I have a chihuahua/Jack Russell type dog that is known to snap. He's 10 and over the years, he's bitten my nieces and nephews face, my brother's face, other dogs in house. We did go to put him down after this but as he was a family dog, my dad disagreed and so did others saying "just keep him away from kids" which we did. It all came to a head last summer when my older nephew rang me (as I had moved out of my dads, but still owned him) saying he's snapping and he needs to go. So I booked him in to be put down, as hard as it was. My partner then stepped in and said no, we will take him in, we have no kids and no one in the house respects the dogs boundaries or listens to train him, which is true. People don't listen with him, and stroke him for example on his stomach which he hates. Over the years we have paid probably thousands on training, on muzzles etc. But because he wasn't in my house at the time, no one in the house implemented the training.
So we took him. Since then, we have kept a strict routine with him and the dog has settled in so well. I'm able to pick him up, walk him well etc. cuddle him and when we have visitors we keep him away. However in last few weeks, I've seen him snap at my friend, who bent down to stroke him in the area we kept him away, he's snapped at our other dog (who he grew up with) and last night I seen him bite my cat on his face.
My cat, has been having abcesseses on his face since we got the dog, and it hit me. Maybe the dog has been biting the cat. I'm heartbroken. I'm in tears writing this. I love the dog so much and he's such a good dog for me. But I know I need to put him down. It isn't safe. But my partner disagrees and says just keep him separate. Here's the hard part, I'm due to have a baby soon and my family keep saying you can't risk the dog around the baby but I just keep saying I'll keep them apart. But after seeing him bite the cat yesterday, I'm devastated it was a lightbulb moment he isn't safe. But its a hard decision to bare on my own and would like my partner to agree. As he's our dog now. He's a sweet dog and I'm looking at him now and feel heartbroken taking a healthy dog to be PTS. My partner is concerned for my mental health losing a dog I've had for years and then having a baby he is worried ill struggle a lot as he knows how precious my dogs are to me. He agrees if he was an XL Bully I would've put him down earlier but also believes that keeping him separatenwith visitors baby is best option as the dog is fine with me and him.
Any support appreciated - please be kind. Seeing it all in writing it is so obvious what I need to do. But im struggling with the mental load of it
- [Note from MNHQ: Please see the OP's update at 16.06 on 20/5 before responding]