It has finally happened & I'm heartbroken. One of our dogs has bitten Ds1....... :0(

[LadyOfTheFlowers]

As some will know, I have two female black labradors. They have always been fine with the kids, no probs at all.
When my ass was turned this morning, for a minute, ds approached one of them, crouched down to pet her and she lashed out and nipped his arm. I am pretty sure which one it was as she is sulking now and wont move.
I feel partly responsible as I don't take them out as often as I should, it's not easy. They are so strong and with the twin buggy it is a nightmare. They are very intelligent and energetic and I think she is probably frustrated.
I called dh and he said seperate them from the kids obviously and we will discuss when he gets home.
Anyone had any experience of this?
I'm totally heartbroken.

Don't feel stupid about it. Your reasons with the stairgate are perfectly logical, but just the wrong way round (in dog eyes). I'm so pleased you're going to keep them.

dd has just learnt to crawl - much to the dogs disgust! They now realise their days of snoozing out of harms way are over as she has movement !

You have managed the most difficult 2 years, ds will soon be past that dangerous unpredictable stage, and then he will be great around the dogs and them around him.
Good luck.

We had 3 dogs a couple of years ago but had to re-home 2 of them as we had to move to a much smaller house. and as we had just had a baby it was all too much and one of them didnt like children. This broke my heart but I felt re-assured as they didnt have to go to kennels. They stayed in a foster home, with lovely people in a big house with other dogs. And now rehomed with their 'ideal' homes I would say.
So if it comes to the point when you have no choice, phone a local animal rescue organisation and ask about foster homes. Sounds awful but Im glad I did it that way. However, hopefully you wont have to do that at all. Maybe get in contact with an animal behaviourist??

ah aufully worrying situation, i had a grumpy dog who vwas aggressive with other dogs not people,we got someone called barkbusters in ,they came to our house looked at the set up and for paying them we get lifelong advice and techniques on dog handling one on one practical.It was v. good, dog only regressed once when we moved house.
good luck (not selling bbusters - just sayng it worked fro us)

her grumpiness is continuing even though they are out every day for a good run.

next stop, the vets, then i dont know....

will have to discusswith dh again.

you have my sympathy LOTF, i have a similar story with a sad ending im afraid. We had a rescued rotweiller from battersea for about 2 yrs before dd2 (DD1 is 16 yrs DD2 is 1 yr!) Obviuoulsy with such a big powerful dog with his hitory (food possesion and dominance) we were v concerned re baby. He was an absolute star with her, although he was separated at all times, stair gates all over the house and eyes in back of head. But to be fair to him he never showed any signs of aggression at all. WE decided to keep him as he had suffered cruelty as a pup and felt he had been shifted enough. A few months ago he big my eldest daughter in the foot (and she had to go to hospital!) when she trod on his foot - that was it, we decided to rehome him. I was adamant that this dog would never return to kennels as it distresses him so much so we set about trying to find him a new home, difficult with the current opinion of rotties being so low. Now for the sad bit, we never got around to finding him a home, it turned out that he had good reason for over reacting to my daughters accident and that was that he had bone cancer in that leg, we didnt find this out until a ruptured cruciate failed to respond to surgery and he had to be put to sleep. The ironic thing being that we had decided to keep him because he had been so patient and good despite being in unbearable pain. That was obviously why he bit in the first place. I'm not suggesting at all that your dog has such a serious condition but if she/he acted out of sorts then she may have been feeling under the weather. You also say that your son crouched down to the dog, this may have made her feel threatened, was she in her basket? These things alone would have been enough to cause a reaction. You say you let your son fall asleep on the dogs, that sounds like they are very tolerant. I do believe though that dogs should not have to tolerate everything our kids have to throw at them (not that i am suggesting yours tease or anything please dont think that) but its important to remember that they are dogs at the end of the day. If i were in your situation i would have the dogs checked over by a vet to make sure there isnt something obvious and then maybe book a consultaton with a behaviourist. This was v helpful to us when we took our dog on (long before we realised a baby was on the way before im labelled completely irresposible) who was able to reassure me that my dog was worth persevering with. As for the bad lab comment in the thread, im an ex vet nurse and have experience with lots of dogs, ANY dog can be a bad dog from chihuahua to rottie, the fault usually lies with the owner. You sound like you are keeping on top of a difficult situation and dont beat yourself up over it, im sure you will come to the right decision. How old is your son, how does he feel about the dog biting him?

just in response to rowchens message about ds being left alone with dogs, please everyone, children should never EVER be left alone with dogs of any size or description, its just not worth the risk. No matter how tolerant the dog is or well behaved the child.

I haven't read the whole thread, but when our dog started growling at the children I asked the trainer's advice. She said 1. when dog does it shut her away immediately, or put outside. 2. Get kids to give the dog her meal. 3. Teach kids to groom dog so she gets used to being handled. 4. Make sure dog is shut up at night so she knows her place in the pecking order (we had been leting her sleep in house not utility room when it was cold.) We tried this (well except the grooming, dh always does that for some reason) and it seems to have sorted out the problem. good luck.

I'm sorry but if your dog is aggressive, for whatever reason, towards children then you need to draw the line.

You would never forgive yourself if you missed the warning signs.

I cannot believe that some posters here are asking if the child provoked it! Dogs are much more powerful than small children and could kill if they wanted to, it doesn't take much of a bite to seriously maime a child you know.

I'm sorry to all those dog lovers out there, but I have lived with dogs all my life and worked with them, I don't have any dogs in my house now because I value my children too much. They cannot be trusted, not ever. How can you ever safely predict a dogs behaviour? You can't. It has given you a warning and I hope you heed it.