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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

OP here. do you mind if I ask what happened?  [/quote]

It's a longer story than yours but I'll try to sum up briefly to avoid derailing the thread on my issues. We got out dog from lucky dog three and a half years ago. Once we got the dog home, it was pretty clear lucky dog had misrepresented the dog's character. "Well trained and great with people but would prefer a home without other dogs" in fact meant that she had severe dog aggression issues and territorial/guarding issues.  We reached out to them at the time with our concerns but were encouraged to do training to help her get better.  We were young and naive, believed strongly that a dog is a forever member of the family, and didn't have kids yet, so we spent literally thousands of dollars in training, hired a sympathetic dog walker to make sure she had plenty of exercise, walked her late at night on very specific routes to avoid other dogs or humans she found threatening, etc. Eventually she was mostly ok as long as she stayed in her routine.

Last fall, we had a baby and the dog hasn't reacted well. While she hasn't done anything to the baby, she recently snapped at me completely unprovoked, putting her teeth on my skin but not breaking the skin. She was just sitting on the couch before she did it, no toys or food nearby, and I hadn't touched her or made any sudden movement toward her. She did the same to my husband about a week later. Then, she injured her long-time dog walker on a walk (inadvertently, while she was lunging after a dog behind a fence). The walker quit and the company, understandly, won't sent another walker due to risk issues.

The baby is starting to crawl now and I feel like I can just never trust a dog who would snap at me without provocation around a baby or toddler. Right now our solution has been to keep the baby and dog separate at all times, but we live in a small, open concept town house. I don't see how this situation is sustainable as the baby starts to be more mobile. She also is now getting significantly less exercise, as I don't feel I can hire another walker and I can't walk her with the baby.

Lucky Dog's only answer again is more training, with their positive reinforcement recommended trainer. My gut is that this issue is so far beyond treats and clicker training at this point.  It's heartbreaking because we have completely bonded with the dog, but can't risk anyone's safety, especially our baby. There's no way this dog should have been adopted to young first time dog owners who were planning on kids.

We are doing one last ditch consult with the vet to rule out medical issues, but I'm not optimistic. I don't see a way that we can safely keep this dog (although would welcome a gut check if I'm totally off base in that conclusion), and it looks like we are going to have to push back hard with lucky dog to rehome her. 
[/quote]

OP here.  I'm so sorry, this sounds like a nightmare.  A few months ago I would've said "take that dog to a shelter now and be done with it!" but having bonded with our dog in less than 2 months I can understand how this is almost impossible.  all I can say is persistence pays off (as upsetting as it is to have to do this) and just keep calling and texting your adoption coordinatinator until they finally give you instructions for how to return the dog.  I'm really sorry.  What an awful situation. [/quote]

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