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

"Also, just googled lurcher and tbh i would imagine these type of dogs would be able to clear a stairgate without much problem." The stairgate is to keep the child away from the dog though - the dog would seem to be delighted to be kept away from toddler.

I can totally see the problem with no-kill rescues. But your further point about lovely, friendly, socialised dogs being PTS tends to negate it.

Orm, perhaps the dog would like to stay away from the toddler, but i know my 2 dogs would clear our stairgate if they could, just to be in same room as me, regardless if my dc are running about or not.

Not at all. The dogs being PTS are awaiting a space in a rehoming centre, they were not in one when they were PTS. If rehoming centres didn't hang onto dogs which are not rehomable then the rehomable ones could pass through them instead of getting stuck in the system before they even make it that far. It's awful and unthinkable but it's real. Changes need to made with regard to breeding, identification, neutering, socialising and responsibilty. Rescue centres are completely limited in what they can do; they generally just have to mop up the mess other people have made, with very limited resources.

I see what you mean I'mNot.

Luckily our perfect family dog came from a no-kill rescue or he might not be here to tell the tale

Some thought-provoking posts here, especially from ImNotAnsweringIt, DOoinMeCleanind and Scuttlebutter.

Seven days isn't long enough. At pounds in the US, dogs are only give three days for their owners to find them or they get pts. It's shocking.

I used to think that unscrupulous breeding was the reason that so many dogs end up in rescue. Obviously that's a major cause, but now I think that some of it is education too. There would still be cases where owners have not trained their dogs, not thought it through, or dog and owner have had a serious misunderstanding. As owners we need to have a good understanding of canine psychology and behaviour, and sadly sometimes people don't.

For the OP, this seems like a horrible situation. I hope a home can be found for the dog, as pts seems too harsh. As Midori, Scuttle and Dooin have shown, sometimes there are homes for such dogs, so it is always worth trying.

My dog snapped and snarled once at my young DDs, no harm was done and we deliberated between rehoming and retraining. We decided to retrain ourselves as much as the dog along with a good trainer. All was well until a few days ago when he bit my 4 year olds face. She had an overnight stay in hospital, antibiotics and the 5 pence sized open wound to her eyebrow was closed up under general anaesthetic. She was stroking the dog like she had been shown to do under supervision with 3 adults and he bit her. She will always have a scar on her face now.

Despite the bite we tried to rehome via dog shelters however only one was interested due to the bite. We had to make the awful decision to pts.

Please please please think carefully and sensibly. If the dog has shown signs of aggression but not harmed your dc then rehome asap.

I have a lurcher who nipped my DC, he was trying to climb on her back despite me telling him never to do this. Totally not the dogs fault, and has never happened again since as now my children understand why I go on about the need to respect the dog and not jump on it. She is a great dog and reacted how a normal dog would. If she had bitten with no reason of course I would have to rehome her. OP I foster for Kent Greyhound Rescue and they rehome from all over the country (and Ireland and Spain), if you haven't found a rescue yet please PM me, they are really good at rehoming their dogs quickly and don't put them to sleep.

I know nothing about dogs but isn't 7 quite old? And isn't there the "You can't teach an old dog new tricks, expression"? I think the OP has tried an awful lot to make things work for her and her family and should be being offered help and support not criticism and bile. If she can't find a home for the dog then she has to put her child and family first. I have a family member who works for the RSPCA and there are dozens of dogs each year that are simply abandoned (and rabbits, horses etc etc). At least the OP is trying, putting her life on hold and her daughter's potty training. She has probably spent a fortune on trying to sort the situation out. Yet she is still trying to find a home and not just abandoning the dog at the side of the motorway or chucking it in a bag into the river. Children first, every time.

I'm sorry but a complete over reaction from the majority here. This dog has bitten two toddlers, two! And people are saying its not the dogs fault.

I'm beyond fed up of people treating a dog other than what it is, an animal. As though its a surrogate member of the family which should be pandered to. A dog does have a mind of its own, of course it can be trained as with anything it can. But with all the training in the world it can still bite or misbehave.

I've heard it all now, this dog is dangerous, pts why even hesitate. For what's its worth I have a dog also (staffy) and I treat it as it is, a dog. Maybe it's a cultural thing but people are, I feel are imposing their own feelings and personalities onto dogs. Making out dogs do no wrong and it's all the fault of people. Plain dangerous. To me this dog wouldn't even be safe to rehome, children always come first.

Boyswillgrow, it is precisely because the dog is a dog that people are saying it is not the dog's fault. Dogs will behave like dogs and for a dog that is threatened and feels it has not other option, biting is normal (albeit last resort) behaviour. It is because we socialise them and train them, plus because dogs are inherantly good natured that bites do not occur more often.

