Dog growling at toddler

[Anonymous]

Help, please. We have a 6 year old springer spaniel who keeps growling at our active 16 month old. The dog has snapped at the baby 3 times, one time nipping his cheek. Does anyone have any advice? Any dog trainer recommendations?[b]

[Anonymous]

Your Dog's Friend is a great organization that offers resources, classes, workshops, advice, etc. to help dog owners. They have a long list of trainers and other resources on their website as well. If you don't find what you need here, I suggest calling them. They proved VERY helpful to us.

http://www.yourdogsfriend.info/index.html

[Anonymous]

unfortunately some dogs and toddlers do not mix regardless of training. I'd start looking for a new home for the dog. I know it's heartbreaking but it's just too risky imo. btw, there are many old threads about this same situation.

[Anonymous]

I love dogs. We have a 150 pound German Shepherd whom I adore. And we've always had a least one dog in our house.

About 8 years ago, our normally great-with-kids mutt started growling and snapping. There may have been health issues. Training might have helped. I don't know. What I do know is that I will not live in the house with a dog that shows even a hint of aggression, regardless of reason. He was gone within 24 hours. Sorry, as much as I love animals, people come first. No way was I willing to risk that dog biting one of my kids or anyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love dogs. We have a 150 pound German Shepherd whom I adore. And we've always had a least one dog in our house.

About 8 years ago, our normally great-with-kids mutt started growling and snapping. There may have been health issues. Training might have helped. I don't know. What I do know is that I will not live in the house with a dog that shows even a hint of aggression, regardless of reason. He was gone within 24 hours. Sorry, as much as I love animals, people come first. No way was I willing to risk that dog biting one of my kids or anyone else.

While I think its great that you didn't take a chance with your kids (who can blame you) - there had to be other ways to give the dog at least 24 hours to investigate what the cause was? Seems so callous.

[Anonymous]

You have to rehome this dog. You can do it with care and kindness, but you really have to get the dog out of the house and into a more appropriate home. Not fair to the dog, and not fair to your family to do otherwise.

Dogs can be sweet and loving, but they have really big jaws and teeth. Toddlers are awful to pets (even the best toddler will be awful from time-to-time).

[Anonymous]

Rehome the dog. Find a family member or friend who can take it in, where you know he'll be treated well.

[Anonymous]

I disagree that you have to rehome immediately. Get a trainer ASAP (just moved to DC so I don't have a rec.). You are right to be concerned and take action but growling is actually a dog warning that it feels unsafe or upset, so don't freak about that. People who yell at their kids for growling just encourage their dogs to escalate to biting. Has your toddler hurt or threatened your dog in some way? Never let your child crawl onto the dog, get in between the dog and its food, pull ears or tail, etc. If you can't be right with your dog and toddler, put your dog in another room and close the door.

I have worked in dog rescue for almost 2 decades in addition to having my own kids/dogs and I will say that there is no such thing as dog who is completely safe with children. The vast majority of dogs turned into the groups I've worked with who have bitten kids or threatened them had owners saying "I can't believe it", "I knew this dog and I thought it would NEVER bite" and other such nonsense. Every single dog, even "sweet labs", must be carefully supervised, especially between ages 2-4. Most people said they had no warning signs that there was an issue. This is because they were unaware and didn't educated themselves and their children enough, and protect their dogs' spaces. OP, you are ahead of the game if you take action and work with your dog and child to keep peace. Just never trust either one of them together--you should never trust any dog and toddler together EVER, regardless of who the kid or who the dog is.

[Anonymous]

My cousin had to get 70+ stitches to put his face back together after his family's "sweet cocker spaniel" tore his face apart when he was 2 years old. He's an adult now, but still has scars, obviously.

Rehome the dog. Your baby will NEVER be safe around this dog. The only other alternative would be to permanently confine the dog to a separate area of the house, which isn't really fair to the dog.

[Anonymous]

The dog is unhappy and your child might be in danger. There is simply no reason in the world to take a wait-and-see approach. I love dogs and have gone to extensive lengths with a variety of them (rescue, rehabilitation, chemotherapy, behavior therapy- you name it). This will be a very difficult decision, but one you will never regret because your child will not be harmed and your dog will no longer feel threatened. Stay tough, and good luck.

[Anonymous]

Bye bye puppy. Could you forgive yourself if your dog bit the baby, breaking skin, knowing you had a warning sign and could have prevented it? What will you say to yourself? To your baby? "Mommy is sorry?" "Doggie didn't mean it?" "It's ok?" Because it isn't ok. Sorry to be so harsh but it will be 100% your fault and will have been 100% preventable.

Why take the chance? This is a no-brainer. Put your baby first.

[Anonymous]

Have you ever heard of Springer Rage? I know someone ( a long time springer owner) who was attacked by her dog.

[Anonymous]

Did this just happen recently or has the dog done it for a long period of time? Our 5 year old dog started growling at our 2 year old and nipped at him twice all within about a weeks period. I was very concerned and told my DH to make a vet appointment to see if there was anything wrong because if there wasn't we had a problem. A couple days later the dog got really sick and ended up at the dog er/hospital for 3 days. She hasn't shown any of that behavior since. So I suggest if this is a sudden onset of behavior to take your dog to the vet to get checked out, otherwise get a dog trainer in asap and just start to think about the fact that if the behavior doesn't cha ge you should re-home the dog.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Help, please. We have a 6 year old springer spaniel who keeps growling at our active 16 month old. The dog has snapped at the baby 3 times, one time nipping his cheek. Does anyone have any advice? Any dog trainer recommendations?[b]

I would find the dog a new home. As much as I love my dog, if she EVER tried to bite or showed signs of aggression toward my child she would have to go. Even if she could be trained, I wouldn't think it worth the risk since I couldn't trust her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did this just happen recently or has the dog done it for a long period of time? Our 5 year old dog started growling at our 2 year old and nipped at him twice all within about a weeks period. I was very concerned and told my DH to make a vet appointment to see if there was anything wrong because if there wasn't we had a problem. A couple days later the dog got really sick and ended up at the dog er/hospital for 3 days. She hasn't shown any of that behavior since. So I suggest if this is a sudden onset of behavior to take your dog to the vet to get checked out, otherwise get a dog trainer in asap and just start to think about the fact that if the behavior doesn't cha ge you should re-home the dog.

I see what you are saying, but a child can be just as injured by a sick dog.