Our dog bit the baby

BettyBookworm · February 2012

Ernie52408:
BettyBookworm:
RachaelA:
BettyBookworm:

I have to disagree with the decison to euthanize. The dog is not terminal ill. How would you like it if someone decided to terminate your life based on one split-second startle reaction? I am honestly not flaming, but I think that the best thing you could do is find her a new home with someone who is patient and loving.

I think its a horrible idea to euthanize based on this one thing. I am guessing that the dog didn't hear the baby creeping up behind him and got scared.

I sympathize with you OP-- I know this must be an awful position to be in, but for pete's sake your dog is relatively healthy and doesn't deserve lethal injection just because of this incident. See if you can rehome her please.

I know babies come first, but please realize that your dog most likely was just frightened and terminating his life for a medical reason (ok) is way different than putting down a healthy dog. Obviously, the decision is yours and I am sending you lots of warm T&P while you agonize over it.

It just breaks my heart for the dog. Then again, my dog is old and toothless. The baby can do way more damage to him than the blind old bat could do to her.

Good luck OP-- I strongly disagree with your decision to euthanize on this criteria alone, but depending on your state, you may not have a choice. Still, I would definitely advocate rehoming over euthanasia.

We are all saying to euthanize if they cannot find someone to take her because its obvious the OP has made up her mind that she will not keep the dog. I do agree that the situation could have been prevented and it is not the dog's fault. A shelter will put an old dog with a bite history down. Why not let the dog die with her family rather than alone in a shelter?

I disagree with euthanasia in this circumstance. I don't know if you've ever seen a healthy animal euthanized, but it can be an awful scene even with family present for the dog. Its not the same as a dying/terminally ill animal.

Also, I'm not sure if the vet would do it unless you explained the situation, but even then they would probably have to have a court order or something. I don't know any vet that would do it just because you couldn't think of anything else.

Really, I know its a tough situation, and I don't want to make it harder on the OP than it has to be. She may not have a choice anyway if she explains the situation the dog may be ordered to be destroyed by animal control. I don't know.

I just think its an awful fate for a dog that sounds like its been through enough in this life. Then again, I am one of those people who adopted an "unadoptable" rescue dog that no one else wanted. So, I am not the greatest audience for this type of post.

I'll leave it there because I don't want to get all flamey about it. I really do understand the OP is doing the best she can in this situation and I hate it that it has come to this.

I'm not trying to get defensive here, but what exactly do you expect us to do? The dog almost took out my son's EYE. Yes, I made a mistake letting him get that close to her. I thought I could trust her more. I am living with more guilt than you could probably imagine.

The dog cannot be trusted around children. Bottom line. We are doing our best to find a loving home for her. We are even offering to take care of all her needs financially the rest of her life. We have not found anyone interested in a 10+ year old, 70lb dog with a history of aggression towards other animals and children. We cannot even find anyone who will take her for a week until we make other arrangements.

I have another 90lb dog and an active, extremely mobile 10 month old in an open concept house. Keeping everyone in separate areas is much more difficult than it seems.

I can't make someone else take her. She will die if I take her to a shelter. Euthansia is not my first, second, or third choice but I frankly am running out of options.

I would love to hear any brillant solutions you have.

You could try to find a rescue that will take her or a friend that will keep her. Reach out through your place of worship. Your vet may have some contacts that could avoid death for your pet. I am sure you are doing the best you can. Just because I disagree (& am attempting to disagree respectfully & tactfully) doesn't mean that I am doing it to be hurtful or mean to you. I just feel for the dog that most likely just was startled. It seems like such a drastic, permanent solution to a problem that was a mistake & not a vicious attack on your LO.

All that being said, I know you have to do what is right for your family & there is no one that wins in this situation. Please believe that I am not trying to get on your case & make you feel bad. I admit that I have strong emotions about this type of things & so it does have an effect on my view of the situation.

I sincerely apologize if I have offended you. I just don't agree with termination of your pet over this.

