Dog biting child: What to do?

[Anonymous]

We adopted a dog several months ago and our family adores him. However, our youngest child seems to adore him more than he wants. We've tried working with the child on the way the child touches him and we've tried working with him on his response to the child (he growls and snaps). This morning, when our child was pulling at his bone, he lashed out and bit the child. We don't know what to do. We're very concerned that the biting is going to worsen and that it could be much worse next time, but we don't want to over-react and give him up without thinking it through. It doesn't seem that the tension between the two of them is going to work out, though. Tonight, we caught our child doing exactly the same thing to him.

Thoughts? What do we do? And, if the answer is that we need to give the dog up, how do we explain this to the rest of the family?

[Anonymous]

You need to keep them separated and talk to a reputable dog trainer.

[Anonymous]

Hard as it may be, the dog goes. Maybe he can be rehomed wherethere are no children, if not, he gets put down. Sorry, but you can't take the likely chance the dog will attack.

[Anonymous]

Get rid of the dog.

A biting dog and young children is a recipe for disaster. If the biting aggressive personality is there, I wouldn't even bother with a trainer. Your kids are worth more than the dog.

I would work on training the child though on proper animal interaction, and avoid getting another pet until the child can behave properly and consistently around animals.

[Anonymous]

Hmmm life of the kid... Life of the dog... Let me post on DCUM and see.
- signed go ask the 8 ball

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hard as it may be, the dog goes. Maybe he can be rehomed wherethere are no children, if not, he gets put down. Sorry, but you can't take the likely chance the dog will attack.

I have to agree. My close friend's dog bit her, they spent weeks with a trainer never fed the dog near anyone, etc, then the dog attacked her 4 year old and could have killed him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hard as it may be, the dog goes. Maybe he can be rehomed wherethere are no children, if not, he gets put down. Sorry, but you can't take the likely chance the dog will attack.

+2

[Anonymous]

I think this thread should be titled, "Child harassing dog: What to do?"

I'm not saying the dog ranks higher than your child, but seriously, your child is the one causing the problems here.

If you're not conscientious enough to keep them separated, then I guess you'll have to give up the dog. But it would be your fault, not the dog's. Let's just get that straight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hard as it may be, the dog goes. Maybe he can be rehomed wherethere are no children, if not, he gets put down. Sorry, but you can't take the likely chance the dog will attack.

+2

+3

[Anonymous]

OP, hate to say but the dog needs to go. If the dog does not understand that it is the lowest on the food chain, then it needs to go. Our dog was older when we had kids and we were very concerned about this possibility. The dog handled it by making herself scarce whenever excessive hugging or petting was a possibility. Well, first she had about two years to adjust to DC1 so that helped a bit. I never ever left the kids alone with the dog - even just to leave the room to grab a sippy cup, etc. Do not spend a dime on training. The safety of your kids can't be predicated on the dog remembering its training.

OP, I am surprised that you were allowed to adopt the dog. Many agencies are very strict about placing dogs with families with one young kids for precisely this reason.

What you tell the family - I would fudge it a bit. As a child, we inherited a dog that was a bit unruly. My parents finally said it needed to go to a home with more space, which was pretty funny because we already lived on a few acres in the country. We weren't fooled but no one really fussed when the dog left.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think this thread should be titled, "Child harassing dog: What to do?"

I'm not saying the dog ranks higher than your child, but seriously, your child is the one causing the problems here.

If you're not conscientious enough to keep them separated, then I guess you'll have to give up the dog. But it would be your fault, not the dog's. Let's just get that straight.

No, if the dog is aggressive/growling with food and mouth toys, then the dog is an aggressive personality. The kid is at fault for bothering it, but if the dog isn't going to bite the kid, he is going to eventually bite someone.

Dog should go.

[Anonymous]

We adopted a beagle mix and wound up rehoming him. He would growl at our toddler every time he was eating or chewing on a bone. I tried working with the dog for 4 months and no luck. Toddler is 21 months and behaves around dogs - we have an older dog and he knows not to mess with him while eating. Beagle mix, however, would growl and give DS the "look" for just walking by. No way would I keep a dog in the house that shows any signs of aggression toward my kids. If that dog has already bitten your child, I can't believe the dog is still in your home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this thread should be titled, "Child harassing dog: What to do?"

I'm not saying the dog ranks higher than your child, but seriously, your child is the one causing the problems here.

If you're not conscientious enough to keep them separated, then I guess you'll have to give up the dog. But it would be your fault, not the dog's. Let's just get that straight.

No, if the dog is aggressive/growling with food and mouth toys, then the dog is an aggressive personality. The kid is at fault for bothering it, but if the dog isn't going to bite the kid, he is going to eventually bite someone.

Dog should go.

Yes. Nobody is saying the dog should be put down, but definitely needs to be noted as aggressive and rehomed with someone willing and able to stay on top of that all the time.

[Anonymous]

I love dogs. We have two beautiful German Shepherd Dogs who are part of the family. We all adore them. If one of them so much as nipped at one of our kids, he would be gone before the sun went down that day. I would get rid of a dog that bites without hesitation. Would and have. We had a husky that had always been great with kids, but for whatever reason started showing signs of aggression. First it was just growling. The day he actually tried to bite was the last day he lived in our home.

Sorry OP, but to me it's non-negotiable. Dogs that show even a hint of aggression can't live with kids.

[Anonymous]

Dog needs to go to the happy hunting grounds ASAP. It's a no brainier. Isn't a human life more valuable than a dog's? Why would you risk this dog permanently maiming or killing your child or someone else? I couldn't live with that or even the risk.