Our dog bit DS. What next?

[newnamefortoday]

NC for this one. Our JRT bit 4yo DS on the foot at the weekend. Not terrible, but a huge bruise, puncture wound, visit to minor injuries and antibiotics. We’re not sure exactly what happened, dog was in the garden, DS climbed on the gate as he has done dozens of times before but this time the dog bit his foot as he put it through. Just heard a snarl then a scream. Dog knew exactly who it was as the gate is between garden and house, not the road. It would have been much worse had the gate not been between them. We also have a small baby. We are obviously considering dog’s future and keeping him separated for now. He snarled at my mum this week and caught my ankle snapping at me last week. He’s always been a bit of a grumpy terrier but has never bitten before so we’re considering all possibilities. He’s quite old. Lots to think about but with a small baby we can’t take any chances. What would you do next, apart from taking dog to vet to check for pain etc? Would you expect any follow up from SS or HV through the hospital?

Its not the dogs place to be telling a child off.

I see dog bite injuries and you can't assume how they have come about. To be blunt I am not interested in the welfare of a dog over a child. Do you understand my point?

I’m quite happy in principle to work with the vet to understand what’s changed but obviously the priority for now has to be keeping everyone safe.

I completely agree and definitely think a quieter home with no young children should be looked for first.

This was an avoidable scenario and it was very likely that DS would have gotten hurt from climbing up the gate sooner or later, so I don’t think the dog should get the blame for that as you weren’t keeping an eye on him.

I’m not judging you for taking your eye off DS for a second which is why I’m not saying you’re a bad mum or should be PTS either lol but you can’t really blame the dog because you dropped the ball.

If you can’t keep your children away from the dogs when you’re not there to supervise them, then you cannot have dogs (or any other animal) and children in the same home as it’s just not worth the risk.

Some homes aren’t designed to be able ti keep them safely separated.

I think it's clear that you feel you can't risk the dog being around your children. And I think he's unhappy too if these behaviours have started he sounds possibly frustrated.
I work with dogs all day everyday & I think it sounds like you've solved your own problem, rehoming & your dh being fully involved in this

@CallOnMe and what about the dog snapping and catching me and snarling at my mum? We were both just going about normally and happened to walk past the dog. No children present, nothing for the dog to tell us off for?

@newnamefortoday 😂😂😂 honestly MN is useful at times and other times it's MN Land and you just have to ignore some things even if the majority are agreeing it goes like that sometimes!

I really think there’s a chance your dog isn’t well. A sudden change in behaviour points to that and I’m surprised your vet didn’t say that.

Then you keep them separate, properly separate. Not with a gate that the child and dog can touch each other.

Rehome
Last week!!!

PTS

This is your child!

Re-home away from children would seem to be the only option here. It’ll be too late to think about this when he takes off a chunk of your child’s face or throat.

I’d suspect your dog is ill, my mothers beloved dog was ever so gentle, she never bit anyone but one day she snapped at me when I was a child, very out of character for her, shortly after we discovered she was riddled with cancer.
Pain and extreme discomfort is usually the cause for a sudden change in behaviour, I’d really be looking into thorough tests at the vets.

Thinking more, sorry, I agree that sadly they need to be out to sleep. Re-homing just puts another person at risk.

A family dog that you've had from a puppy doesn't just start biting for shits and giggles.

Something is wrong.

You don't know that your son wasn't hurting him but you do know your mum wasn't, right? It was seemingly unprovoked. Chances are, with a gate between them, your son didn't physically touch him so I'd be looking at some kind of illness as opposed to pain.

I've had a few dogs and they've all got a little less tolerant as they've aged but the only one who ever bit was Jessy and she just randomly got really snappy, her whole personality changed and eventually she went bonkers and tried to attack my uncle without warning. Took 3 people to restrain her. Took her to the vets, it was a brain tumour. We put her to sleep there and then.

Changes in a dogs personality are rarely a good sign. It may be that he is just in pain or anticipating pain if touched which could be treated so worth a trip to the vets but if nothing is found, I'd put to sleep, not leave him to deteriorate.

