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

Sorry but going to have to agree to disagree here, I've grown up with dogs and have one myself. If someone new enters the home especially a child they do try to be dominant over that person, they do.

also if a dog gets into its mind that something is theirs, they can get agressive over it. sorry if you don't like the idea that dogs are actually animals but, shock, horror they are. Of course they want ofther things too but that's not the point I think pretty much everyone has come across a snappy dog before where obviously the owner wasn't in control over their dog. I've come across so many where the dog rules the home it's madness.

I've just checked on mine as they're so quiet. The terrier is in the whippet's bed. The whippet has been elevated to 'chair' status

Bang goes the pack theory again.

I haven't a clue which one is charge now.

And obviously I have no experience of owning, living with, training or rescuing dogs, eh, BWG?

I guess you have more experience than The Assosication of Pet Dog Trainers too?

So everything I've said is completely untrue then, because you've posted a link?

No everything you said is completely untrue because it has been proven by experts and people with qualifications and access to sound, scientific research, to be untrue.

It has nought to do with my link.

I have you must have the wrong kind of dog boys

I can honestly say that in the years I have lived with dogs I have never known a dog that tries to dominate people. Other dogs, yes, to a certain extent, but not people.

Alright you win, I'll let my dog stay under control & happy with boundaries and you can get back to making excuses for why a child has yet again been bitten by a dog.

I'm baffled as to how anyone with a half decent knowledge of dogs can make such a crass statement Boys

zombies the op is despertaely tryig to rehome the dog. That's why she started the thread. She is trying to avoid the worse option!

But the reaction seems to be that she is wrong in trying to rehome. That instead she should supervise her child 24/7.

Some people are just not in a position to do that...

(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)

Why doesn't your dog have the right to stop the game? What happens when he is old and moving is uncomfortable, or just too tiring? Does he still have to just keep moving at your child's whim no matter have much pain and discomfort he may be in? What if he gets hurt, say he sprains his paw whilst out on a walk, will he still have to get up and keep walking on it to avoid your child? Isn't it better to teach your child respect so you can say "Leave the dog alone now"

My DS has just read this in stunned disbelief. Why? Because EVERYONE knows you don't touch a dog in its bed. You call the dog to you to fuss it, not chase it around, and you NEVER hurt an animal. His best comment though was "why do these people think it's ok to treat dogs like toys?"

I agree with you on one point, Dogs do need boundaries, but then so do children and adults.

I dont think people are saying the op is wrong to rehome but that the situation that has happened could have been avoided by establishing boundaries for both the child and the dog.I hope now that the dog now finds the right home,it needs a forever home seeing as it has been pushed from pillar to post most of its life.

'Dogs do need boundaries, but then so do children and adults.' You just need to make sure that the children understand their boundaries are not the same as the dogs.

Or else you could be called into the school to explain why your child crawls under her desk during math time because "I'm under my desk because I don't want to play numbers and you shouldn't play with me when I am under the desk because you might hurt my feelings and make me scared and then I might feel like I have to bite you to make you go away. Everyone knows when you go under the desk it's because you don't want to play and you need to left alone to be quiet. If you shout my name and I don't come out it's because I don't want to play and I didn't come out, so I don't want to play"

ImNotAnsweringIt thank you for your post. I'm also a qualified behaviour counsellor and I also avoid answering threads in this section because it just seems so hopeless. I agree with everything you've said (funny that). I'd just add, for those who get so upset about the PTS option, that an animal PTS is not suffering it's suffering is over then. An anxious distressed dog stuck in kennels for the rest of it's life is suffering. Keeping them alive is not the be all and end all. This is the real world and there are limits on the number of places for dogs. Far better to give them to the dogs with a realistic chance of being rehomed successfully rather than those that are going to be stuck there for the rest of their lives. I did understand that some of the "never put a healthy dog down" rescues were starting to seriously consider what constitutes healthy and consider mental health and not just physical. That was some time ago though.

It's very sad that any dogs get PTS for lack of a home, because they've not been given a fair chance at learning how to behave properly. However that is an ethical debate and not a welfare one and until we live in some kind of ideal world where there is room for all the dogs (though in an ideal world rescue would be unnecessary anyway) then difficult decisions have to be made about which dogs get to live and which don't. You can't just opt out and say "we won't kill dogs" because by doing that you are depriving other dogs of a chance.

Anyway, to the OP, the biggest blame and fault in this case very clearly lies with the rescue that homed the dog with you in the first place. This kind of situation is exactly why many rescues won't rehome to people with young families, and exactly why I wouldn't recommend people with a young family take on a rescue dog (unless massively experienced with dogs). I don't think you should feel any pressure to keep the dog in a home that is clearly less than ideal.