To the other poster-- I mainly post over on the nest. I have some friends over here that I check up on to see how they are doing. I am not a regular over here & I am very sorry if I ruffled feathers. However, last time I checked this is a public message board & I am not required to keep my opinions to myself just because they are unpopular or the OP doesn't like them. I am allowed to say whatever I want as long as it doesn't violate the terms of service. People may disagree with me or think I am an Ahole but that doesn't mean that I should keep my opinions to myself.

I have repeatedly expressed my concern that this must be hard on the OP. once again, I apologize if my contribution hurt any feelings. I won't post further on this thread seeing as how my opinion is the minority & it's not helping.

I hope you find peace no matter what you decide.

damabo80 · February 2012

luvmyducks:
Ernie52408:
BettyBookworm:
RachaelA:
BettyBookworm:

I have to disagree with the decison to euthanize. The dog is not terminal ill. How would you like it if someone decided to terminate your life based on one split-second startle reaction? I am honestly not flaming, but I think that the best thing you could do is find her a new home with someone who is patient and loving.

I think its a horrible idea to euthanize based on this one thing. I am guessing that the dog didn't hear the baby creeping up behind him and got scared.

I sympathize with you OP-- I know this must be an awful position to be in, but for pete's sake your dog is relatively healthy and doesn't deserve lethal injection just because of this incident. See if you can rehome her please.

I know babies come first, but please realize that your dog most likely was just frightened and terminating his life for a medical reason (ok) is way different than putting down a healthy dog. Obviously, the decision is yours and I am sending you lots of warm T&P while you agonize over it.

It just breaks my heart for the dog. Then again, my dog is old and toothless. The baby can do way more damage to him than the blind old bat could do to her.

Good luck OP-- I strongly disagree with your decision to euthanize on this criteria alone, but depending on your state, you may not have a choice. Still, I would definitely advocate rehoming over euthanasia.

We are all saying to euthanize if they cannot find someone to take her because its obvious the OP has made up her mind that she will not keep the dog. I do agree that the situation could have been prevented and it is not the dog's fault. A shelter will put an old dog with a bite history down. Why not let the dog die with her family rather than alone in a shelter?

I disagree with euthanasia in this circumstance. I don't know if you've ever seen a healthy animal euthanized, but it can be an awful scene even with family present for the dog. Its not the same as a dying/terminally ill animal.

Also, I'm not sure if the vet would do it unless you explained the situation, but even then they would probably have to have a court order or something. I don't know any vet that would do it just because you couldn't think of anything else.

Really, I know its a tough situation, and I don't want to make it harder on the OP than it has to be. She may not have a choice anyway if she explains the situation the dog may be ordered to be destroyed by animal control. I don't know.

I just think its an awful fate for a dog that sounds like its been through enough in this life. Then again, I am one of those people who adopted an "unadoptable" rescue dog that no one else wanted. So, I am not the greatest audience for this type of post.

I'll leave it there because I don't want to get all flamey about it. I really do understand the OP is doing the best she can in this situation and I hate it that it has come to this.

I'm not trying to get defensive here, but what exactly do you expect us to do? The dog almost took out my son's EYE. Yes, I made a mistake letting him get that close to her. I thought I could trust her more. I am living with more guilt than you could probably imagine.

The dog cannot be trusted around children. Bottom line. We are doing our best to find a loving home for her. We are even offering to take care of all her needs financially the rest of her life. We have not found anyone interested in a 10+ year old, 70lb dog with a history of aggression towards other animals and children. We cannot even find anyone who will take her for a week until we make other arrangements.

I have another 90lb dog and an active, extremely mobile 10 month old in an open concept house. Keeping everyone in separate areas is much more difficult than it seems.

I can't make someone else take her. She will die if I take her to a shelter. Euthansia is not my first, second, or third choice but I frankly am running out of options.

