Advice about rescued dog, please!

[babyblue]

Quote:
I 1000% agree.

I have more then one friend that ended up mauled, and I mean MAULED nearly to death from the same exact situation. and Im not talking a little nip that says back off. I mean ER NICU barely made it mauled.



its not your fault or the dogs fault either, he was never trained or was abused. I would take him back to the rescue, that is the responsible thing to do. and if the rescue gives you crap find a new one and do everything you can to report the original adoption place. as reputable honest rescues will understand and do everything possible for the good of your family AND the dog.

 

[TLWR]

1 - dog off the couch asap. Dog does NOT have furniture privileges. Those have to be earned and being new in a house with kids and a baby, I wouldn't even grant them.
2 - keep the dog and kid separate until you know more about how the dog is around little mobile ones.
3 - dog off the furniture
4 - dog and little one are never left alone unattended where you are more than an arms reach away from one or the other
5 - dog off the furniture


Then decide if the dog will work with a little one. He may not. Or he may.

 

[Jamie_Dog_Trainer]

Please stop allowing the dog on the furniture at all!! Really at this point its not safe to have your young son with the new dog. I have dealt with this personally and professionally many times. I am still dealing with it as we speak with my own nearly 3-year-old daughter and my four year old GSD. What the Weim is saying is that he is afraid of the baby. Same with my GSD. Insecurity plain and simple. An insecure dog can get dangerous fast. If you want to keep your child safe, and I know you do, then keep them apart. Rehome the dog, its NOT worth the risk unless you want to hire a professional to come to your home and work with you.

Please rehome the dog.

 

[MomtoSyd&Emma]

hmm I dont know what to tell you, I really dont. BOTH of my daughters have been bitten IN the face by dogs, the first one was my daughter Syd she was 18 months old, fell on my brothers dog (shep/aussie mix) he lunged got her eye, skull, and face, took plastic surgery to fix her up

then at 9 months of age our youngest daughter was crawling across the floor our Toy Poodle (we got her at 12 weeks of age, and she was 2 yrs old) jumped off the couch, ran across the room, grabbed Emmas face and bit her cheek wide open (she still has a small scar to prove it)


We have adopted 4 adult dogs since this, NONE of our 4 adult rescues have bitten or even acted like they want to, so I cant down you for taking in an adult dog with babies/children in the house.

BUT he would not be living in my home had he shown ANY aggression towards my baby! Also he has NO business on the furniture (it puts him "above" the baby)

good luck with your decision, but what ever you do, PLEASE be honest with whomever you give him to (if you rehome him)

 

[SunnyCalifornia]

I have a rescue dog too, a pitbull. I know people have various opinions about the breed.... we'll save that for another conversation. When I got her, my kids were still young, 4 & 6. It was critical to me, that I could trust her around my kids. I didn't have the time to spend training, or modifying behavior. I was a MOM for goodness sake! I had laundry to do, meals to cook, house to clean, dishes to wash, you know the duties. As much as I would like to say that my kids were under my eye all the time, it just isn't reality. There are moments, when they are unattended. If you have the slightest idea (and it sounds like you do) that your new dog might bite your child, you need to take some immediate action. If you can afford some kind of doggy bootcamp, with a trainer/ behaviorist, that you can send him too, that is option 1, or option 2, accept that it was unfortunately not a good match. Either way, he needs to be removed from the house right away. You'd never forgive yourself if your baby was injured. All the best intentions in the world can't justify that happening.

 

[lorieMN]

from your post the dog is growling when the child pulls himself into an upright position using the couch when the dog is on the couch,,thats where it started so thats the beginning of the problem..the dog doesnt want baby on the couch and thinks baby is lower on the pecking order then the dog..the problem is it will only get worse if you dont do anything and beings you had to ask I think you will need professional help to fix it,,but it really isnt worth taking the time and risk to fix this when a baby is in danger,,and the baby is in danger..and if something happens you could get into trouble with SS if they find out you knew the dog was growling at the baby and didnt move the dog out.

 

[patandchickens]

What they all said above.

But in addition, can I say that it might be a good idea before you get another dog (and there certainly are lots of dogs that get along well with small children!) to maybe kind of rethink your approach here because if you do the same things again it may well get you into the same sort of trouble again, possibly worse.

First, think about making toddler-safe child-safe the big priority in choosing a dog. This would probably mean IMO either a dog with a good long track record of living happily with that age kids, or a young dog with a stellar temperament. And do as much real-world testing as possible before actually committing to take the dog.

Second, think about the PROCESS by which you integrate the dog into your family. The mere situation of the dog is lying on the couch within the first week of arrival makes me concerned that a bit more forethought and rule-structure might be desirable (let alone that the baby was loose next to him and free to pull up on 'his' couch, so soon after getting the dog); and actually WORKING on making sure the dog learns about the baby, rather than setting up a situation where the dog quite naturally feels threatened or challenged by the baby's (natural) actions.

I totally do believe you can safely (as much as anything in life can ever be safe) adopt a "pre owned" dog while you have small children, but I also totally think it requires a bit of a different process than you may have had in mind this time.

Best of luck,

Pat

 

[FortWorthChicks]

A couple weeks back I was in the ER with my daughter and saw an infant being brought in with a bite to the face. Poor thing. Sounds like this dog would be happy to live in a home with no small children

Good luck

 

[WisconsinChickenWhisperer]

I used to raise Rotties. One day, I get a call from a friend of mine that lived on a farm. Said someone had dropped this neutered male Rottie off at their house, and he seemed to be a really nice dog-good with her small kids and such, and would I take him in. Of course I said I would, and went to pick him up. The only problem I could find at the time was that he didn't like to be dried off with a towel. I had taken him to the lake for a bath, and when I went to dry him off, he growled at me and showed his teeth. Hmmmmm, ok, I can work with him on that. We had him for about a month, and he was getting over his towel terror, but one day he got up on my then 10 year old son's bed and wouldn't get off. My son kept telling him to get off, and the dog growled and showed his teeth at him. I went to the bedroom and told him to get off, and he did. I didn't give the dog another chance to growl at my son. I found him a home where there were no children at all. Yes, it was hard. He was a good dog and a good companion other than the growling at my son, but it was the safer and kinder thing for him.

 

[tiffanyh]

The dog is trying to tell the baby to get away from the couch because he has earned that position in the pack and he see the baby coming at him as a way of the baby swooping in to try to take it away. The dog will eventually start growling at adults who do it. Now, I am not saying the dog will bite you, I have had a Dobe for 7 years (my 3rd one) that does that to me every time I give her a command she doesnt want to do. She has never bit me, even if I touch her while she is growling. She will do this toward my kids too (who she was raised with) if they tell her to go to the kitchen. She has never bit them also and they can manhandler her when she is growling. She is a talker and we have worked with a veterinary behaviorist and professional trainer. If we respond to the growling with stronger discipline, she gets worse as she is scared. We ignore it and she talks back like a teenager.

I am not saying that is your situation exactly- but German dogs are notorious for being strong willed and constantly testing the boundaries. If you keep him/her, plan on not letting the dog on any furniture, feeding him last, letting him go through the door last and be very careful about not reinforcing the negative behavior (like soothing an animal as it growls). The dog needs to be kept at the bottom of the pack.

That said, my goddaughter, whose mother is a CVT like myself, had her toddler bit in the face by her dog. It is dangerous and should be taken seriously as a concern.

Best of luck to you guys.