Cute, what you and I'mNotanswering say may be true in general terms, but if someone is wanting to rehome a specific dog, they are going to want to find a shelter that won't pts within 7 days. So you would always advise them to look carefully at finding a rescue that has policies they approve of. Your general point is why lots of posters on here tend to say to keep the dog rather than rehome if at all possible - because they know that all those rescue homes aren't out there. If rehoming is essential though - people are going to think of that specific dog rather than the general situation.

I agree with you that it seems the original rescue made a mistake and that this dog shouldn't have been homed with them. But if I read it right, they didn't have a family when they took the dog, so circumstances changed. The thing that seems wrong is that they weren't fully informed about the dog when taking it on. But we don't know the full story.

Interesting I am also a qualified behavourist and have tried to stay away from this thread. However I do disagree about the PTS option as being one of not suffering.

I think it is far to easy to say that it is an "ethical debate and not a welfare one". We need to educate people to the reality of dog ownership, the reality of up to date successful training methods and the reality when they have not thought this through. Dog breeding needs to be regulated NOW and not dismissed as it being too difficult to do.

This situation could have been avoided at several points and the dog does not deserve to be put to sleep due to human error and lack of knowledge. As a society we need to deal with this humanely ethically and do so quickly.

Dog behaviour is so misunderstood by the general public as this thread highlights however lack of knowledge is not the crime here it is lack of willingness to learn and be educated by qualified people who know what is best for dogs and families.

I think also people often don't understand the dog's body language, so they don't recognize the signs when a dog is saying it is uncomfortable. They see it yawn and think it is tired, for example. So they think that a situation is fine when it's not, and only realize when it gets to breaking point.

soveryhard of Idiotsville - Dear Vet, is it ok for my brats kids to ride my dog ?

Hello?

I hope you are quickly convinced that this is not appropriate, that your dog is not a toy & your kids don't come to any harm ?

Yes, the dog might be wagging its tail, but not in a "I'm having fun way", but "I'm a nice dog, save me quick".

Don't be ridiculous - I have already pointed out that the dog gets up and walks away when she doesn't like it.

I love the way all these dedicated dog owners believe you cannot tell when your dog has had enough of something and whether the dog is happy or not happy with something.

I hadn't thought that it could be harming her - but the dog is quite capable of expressing her like/dislike of something.

And given the way she is by their side 24/7 when she is awake, then I assume she is more than happy with their behaviour with her, to the point for me it is hard to exercise her because she won't run around away from them - so she walks at toddler pace.

I am also aware how lucky we are to have such a happy and placid dog. I'd like to say the fact she is so well trained is down to us, but I can't - that was down to the breeder we rehomed her from
Just before she was 1.

sovery Young children who are allowed to mistreat dogs in such a way are more likely to be bitten though. One day they'll try it with a less amenable dog. No dog should be expected to tolerate such abuse. They'll be bitten and it will be your fault for instilling in them the notion that it's OK to treat animals like that.

I have a dog who would allow my children to do anything to her. She has calmly tolerated medical procedures and other challenging experiences, and I have no doubt that she would unflinchingly allow them to climb on her. But they are forbidden from subjecting her to that, for her sake and because they must know that it is never acceptable to treat dogs with so little respect.

All dogs have the potential to be dangerous and to bite. By educating your children to respect them you can reduce that risk drastically. It's harder work than allowing them to run riot and mistreat a tolerant pet but it could save them from harm in the future. It's irresponsible and lazy to expect the dog to cope with what you've described.

That just made me laugh - that the DCs are mistreating the dog. She is one of the happiest, well loved family pets I know.

They are well aware that other peoples dogs are different - in exactly the same way that they know they dont go with strangers etc.

If the dog had/did show any signs she doesn't like anything they do - it would be stopped - she doesn't tolerate them, she likes the way they play with her.

I sincerely hope that nothing grave happens to change your view of this as amusing :(

Believe it or not - I am not stupid, I am more than aware that as the DCs get bigger, the dog gets older, that things will need to change, because what is fun now won't be so much fun for dog when they are larger.

I am also aware that the dog will become less tolerant as she gets older.

Thankfully both these things will happen in tandem, and exactly the se way DS understands my grandmother is old and can't do much, he will be taught his size/ dogs age means she won't be so happy to do things.

At the moment - the dog is happy, I don't let the DCs do things because they like them, I let them do them because the dog likes them. Families have a tendency to grow up an things to change.

Just like she likes playIng football on the drive, bring taken for a walk around the house by the toddler, sitting at their feet and being snuck titbits and a million other things we do with her.

We are referring to one thing they do - every now and then, for a minute or 2 at a time - we do actually have a whole life with the dog.

Gosh we even walker daily.

And for the record - there is nothing amusing about mistreating animals - but save you ridiculous accusations or those who do.