Dog Snapping at baby-HELP

H.,

Dogs are pack animals and they try to figure out their place in the family. Your dog is trying to establish dominance over your baby, to let her know he is ahead of her in the line-up. You have to make it clear to doggie that he isn't!

If he responds well, I think it should be safe to keep him. However, it is important to never allow a baby and a dog to interact, because even with the best of dogs, you never know what they could do. Keep the dog in a well-defined boundary area. You may need to confine him to a laundry room or crate/kennel. Let him out at established intervals, to play and to potty, etc. But make it clear to him that his place is not with the baby! And you also need to make it clear to your baby that she cannot touch the dog at all, unless you are holding one or the other and monitoring real closely.

I had a basset hound who had been my baby for 3 years before our real baby came. We had the same issue. The first time it happened, I reacted very strongly and quickly to both of them. I made sure both knew to stay away from the other, and I told both of them (yes, even though they are "just" a dog and a baby) that they would both be in trouble if anything happened. :) Of course, my husband and I also knew if our dog ever bit, just once, we would immediately remove him from the home. But I think my strong reaction and my constant monitoring taught both of them to live happily with each other. We should have never given our dog the freedom he had before our babies came, but we did find that everyone can adjust well, with some hard work and new boundaries! Good luck. I know it's an emotional issue, because you love your dog so much, but your baby so much more!

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I refer my pet sitting clients with pet behavior issues to Aaron Stewart with The Edcuated Dog - he helped my own dogs with pet aggression issues regarding things such as food and toys and he's wonderful! He comes to your home and spends about 3 hours - one session, one time, it's worth it so everyone is safe and secure in your home.

Here is his info:

The Educated Dog
Aaron Stewart
###-###-####
www.TheEducatedDog.com

1 mom found this helpful

We used to pull on our Lab's ears and tail and on his coat. As well as put our hands in his food, take his toys, anything we could imagine a child would do to him. Now when our kids do this, it doesn't faze Joey one bit. You might try doing this to your Chihuahua. Use a spray bottle everytime he snaps at you. And treat him with bite sized treats after a job well done! He'll eventually get used to it and do as our Joey does!

I would not risk it, find the poor dog a good home, it was your baby till it noticed competition. Dogs are great but your baby comes first, and as you said, you know in your gut, the answer to this question, don't question yourself.

H., you have a nine month old daughter whose only source of protection is you and her father. If you allow your family pet to show signs of aggression toward your daughter without defending her, what other forms of aggression toward her are you going to allow? I think the question you have to ask yourself is this, "To what degree will I openly allow my daughter to be threatened without my intervention?"

I hate to say get rid of the dog because that's just not fair but realistically it's just going to be so hard to keep them separated. As you daughter gets older, more mobile and curious you will have to constantly be watching to make sure she doesn't find the dog. I'm sure eventually she'll learn to leave the dog alone but I don't think you want something to happen before that day. You also don't want to bring about a situation where your daughter gets snapped at a few times, maybe gets bit once and then becomes afraid of all dogs forever. I really hate to say the dog has to go because I know they are wonderful friends and family members but I also hate to see your little girl get hurt.

Chihuahuas are not good dogs to have around children. They don't know when not to be agressive. We gave our to my parents when he bit my son, then the dumb dog tried to go head to head with my mom's neighbor's doberman pincher. Things did not turn out well for poor Paco. Get a Golden retriever. Good luck.

Look into Cesear Millan - the Dog Whisperer.

Unfortunately, you will probably need to re-home your dog or make sure she is kept away from your daughter at all times. It is not worth having her face bitten. If you continue to put them together, you can be assured that your daughter will eventually get bitten. You should probably schedule an appointment with your veterinarian to discuss it with him/her. Vets are used to dealing with problems like these, and will give you an honest answer. Small breed dogs are not the best with children - most of the time the kids are bigger than they are!! I'm sorry you are having this dilemma, but it is a common one -good luck. -jm

Hi H.,
I see already they gave you best advice how to handle the situation...I am glad I never had those problems with my kids and my animals...I have a Great Dane,a Pit,Pit/Labmix,and a dane mix...I also have 3 cats,and 6 kids...lol...and there never been any problems between my kids and my pets....so I really wouldn't know what advice to give you...Reason I am writing here is the message that was left on the 12th by Sharon...She make you look like you are a careless mother,like you just put them 2 together and lets see what happened....reason you here is to ask for help to do it right,and I dont see anything wrong the way u did it....u watched them and u are protecting your child...I think she needs to aplogize...or maybe i missunderstood something?

