Hi all
I'm currently feeling like a horrible human. We bought a golden lab yesterday. Myself and my partner had dogs growing up but not since we've been living together. We also have a 4 month old DS.
We love the puppy! He's got a gorgeous temperment, obviously painfully cute and all round a lovely pup.
The problem we're having is that it seems my son may have had a reaction to the dog. When we introduced them yesterday, the pup licked DS arm before we could stop him. Not long after, DS had runny nose and eyes, sneezing, seemed to have a wheeze of sorts and a red sort of rash in the spot he had been licked. He was then very distressed and hard to settle. We removed him from the room of course. Was fine with the pup until these symptoms occurred and was smiling at him and chatting to him. When we woke DS this morning, (he sleeps 11 hours) the rash wasn't gone but was faded and his eyes and nose seemed a lot better. However, when we bought him downstairs where the pup was running around, the sneezing, runny nose, eyes and rubbing and little wheezes started again after 10-15 minutes and DS is now distressed whenever the pup is in view.
I feel horrible because I hadn't even considered that DS could have an allergy. We have a cat who he has never had a reaction to but that being said the cat isn't close to him most of the time.
I'm crying nearly as much as DS and my anxiety is working overtime. I feel awful for DS and awful for the dog as he deserves a family that can dedicate themselves to him whereas now with this happening I feel too paranoid about DS. How can I keep a dog that can't be in the vicinity of my child?
My question is, where do I stand on returning the dog? I was told they would have the dog back within a week with a written letter from a vet stating that the dog was ill but nothing for this sort of circumstance. We bought him from a pet shop attached to a house and the man selling the pups sells them on behalf of the breeder. It was very legit. I'd be lying if I said we're not concerned about the £500 we paid as we were more than willing to pay this for a beautiful dog but of course, if we can't keep him we have lost £500. If not I feel I will have to rehome him ourselves before he gets too attached to our family as that is even more unfair of the dog. How would I go about this?
I'm going to ring the man we purchased the puppy from shortly but am trying to compose myself first and console DS so I just wanted some help and support. Please no nasty comments I know how horrible I sound!