting until the dog actually hurts the baby?

If you bring him to a "no-kill" humane society, he won't be euthanized, but they will set him up in a home without children and other animals.

Look at it from this prospective, how would you feel if someone else's dog did this instead of your own?

When our oldest daughter was about 2 years old our Beagle growled and showed his teeth to her. He was gone that day. We took him to the no-kill shelter in Becker with a note that he wasn't to be around kids.
You'd never forgive yourself if your child got bit and your child would have a scar to last a lifetime.
Best Wishes,
J.
Mom to 4, going on 5.

I'm sorry you're going through this - sounds tough - I'm a mother of 2 but no pets, so feel free to take this with a grain of salt. In my opinion, if you found a new home for your dog, you'd have piece of mind. That may even be kinder in the long run to the dog who is probably feeling jealous, and who knows how he may act in the future. Good luck with your decision.

My opinion is it is time to get rid of the dog. You are absolutely right that you would never forgive yourself if your dog ever harmed your child. It is unfortunate but dogs are unpredictable and the safety of your child is the most important thing. Good Luck!

Glad to hear that your in-laws are going to take the dog. I want to tell you that we had to send our dog to my in-laws only after finding out the day of closing on our new townhome that we couldnt have dogs...So, my husbands paretns agreed to take the dog and have him live in Florida...he retired and is living the easy life :). It will be hard saying goodbye but knowing that someone (family) can care for the dog is a huge relief. I hope everything works out for the dog and for your family.