We had to find a new home for a dog I had about 7 years before our child was born. When the baby came along the dog was not used to sharing attention. My daughter was about 18 months old when my dog bit her in the face. Nicole was a gentle child. I was not in the room with her. She was walking around the house. Maybe Nicole woke the dog up and it got scared. But I could not take the chance again. We put an ad in the paper and made sure we placed her with a family that had older children and we told them what happened and said we felt it was that she was jealous that she was not getting the attention she was used to.
luckly After the blood was washed away from Nicole's face the injury was minute. My daughter is 18 yrs old now and the scar is just about the size of a pinhead right under her nose. The dog was better off in a way because it had more older children to play with and I didn't have to worry about where Nicole went in the house. I knew she would be safe no matter where she went.
I wish you good luck in this difficult decision
Lonie

Your dog see your baby as something that is taking your attention away from him/her it is jealous. the more you include your dog in with the things you do with your baby it should get better. Getting rid of the dog is not the answer. It just shows the dog that people can't always be trusted. Chi's are not always good with children but you can work it out. You just have to be consistent. Please don't hit the dog it doesn't do anything but teach the dog not to trust. Good luck
Debbie M

I am a dog lover and my advice would be to just try to to keep them apart for a while. I have a really great Dalmation who is absolutely wonderful with all kids but when he sees my 10 month old coming towards him he politely exits the room. Most dogs do not like to be handled the way infants handle them: typically pulling hair or grabbing and using their pincher reflex on the dog. You should be able to teach your child over the next 6-12 mos. the correct way to treat the dog and she will be able to love on the dog without the dog getting upset. If the dog continues to snap after that you will probably want to think about finding a new home. Dogs are great but you can't take a chance with children. Good luck!

i would say don't get rid of the dog. with it being such a small dog, maybe it is just frightened. i would also recommend aaron stewart with the educated dog. we have never had the issue of our dogs being aggressive with our kids, but when one of our five dogs passed away 2 years ago, the other 4 had a very difficult time and ended up brawling with each other on occassion. i was concerned that the dogs may hurt each other or one of the kids if they got caught up in one of the fights. i would make an appt with aaron if you care anything about your dog. far too many people give their pets away when they have babies, it's just so sad. this is a learning experience for your dog too, she doesn't know what she's supposed to do, she has to be taught. and trust me, if the dog was a mean/bad/evil dog and wanted to hurt your daughter, she probably would have done it. maybe you didn't see anything "wrong" with what your daughter was doing, but maybe the dog was nervous and just didn't wanna be messed wtih. we have made a major, conscious effort to respect our dogs space - we have our master suite gated off, and the dogs can hang out in there with no chance of the kids bothering them. we don't "keep" them in there, but if we can tell they're trying to nap or becoming annoyed, we open the gate and if they've had enough, they'll go in there. sometimes they don't even want to hang out with one another and they'll choose to go into their individual crates and shut the doors. so, absolutely keep them apart for the time being, and let aaron help you make it work! he typically has a long wait list, but he is worth the wait. just gate off an area for your pup and be sure to give her time/attention when the baby is napping/sleeping. good luck and i hope it all works out!

My dog snapped at my daughter and I have made it clear to both of them that it's not okay. My daughter also teases the pets. Not okay! I make sure I never leave them alone in a room. I have two very large dogs and a cat with claws. My cat has scratched her too. Lets just say she doesn't pick on them like she did. My pets know who is boss and know that the kids come first even though we got them first. I love my kids and pets and my husband and I just had to make it work. My sister had the same problem but didn't want to make it work. Her daughter hit the dog and the dog snapped and that was it, they took the dog to the pound and we all know what happens at the pound. I was very sad about that but she is really not a pet lover.
Kids need to learn to respect animals and we need to make sure our kids are safe. Always exhaust all your options first.
I really hope it works out.

I would just have to get rid of the dog. My in-laws have a chihuahua and she is great with my 3 year old girl but my 2 year old boy, who as you can imagine wants to play more with the dog, always gets snapped at and it always bothers me. She drew blood on the back of his leg one time, and now they keep her in behind a gate when we come over, but if this had been my dog I would have gotten rid of her. I can only imagine how hard it will be, especially when the dog hasnt really done anything real bad yet. I just dont want your sweet baby to get hurt. Oh yeah, I forgot to add, when my daughter was playing at her friends house she was playing in the bedroom and came out crying and her lip was bleeding. The little dog they had bit her on the inside of the lip and now she is terrified of little dogs, I would hate for your baby to end up being afraid of dogs.

If the dog has been in the family since puppyhood and is now snapping at your child it might be best to remove the dog from the family as it will bite the child one day. There is a resentment coming from the dog because it was there first. May be a new home with adults would be the way to go for the dog. You can always get another dog down the pike but right now is not good.

My dog was the same way. You basically need to get a crate and put the dog in it when you are not watching it. And when you are home, you need to get a choke chain (if they make them for chihuahua's lol) or some kind of collar and leave a leash on the dog at all times. Start off holding the leash when the kiddo is near the dog (they lose thier control over the situation if they know you now have it) and pull the chain up when ever the dog even makes the slightest grunt or growl, letting him know it is not okay and he has no say. This really works, my dog actually bit my husband years back right before I had my daughter and we really needed to work on it. At first we thought my dog would despise my daughter with putting two and two together, but my dog now is very sweet and does not snap anymore. He still grunts every now and then, but that's only when she's pulling the tail. And he usually just walks away. You just have to be consistant with it no matter what and shhh them when they growl or snap. Keep the leash on the dog all day too, it makes them feel like they can be held accountable at any time. Good luck!