I'm sorry but if the dog is snarling and snappy with adults something is wrong. My DM dog turned like this vet thought a brain tumour. She was PTS and buried on our land. I had a dog premarriage she was fine until first child started walking and another baby came along. Her nerves were shot. We tried rehoming but she wouldn't eat or drink. The vet recommended PTS it broke my heart

@Algbu6 🤣🤣🤣 I’m genuinely interested in what people think! Most of my job is negotiation/conflict resolution so I’m quite used to people disagreeing with me 😂 I think I must be a glutton for punishment!

I'm on the other side here as two years ago we adopted a young dog who was rehomed due to having bitten a child in her previous home. We have kids but are experienced with nervous dogs and she has a good happy life now she's learned to trust. She's always supervised though. So its possibe your dog could go on to live in another home. Especially as 9 is young for a terrier.
Having said that, I think your dog should not live in your home anymore as he's clearly not coping with the kids and you cannot trust him around them.
I;m so sorry, I think you and your DH should look at rehoming him first and if that doesn't work then seriously need to consider PTS. I'm a doggy person who prefers dogs to people! But sometimes the kindest thing is the hardest-let him go while he's happy and loved.

It's not fair to re-home an old dog. If he's going to go, he should be pts. He can go to sleep in yours/dhs arms and just not wake up, or he can be shoved from pillar to post and be expected to adapt to an entirely new family in his dotage - that's if you can even find a home for an old dog with a bite history. Likely if he ends up in Kennels he will be pts anyway, but by strangers where he will be scared and confused. Do the right thing by the dog.

Please don't put your dog down. 9 years of being fine and 2 instances of aggression show something is wrong with the dog.
please look at rehoming. get in touch with a dog rescue, there will be people out there who are experienced and can give him a gods home.

I haven't read all through the threads so apologies if I'm repeating, although people seem to do just that an awful lot I've noticed. If the vet check comes up okay and there's nothing wrong with his health, I'd personally try and find a JRT Rescue centre/group/facebook support page explain the situation and advise that he shouldn't be rehomed with children only dog savvy adults but with the information clearly given that he has bitten and growled recently.

Maybe it's his irritation with the noise and chaos of the children making him bitey and irritable if he's an older chap. It's a shame but not acceptable behaviour with the adults in the family never mind the youngsters and yes JRTs are quite capable of inflicting death on young children at worst and at best nasty facial/body wounds not to mention the trauma involved. It's just not worth the risk and I'm a huge dog lover.

Rehome the kids the dog was there first, sound like the dog needs a completely child free place where he can get peace and quiet you having a second baby is what has probably triggered him his house went home adults to one noisie child to 2 I wish ppl would consider their pets before they add to the family

Seriously PTS. Would you every be able to live with seeing a scar or worse on your child knowing it was because you couldn't make a difficult decision?

Sorry but I have a particular haters for Jack Russells. As a teen I was nipped by a friend's JR. A few weeks later it bit me really badly on the face- I had two round of plastic surgery to put the damage right. It actually stopped me from following the career I had hoped for.

Seriously PTS.

There's always one.

Please put your children (and other children) first and PTS. It is devastating to say goodbye to a dog but it just takes a second for a lunge and damaging bite. Rehoming is unrealistic if the dog has also snapped at the OP and her DM. Even if the dog was rehomed, who is to say that they definitely wont meet another child on a walk?

Get rid,not worth it, I wouldn't have hesitated of this was my child or asked for advice?.once a dog bites it goes

This must be such an upsetting situation.

Yes of course your child should come first but you've also had this dog for 9 yrs, that's a long time! Also if there have been no other incidents in that time it makes this even harder to just put him to sleep just based on the events that have happened in the past week.

I have dogs, one is older than yours, the other two slightly younger. I would be devastated in your situation. Devastated for my child and then faced with such a horrible decision re the dog.

The problem with rehoming is that his aggression has also been towards adults. People who he has known for a long time and presumably always been fine with? How is he going to realistically cope, suddenly being homed with strangers? I think the risk of him biting again is pretty high.

I think the short term plan should be keeping child and dog completely separate at all times with gates that he cannot snap through. I would also muzzle him in the house as an extra layer of protection for you all.

Then have your vet do a full work up, check for everything. If there's no underlying medical condition then you don't really have any other option than pts unless he can be separated for the rest of his life which is going to be a logistical nightmare given that he could easily have another several years of life.