My MIL has a staffie, she's very sweet and has never shown any sign of aggression but she's a rescue dog and she's big. They don't know her history as she was picked up as a stray. She is very affectionate and licks people constantly, and is so strong I have trouble getting her off me if she jumps up. But she is also quite obedient and well trained.
MIL looks after my 1yr old DS one or 2 days a week, occasionally at her house. She knows I'm concerned about the dog, and has said she would never leave the baby alone with it.
But at Xmas she was holding DS, talking to someone else and didn't notice that DS was pretty much holding onto the dog's tongue ? which made me worry that she's not really paying as much attention as she maybe should. I've also just seen a video she posted on facebook of my son at her house. The dog is sitting on the stairs and DS is repeatedly poking it on the nose through the bannister and laughing, while being held by my SIL. The dog, amazingly, is not reacting.
I don't know whether to bring it up with MIL, I've already spoken to her about it so she knows my concerns. I just worry that she's teaching my son to poke dogs in the face! I'm not anti-dogs, but I just don't think that's sensible. And I know she says always in the room with DS when the dog's there, but it's so strong that she wouldn't be able to do anything to stop it if it decided to go for the baby. Am i just being overprotective and daft?
It's kind of her to look after DS for me ? and I know she loves having the time with him. But I'm really uncomfortable about this. Should I just trust her to look after him, and trust that the dog is trained well enough, and is good natured enough to not attack the baby?