Retired in laws won’t come pick up dog before my due date

Entitled much. Your in-laws need to start as they mean to go on. Just because they are retired doesn't mean they have to be at your beck and call. They dont need to be doing 9 hour round trips to keep you happy.

IMO you need to rehome that dog. Any dog that needs a lot of attention is going to be trouble around a newborn especially the staffie variety - one momentary loss of control and those jaws will do damage. As for expecting inlaws to drive so far to pick dog up, you are being ridiculous, they are doing you a big favour by agreeing to come part way and look after dog for two weeks. People come before dogs.

You're being incredibly precious.

Also, I'm concerned about why you want to send the dog away, he should be part of the family plus your partner will be there to walk him. Is the dog dangerous?

I've had 2 labours, first was 6 hours start to finish and a day early(induced due to movements) & second was a day late, 5 hour labor only 2 in the hospital as arrived at 8cm 😅

This OP. Your dog will feel even more “left out” or pushed aside. I wouldn’t be sending the dog anywhere. You can look after animals and a newborn. I had three cats, horses, guinea pigs and rabbits and managed it all.

Sorry, but your dog, your problem.

Especially as your ILs are doing you a massive favour taking on a dog that they don't really know - especially one that you said yourself requires a lot of attention.

I'm sure they're happy to help out. I know my mum would do anything in the world to help out her adult children, but you do have to be reasonable.

Plus, the likelihood of baby making an appearance in the exact 4 hour window your partner is away, 9 days before your due date, is probably pretty close to zero.

Well, they are doing you a favour.
They are better than me - I wouldn't.

Your inlaws are being perfectly reasonable.

As @lnks said, it's one of those posters.

OP: AIBU?
Majority of MN: Yes.
OP: No I'm not and you've all got sticks up your arses.
Majority of MN: 🙄🙄🙄🙄

You sound entitled

It takes an average dog about 2 weeks to transfer its affections and allegiance from one person/ situation to another. We recently looked after a friend's dog for 7 weeks and for the first couple of weeks it was clearly wondering what was going on while settling into our routine. After the first fortnight it was our dog: our home was its home and it had bonded with us. So much so that when its owners arrived to take it back it wasn't thrilled to see them and didn't want to leave. Apparently it took more than a fortnight to settle back at home.

You might be making a massive mistake by sending the dog away, having it bond with your in-laws, then bringing it back home only for it to find that a baby has been brought into the house when it wasn't there. Get specialist advice, but I think you might be accidententally creating difficulties.

Mine was super fast😰

Take a spare blanket with you to the hospital so it gets baby’s scent on it then when you come home give it to the dog so he knows it’s a familiar scent. I wouldn’t be sending my
dog away for weeks for him then come back to a massive change, it’s unfair!

In what way is your dog a "nightmare"? That will be very challenging with a newborn.

A 9 hour round trip is an immense undertaking. I'd only agree to that in an emergency. Taking on a staffie for that long is also a huge commitment, especially one that requires a lot of attention. If you are 2 weeks late they could have the dog for at least 5 weeks. My empathy is entirely with them. You're very lucky they agreed to it, definitely allow your husband to drive half way and start looking for a huge, expensive gift of thanks.

You are being ridiculous and have lost perspective.

unfair on your in-laws, unnecessary, and a very bad way of introducing a family pet to a child.

I think you would be better off not bringing a stressed dog back to meet your baby for the first time, might be more likely to be seen as an interloper and cause jealousy.

Isn't the dog trained to stay downstairs or out of certain rooms or whatever/?

Totally agree with this.

If your waters haven’t broken when he leaves then the chances of you going into labour before he gets back are vanishingly small. You’re being very precious.

I agree. If the dog requires a lot of attention, the worse thing to do is send it away.

why should you in-laws drive so far to do you a favour???

We had 3 ddogs when ds was born. Way ott sending ddog away.

I think for everyone's sake (yours, dogs, baby's, PILs) you should find a new home for that dog now.

A human child is more important than a pet. I’d not have an untrained Staffie near any child. 🙄

Honestly I wouldn't be sending the dog away, you will have to get on with it at some point so you may as well start as you mean to go on. Yes the early days with a baby are difficult but they are still difficult a few weeks/months/years later, it just changes.

I had 3 cats when I had my first baby, one of whom was very needy. We gave him as much attention as was realistic and only shut him out when we weren't there to supervise like if I went to the toilet.

Can you not train the dog to settle/leave or put up a baby gate? We started getting the cats used to being shut out of the room a couple of months before I was due just so that they were used to it and it wasn't a shock. Since we used to take it in turns sleeping in with the baby, the one who didn't have the baby had the cat.

I don't think you can expect anybody to drive such a long way twice just so you don't have to look after your dog for a few weeks. If they lived close by then fine although it's not something I would do but I don't think your plan is realistic. Can you not use kennels if you absolutely need to?

I agree it is unusual, however a long first labour cannot be guaranteed.