My dog has bitten my toddler - new home needed urgently or PTS within 2 weeks

[lil88]

P is a former rescue lurcher dog is 7 years old and has been with us for over 3 years and been in and out of foster homes before we had her. It was not until we had her for a few months that we found out one of the reasons she was given up for fostering was because she has bitten a toddler climbing into her bed. She also has nervous aggression with other dogs which was only apparent after a few months with us and still suffers from separation anxiety. To cut a long story short, My husband and I were fortunate to have a baby nearly 18 months after we had homed P. With a young baby to cope with we knew it would be difficult to give P the attention she needed and also we had some concerns about the risk of P biting the baby at some stage and therefore had her up for rehoming at EXXX where she came from. However we have not had any one interested and despite our attempts to enquire with other rehoming centres, we have drawn a blank as they have either told us, to return her to EXXX, she was a difficult dog to rehome, or they had a long waiting list. Further EXXX has not come up with an appropriate foster home for her nor will take P back. Our baby is now a 23 months old strong minded child and she and P always compete for our attention. Indeed our LO can be rough with P who has generally responded with baring her teeth at our LO or run away from her. We have tried to tell our LO to be gentle with P otherwise she would be bitten but she does not listen. Things came to a head on Sunday, when my LO was bitten on the wrist by P after when our LO had patted her quite strongly and lost her balance and fell on P. This took place at the doorway of my kitchen. This incident has not fazed our LO and I only fear that matters will escalate. I am afraid that our LO's safety is our priorty and although P is not to blame for the incident due to the nature of our LO, we can not risk any future incidents which could end up with a worse result for my LO. We have decided that if P can not be taken in by one of the dog charities, we will arrange for her to be put to sleep in 2 weeks time. So can anyone provide a kennel or foster home or home P. We are based in Worcestershire.
This has also been posted in Lurcherlink appeals for help

Please put a bit more effort into rehoming this dog.

You obviously dont want him. You have failed him as an owner and because of that you have failed to protect your Dc.

Do not have the dog pts, he has actually been very tolerant of your DC.

its one thing to rehome adog or surrender it to a rescue centre, its another thing entirely to say 'dogs got 2 weeks or shes dead because i cant be arsed to supervise my child'

'It's hard to police 24/7 what your DC and the dog will get up to or to have known previously what kind of relationship they would develop '

No it's not. Not one fucking bit. It is as easy as giving the dog a treat every time you leave the room. Voila. The dog will follow you everytime you leave the room, thus you know that the dog and child will never be left alone. That's the lazy way. You can also call the dog to follow you everytime you leave the room and/or use stairgates to seperate them until you can be bothered to teach your child respect for other living things.

Let's phrase this differently. Let's try....

My newborn is going to have to live with my parents. My other LO is very strong willed and likes to 'pat the newborn strongly' I have tried telling LO that she will hurt the baby, but she doesn't listen because she is so strong willed. Last night she hurt the newborn and I can't be sure it won't happen again because of the nature of LO. I can't watch them 24/7. I have no choice.

Op would get loads of sympathy for that, no? Or would she be told get her child under control and stop making excuses for her dire lack of parenting ad supervision? But the dog is 'only' a dog so poor parenting can be excused, right? Until LO does try it on a newborn or a strange dog in the park.

I agree. I think people have been very restrained actually.

I've just started to read this and want to cry for that poor dog. I won't bother adding my two'penneth worth as I think DOoin has put it perfectly.

Perhaps I should clarify the dog is lying down - when she has had enough she stands up and walks away - I did used to stop it and I will when DCs get bigger - but at the moment the dog likes it - and that's why I leave it.

She is a big soppy bugger and we have been so lucky with her I know.

Poor, poor dog. I would have her like a shot but I already have two and don't really have the time this dog clearly needs.

OP I don't think you should keep this dog, I don't think you should have homed her in the first place and I truly hope that you refrain from getting another dog. You obviously have no control over your child and no empathy for how you dog feels when your child is mauling her. The Dogs Trust will take her in, or try the Blue Cross. I doubt very much you're put much effort in to finding her a new home, perhaps you should have a long look in the mirror and then finally do the right thing for this dog.

Whilst I agree that a child's welfare should come before that of a dog, I am struggling to see where the OP has shown she has "done her best" or, in fact, done anything positive? All I can see is that the OP has allowed her child to persitantly terrorise this poor dog to the point where it's snapped.

Of course the OP should put her child's safety first but the best way she could have done that is to treat the dog with a bit of respect all along and not tolerate her child abusing it.

