my baby & my dog

[Guest Anonymous]

Thank you for responces! I had my first baby 9 months ago. I adopted my APBT 4 years ago he was a little over 1 year old, however I have known him since birth. He has always been around infants and children, and has only shown love. We took all of the precautions and he has been wonderful with her, until 2 nights ago. He just moved her out of the way to get to me, but it scared me. I took him to my mother's house, he has been there ever since. I would appreciate any thoughts, advise, and stories about raising children with dogs.

[JudyHoffman]

Exactly how did he move her? Did he hurt her? Break the skin? Use his mouth? I think to get an honest opinion from folks you'll need to provide more details.

My assumption only is that if you removed the dog to your mothers it's more serious than you are saying in this post.

[Cairn6]

[b]I think that if you have any doubts in your mind don't take a chance. My advice would be when you bring the dog back to your home try to keep them separated by not allowing the baby to be close enough to the dog that if he felt threatened in anyway he could lash out at the baby. I had the most gentle dog in the world but never allowed her access to the baby. She was only allowed access if I brought her to the baby and had control over her and what the baby might do. The baby doesn't understand that this animal has teeth and that pulling it's ear or pinching it's nose might not feel so good. And the dog doesn't understand that this little thing is just exploring the world and has very soft skin and you can't discipline her the same way you would another pup or dog. When the baby was talking and walking on steady feet they became the best of friends but it's not worth the risk. [/b]

[Guest Anonymous]

Thank you for responding. First of all I need you to know that everything is fine, and I was just in a panic. The situation was completely my unexcusable fault. I was sitting on my couch eating a sandwich, my baby was on the other side of the room, Caine(my dog), was at my feet. All of a sudden my boyfriend said "hey, how did you get over there so fast!?" to my daughter. I looked down and she was crawling towards Caine's back. I went to put down my sandwich and get her, that fast he turned and nipped her. She was fine, just scared:he was regretfull and sad. I am hear to apologize to any dog owner who suffers from irresponsable dog owners like myself. I just never thought anything like that would happen, which was so incredibly naive of me. I am a 27 year old fulltime bartender and a first time mom. Except for Caine, I adopted him Jan.2001 from a relative. I met him when he was a few days old. My friend who owned Caine's mom had a baby three days after the pups were born. He has always been around babies, and children. He thrives off of being around children. My friend would trust Caine around her newborn before her own dog. I thought I was doing everyhing right. We did all the things you do before we brought Isabella home. With her hospital blanket Caine made himself a pillow. He adors her and she feels the same about him. The thing I didn't realize is that there is so many more things to watch out for when your baby reaches the crawling stage. I plan to educate myself on raising babies and dogs. I am also going to post up some information about that subject at my midwives and pediatricans offices. This way maybe when can have better educated owners and less accidents. Next time I'll be able to send some pictures. Thanks for letting me explain and please forgive my ignorance.

[Carolk9s]

First, it was absolutely the right thing to remove your dog from your house. Thank goodness it was 'just' a nip. BTW, your dog was NOT regrettful and sad from nipping your child, he most likely was responding to your reaction as well as the baby's but I do not believe dogs feel regret as we think of it.
No matter the circumstances, you now KNOW your dog may nip a child, therefore he has lost the 'trusted around babies' designation. This is not to say he cannot or should not be allowed to interact with children and babies but only under the strictest supervision and greatest care. Perhaps the nip was a one time thing but you simply must never take a chance.
I congratulate you for immediately removing your beloved dog from the house and the baby, it truly was the right thing to do.
In another forum, I have read about a couple with a small child whose dog growls at the child should the child approach the parents. This couple has apparently decided that the dog stays and wants a trainer to help them resolve the issue. I firmly believe the resolution is removing the dog. The couple has actually been advised by their vet and by a behaviourist to have the dog put down as the dog has shown other temperament deficiencies but they refuse to do that. I don't know that situation first hand so don't know if euthanasia is truly the only sensible option for that particular dog.
When my Jesse was a pup, my niece was over to see him. She was about 3 at the time. She accidentally stepped on his rear paw, he whipped his head around and growled at her. To some, this would have been acceptable on the dogs part, to me, it was not. I LIGHTLY cuffed him and told him no. I ALSO gently reminded my niece that she needed to watch out for puppy feet and tails etc. I believe he learned that day one of my expectations and he never growled at her again. When she was visiting, I made sure she behaved appropriately around him and I always gave him an out if she became too intrusive.
Can you integrate your dog back into your home with the baby? Perhaps with some help from an experienced trainer, yes. Don't take any undue chances but good luck as I know you love your dog and I'm sure you miss him too.

[courtnek]

crawling babies and dogs, any dog no matter how gentle, can easily become an issue. The dog has not yet determined that the baby,no matter how small, is higher than him on your family totem pole.

When Kyle was a baby, I had a malamute mix named Jarvis. The two were never allowed alone in the same room. Kyle was either in his swing (up above the dog) or in my lap or on the couch (again, above Jarvis' head) if he was on the floor, he was in his playpen. If he wantedf to crawl/explore, Jarvis was put in the basement or locked out of the room.
Jarvis never once did anything even remotely aggressive to Kyle, and
actually saved him once from falling down the stairs. (They had been seperated by a door, which the cat managed to open). I guess my only advice is to simply not let the dog and baby share the floor. I have heard of too many instances where a baby sets a dog off, the friendliest ones in the world, and no one really knows why, or what happened. It's just safer this way. You cant move as fast as the dog, you already found that out.

I had people tell me I was mean for not letting the dog and baby interact, but Jarvis was 90 lbs. and stubborn. I didnt want to give him up, so my compromise was to keep them apart. Jarvis would lay under his swing, lay on the floor by the couch when he was on it (in his baby seat) and commune through the walls of the playpen, but never really any direct one-on-one until he was much older. and none of this was even allowed if I wasnt in the room as well, where I could watch them interact with each other. I almost had heart failure when his dad laid him down on Jarvis' back and took a picture. Nothing happened, but I had visions of horror running thru my head.

Anyway, as both Jarvis and Kyle got older, their favorite game was to put Jarvies harness on, attach his leash and let him pull Kyle up and down the sidewalk on his roller blades. Yes, they became the best of friends. Yours can too, with special considerations towards both baby and dog.

Good luck.