I have a rescue dog here, all my dogs are very much treated like dogs, some have been working dogs, though not anymore sadly. The rescue may well bite someone if circumstances occurred where he felt he had to, it is how he is treated/managed that means he has never and will never bite anyone. He's not dangerous at all, only the way people treat him or manage him would make him dangerous.

Midori - if there are any circumstances at all in which he might hurt someone then, surely, that means he is potentially dangerous?

That would rule out most dogs, they will bite under too much stress.

Generally of course dogs are good, but if a dog is given so much attention or made to feel top dog. They then behave badly and feel they have the right to snarl, growl, bark, jump up, or beg and harass people. I just won't put up with any of it.

IMO dogs are the bottom of the family, if my child touches the dog or our cat and it doesn't like it, it has to walk away. No question, cat will walk outside or our dog wanders off to his cage. I would not have any animal show aggression to my kids whilst living in my home.

But BoysWillGrow, what if the child then followed the dog and climbed into the cage with it, and in doing so, hurt the dog? Should the dog not defend itself?

Shouldn't our pets be entitled to a loving home, free from harm? The dog cannot always determine if its an accidentally inflicted pain or a deliberately inflicted pain - not because they are aggressive, but because they are not Human.

If someone wants a nice cuddly safe animal that their kids can climb on, "pat roughly" and pull around, then buy cuddly toys.

This doesn't talk about an animal warden?
www.bluecross.org.uk/1752-102164/what-to-do-if-your-pet-goes-missing-.html

MrsZoidberg thank you for that analogy.
Spot on.

I think people are being harsh on the OP.

Whilst you can try to impressupon a toddler how they must behave with a dog, you cannot trust that this will happen all the time. And if you have a highly strung dog then this could prove dangerous.

Sure, you could supervise them both the entire time but bloody hell that would make for a very unrelaxed household wouldn't it? Most people just don't wnat to live like that surely?

wordfactory so let's kill the dog. He's only a dog anyway.

zoidberg
Well actually having a 22month old, this has happened before although my son was just getting in with our dog with no prior incident my dog simply got out. He keeps moving until my DS gives up.

Are you seriously saying you would allow or justify a dog to bite a child under that scenario. So It would be the child's fault?! To say a dog doesn't know the difference in intentional harm or not is ridiculous, so your allowing a dog to make a choice on whether it can be aggressive.

Well when my DS pulls my hair or throws a toy in a tantrum, I'm justified in attacking him then am i? No it's ridiculous, why are you saying you'd allow a dog to.
So next time we get another story of an aggressive dog with previous, ripping the face off a toddler under any circumstances. You'll be standing there, Hands on hips no doubt saying its not the dogs fault.

If a child crawled into a dogs bed and the dog then snapped, it would not be the childs fault. It would be the fault of the parent for allowing it to happen.

I feel sorry for your dog BWG and hope you realise that by allowing your child to continually follow the dog when the dog is making it clear that he wishes to be left alone, you are risking a situtaion such as the OPs and the person to blame will be you.

I've had dogs and toddlers, you make the rules very clear and simple i.e never approach the dog. Always call the dog to come to you and a dog is like an egg, you must be very, very gentle or it will break.

You'd manage to keep a baby safe from a rough toddler, no? So why can it not be managed for a dog?

No BWG, I'm not saying I would "allow" the dog to bite, I'm saying that if the child is not taught respect for the dog, or the dog given the ability to escape from the child, then the ONLY option left to the dog, is to bite. It cannot say -"Please stop hurting me", it cannot get away from the child, nobody is listening to the dog who, in the OP, is clearly saying "I don't like this"

Do you ask your toddler to stop pulling your hair? You have the power of speech, you have the ability to put the child down and move the hair away from the child, please give your dog the same option.

And no, I'm not saying it is the child's fault, I'm saying, very clearly, it is the parent's fault for not teaching the child respect, or for not managing the situation until the child is old enough to learn respect.

I believe dogs are part of the family, as do my whole family. I respect those who do not have this same view. But I cannot condone those who see pets as objects with no feelings.

This is getting so off point it's pointless, (child follows dog, my dog follows my child, they're playing, my dog wanders around until my DS gets bored if he doesn't want to play)

Allowing a grown dog to be dominant over a child or anyone else is dangerous,

Oh for the love of christ. Dogs do not want to dominate. They have no secret desire to rule the world, or your home, or be leader of anything. They just want treats be it food, love, a game or comfort.

Here is just one article of many hundreds of thousands available, explaining why pack dominance theory was discredited years ago

I dunno, D0oin, mine definitely looks like he's hatching some master plan.