I would be really grateful for some sound opinions on a huge concern I have with SIL's lack of concern and safety her and her DH are showing regards contact with their newborn. It's causing us family members to have sleepless nights as the concerns we raise are met with excuses and mocking because we don't have dogs and therefore don't understand dog behaviour!!
I want to make it clear this isn't a dog bashing at all...it's SIL and her DH that are the issue.
A little back ground...they now have 4 dogs...the 2 that give me most concern are the younger 2 aged 3&2yrs but I also don't trust the other 2. Prior to baby arriving the dogs had been known to attack other dogs when out walking (and indeed had bitten a human visitor)..the dog that bites would wear a muzzle for a bit then they would decide it was fine again and not bother...queue further attacks and same thing goes on.
The dogs have not been trained very well at all..they leap all over the place(up on the back of the sofa) and were sleeping in SIL bed until baby arrived. They jump all over you out of nowhere knock tea flying out of your hand, they have whacked into the moses basket whilst having a mad run through the front room almost knocking it over..they leave scratches and bruises where they constantly jump up etc.
Baby has now arrived and whilst they now limit the dogs from going upstairs the house is chaotic. The dogs howl and bark constantly (including during the night...presumably because they are pissed off at being left downstairs?) and are awful when people arrive...and recently this has turned into big dog fights between them on a really regular basis (within 15mins 2 big fights took place...all the time the baby is in the room)..both SIL and her DH have been bitten by them when they have intervened as has their friend when she looked after them and a fight took place. They don't walk the dogs daily and I think some of the behaviour is down to this...And the lack of training. The younger 2 are working type dogs and often just get let out in the garden for a pee.
They chew loads of things in the home and have eaten several shitty nappies recently!! They allow the dogs to lick the baby on the mouth (yes I'm aware that it's said they are more hygienic than humans) but I can't help but sick in my mouth when I see it happen...but also I'm really worried that one of them will bite her....They let them run through the room whilst she is laying on the floor. Every attack, bite etc is blamed on either the way the other dog owner acted when their 4 dogs pelted towards her little dog and started fighting it, or the dog was stressed because it was on a lead and loads of other excuses. When I said it was so risky as they were unpredictable I was met with 'the fact they do it all the time means they are not unpredictable'!!
Sorry for such a huge message...if you got this far thanks!!
So please can someone tell me...are we all over reacting?? Or should we rest assured that they have everything under control and little one will be safe...I wouldn't feel half as bad if they themselves acknowledged the risk and were concerned and were trying to deal with the behaviour but they really aren't.