Considering moving out because our dog hates 7 month old

[Foodx123]

Hi,

Me and my 7 month old daughter live with my partners parents. Our own living room has a stair gate so the dog can't enter. However, our daughter is now 7 months old and the dog hates her. He won't go near her and he growls when she tries to go near him. He's a German shepherd (their first dog) who's never had any form of training and hates people. I met him when He was already 2 years old so I couldn't have a say in the fact they bought him with no knowledge of pets.

Obviously we stop her going near him and she's always supervised so before anyone jumps down my throat she is safe as I am with her constantly. What I'm saying is, it's getting to the point now where she's super interested in him which isn't good. Naturally with any dog you need to be carful with a baby but it seems like he rules the house and everyone here loves him. We've made the best of the situation with stairgates everywhere and CONSTANT supervision but it's at the point now where she'll soon be crawling and walking and she's confined to one room. Everyone in the room says "it'll be fine" but I want my daughter to be able to explore safely without the worry of a dog prowling about. Because of covid we aren't in a good financial situation and I'm due to be going back to work and I'm not eligible for any financial help. Does anyone know of any support/places I can speak to about my situation because I feel like she won't be able to thrive living here without the constant fear of something bad happening. I'm even considering sending her to nursery. Thanks guys.

Unless your pil are willing to put some effort into training the dog properly, or rehoming I don’t think you have a choice,.

German Shepherds are beautiful very intelligent breeds, but left untrained, they are dangerous. His growling is his warning sign to say keep away I don’t want you near me. If she persists the chances that he will attack are very high. She is 2 and into everything and with the best intentions you can not be 100% on it every time she could get near the dog. It literally takes a second for anything truly horrible to happen.

I know you say your not in a good financial situation, but you obviously know the risk your daughter is in, and I don't think you should be keeping her in an unsafe environment. If I was you I would be doing whatever I needed to to get out and keep her safe. What does your partner say? How long were you planning on staying there? Who will have your daughter when you go back to work?

There is absolutely no chance I’d be risking having a toddler around an untrained large breed dog with a history of growling.

Have you triple checked what support you would be entitled to if you moved out? When you’re using the calculators remember to do it as though you already have moved out etc to get a full view of the support available.

Is your partner in the picture?

The growling is a warning sign, if you persist they will very likely snap and then bite.

A snap would do major damage to a toddler let alone an actual bite.

You need out

Did you post here before your baby was born?
And everyone told you absolutely not to move in as the GSD was bouncy, boisterous and your partners parents saw nothing wrong with its behaviour?

You absolutely should move out.
The situation is an accident waiting to happen.

I love German Shepherds, but I only stayed over with my parents once in the six years their last German shepherd (who was very possessive and incredibly jumpy and also indulged; not all of theirs had been like that) was alive at the same time as my children; I couldn’t relax for a minute and they dismissed my concerns. So please move out if you can.

Please tell me you have tall stair gates? Either the dog goes or you move out.

Either way I wouldn’t feel comfortable in a house with a dog of that size showing negative behaviour towards a baby. Like PP have said, it only takes a minute with your back turned for an accident to happen.

Family sounds insane. You have primary responsibility for your child here - you need to get her away from the dog. Don't feel reassured by everyone else's complacency. If anything happens, it's on you.

Is living there only a temporary situation?

Are you on the local HA/council list?

OMG - absolutely move out. It would be awful for your daughter to grow up in such an environment, having to be constantly vigilant and unable to explore

Yep I would get out. Even if you can only afford a small one bed flat or studio I'd say do that. Cant risk anything bad happening.

Find a way to move out as the dog could attack at any point & jump a stair gate

This sounds like a news story waiting to happen I'm afraid OP. They normally say the child was attacked 'without warning' but this dog is warning you. They can't speak and growling is his way of telling you he's uncomfortable with the situation. One day someone will leave the gate open, or the dog will jump over it, or your daughter will crawl over and put her hand through.... protect your daughter, don't let her become a statistic.

You need to move out. A German shepherd can easily jump over a stair gate and sorry you're not going to be able to stop it from killing your baby if it wants to.
The dog is giving warnings by growling, I'd heed them.