Oh, and second everything D0oin has said.

I feel for you. You have tried very hard to find somewhere for the dog and are clearly having the usual parental troubles getting a toddler to do as you say. (Especially around the 2 year mark). Territory is a funny thing and I had friends who were in a similar situation, but with a very much larger animal which felt its territory had been invaded. I think you need to find a home for the dog but a start might be a "dog corner" where your toddler is not allowed to go. We had something similar with the open fire (which had a guard but was still - well, fire!) We simply roared at our children when they went near the fire and immediately put them out of the room. This worked very, very quickly and they kept away. You could do something similar with your child. Toddlers can learn quickly - in fact learning quickly is what they do and you have to, in a sense, be cruel to be kind. I feel sad about your dog (although I am not a dog lover at all) as you have given her a home for three years and were not fully aware of the problems when you took her on.

I wish you luck with both.

If a dog bit my child it would b straight to the vets and put to sleep. My childs grandfather is a dog lover and one day the dog bit him and he took the dog straight to the vets. He said that if the dog bit him then there is a chance that the dog might bite my child. Now that is a respensible owner. Safety of humans first before animals.

D0oinMeCleanin,you put it perfectly.
A responsible owner would have thought a bit more about this and established dome boundaries,for both the child and the dog,long before now.

Sovery - can I repeat that dogs backs are not designed to weight bear. By allowing your dc to do this, you are risking your dogs health. She has no way of telling you how she is feeling, one way or another.
How will you react if the dog decides she has had enough, or is in pain, and bites?
Will there be a repeat of this thread.

Under no circumstances should a dog have to put up with children sitting on its back. Teach them to give her attention another way, but please not this.

Fair enough AKE, but the op was not a responsible owner, as she allowed her toddler to hurt the dog.
A responsible owner would never have got into that situation in the first place.

You need to dog train your child regardless of the situation with your pet. Otherwise I predict a nasty incident at some point on the school run or in the park with a strangers well-mannered pet. For your child's sake this is a life skill she needs to learn as a matter of real urgency asap.

I hope you employed your harshest possible punishment as a reprimand for patting the dog too hard - a short sharp shock is often best. You are her mother - you'll have to out stubborn her strong will many times over the course of raising her. If she doesn't know who's boss now how on earth are you intending to negotiate her teen years? Many children's centre's offer parenting classes & I would suggest you need to enroll on one in order to gain control of your child before it's too late.

Sadly now the dog has two child bites on her record it's likely pts is the only realistic option as rescues leave themselves open to legal action if they rehome her at this stage. I really wish it were otherwise. It's kindest if you do it, & you owe her that at least.

This thread has really upset me as it was totally preventable, you've no mention of utilising a behaviorist at any point over the last couple of years.

Everything's perfect with the benefit of hindsight.....all these people who put the value of a dog before that of a child possibly being maimed and slating the OP for her irresponsibility. It only takes a second of your back being turned for a toddler to be doing something they shouldn't. Sometimes you have to accept that with the best will in the world some dogs dont belong in a family situation or around young children. As i've said before the dog got 3 extra years it possibly wouldn't have got without the OP taking it in.

Odd tone to this OP. Plus, she hasn't come back to comment. Odd.

Practical advice only here as the situation is just too sad to think about.

If the original rescue will not take the dog back pm and I will find a no kill rescue that will. I can promise you that the Dogs Trust will not take the dog as they are very very selective as to the dogs they take.

Pm me

allnew - thanks - she is due annual jab soon - I'll run it passed the vet then.

They pay her lots of attention - she is their playmate and adores them - they are always together in the house, but I wouldn't want them to harm her, she is happy with what they do and can and does walk away - but if it's detrimental to her health them clearly it needs to stop.

And I disagree she has no way of telling us what she is happy/unhappy with.

It's easy to see when she is enjoying herself and when she has had enough.

Agree with everything NarkedRaspberry said, I'm bloody livid reading this thread.....and sovery, I think you're playing with fire, I really do, dogs are not just playthings, there for your kids entertainment, if they want to ride something get them a bike, one of these days you'll be dealng with either an injured child or an injured dog, who will you blame then?

I think sovery has got the point.
The OP on the other hand...

AKE2012 you are over simplifying this. There is a world of difference in a nip, a bite, and a frenzied savaging.
IMO your child's grandfather may have potentially overreacted if it was a nip and the dog had been provoked. He may not have too, depending on the circs.
But as to your post, pardon my French, but saying "any bite=being PTS" is an absolutely rubbish rule. IMO.
So many sensible posts here as well.