I would love to hear any brillant solutions you have.
I completely agree OP. Again, I'm so sorry and I know this is an impossible and difficult situation.
BettyBookworm (not even sure who you are....I'm on here almost daily and do not recognize your SN), please keep your "flamey" responses to yourself. If you have a helpful solution, then by all means, speak up.

My guess is a lurker from another board. Unless she changed her s/n, i don't think I've ever seen her around any loss board.

luvmyducks · February 2012

BettyBookworm:

To the other poster-- I mainly post over on the nest. I have some friends over here that I check up on to see how they are doing. I am not a regular over here & I am very sorry if I ruffled feathers. However, last time I checked this is a public message board & I am not required to keep my opinions to myself just because they are unpopular or the OP doesn't like them. I am allowed to say whatever I want as long as it doesn't violate the terms of service. People may disagree with me or think I am an Ahole but that doesn't mean that I should keep my opinions to myself.

Yes, it is a public message board, but usually the loss boards are treated a little differently, understandably. We form very close bonds through our journey--we are like a support group, not just a public message board. Most of the time "strangers" don't come over to our boards and post unless they are starting drama. I personally think it is pretty rude to come and lurk on a loss board and then post on a thread to make the OP feel even worse then she does. Just bc you have expressed concern and apologized doesn't make it okay in my eyes. This isn't the Tri or Month boards...

If you were a member of our community you would understand. Be thankful that you are not.

Kissimi21 · February 2012

OP- I am sorry that you are going through this, but please know that you are not doing anything wrong by considering euthanasia. I agree totally with the vet above. I have also worked for a vet clinic and for 2 shelter. From your description, your dog sounds like she would be considered unadoptable. People like to think that shelters are happy, loving places where every dog finds a perfect home, but that is often not the case even with healthy, well adjusted pets. Euthanasia is not mean, cruel or heartless. When done for the right reasons (your situation sounds like the right reasons), euthanasia can be the kindest option.

If possible, see if there is a vet in your area that does house calls. My vet went to my parent's house when my father's 14 year old dog's quality of life started to go. She fed the old dog treats, sedated her and then euthanized her. The dog passed away happily and comfortably. It was hard on the humans, but very peaceful for the dog.

AZ123 · February 2012

Lurker here to share my experience. Is your dog trainable? We went through a similar problem with our aggressive 4 year old dog (we have 2; one is a sweetheart and the other is an alpha). There are some training techniques you can do. The worst thing you can do is punish and get angry at the dog. It actually causes them to escalate (hence the bitten face and not just a warning growl).

We taught our dog "move away". Anytime DS1 would go near the dog, I'd say "move away" and then I'd physically lead the dog by the collar into another room and give him a treat. We also had a designated bed and had him go to the bed and get the treat. Well, this took about a day and a half. We graduated to "move away" and then he'd get a treat (i didn't have to lead him), and then ultimately to "move away" with no treat and now the dog just gets up on his own and moves away. It was really powerful and amazing! We turned something negative into something positive. Well, that was over 2 years ago and I can tell you, we've never had another problem. Eventually, the novelty of the animal to DS1 wore off, which helped.

So in the situation where you're sitting with the dog, you'd say "move away" as soon as your LO started moving towards the dog and then you'd treat the dog.

I hope that this helps!

BettyBookworm · February 2012

luvmyducks:
BettyBookworm:

To the other poster-- I mainly post over on the nest. I have some friends over here that I check up on to see how they are doing. I am not a regular over here & I am very sorry if I ruffled feathers. However, last time I checked this is a public message board & I am not required to keep my opinions to myself just because they are unpopular or the OP doesn't like them. I am allowed to say whatever I want as long as it doesn't violate the terms of service. People may disagree with me or think I am an Ahole but that doesn't mean that I should keep my opinions to myself.
Yes, it is a public message board, but usually the loss boards are treated a little differently, understandably. We form very close bonds through our journey--we are like a support group, not just a public message board. Most of the time "strangers" don't come over to our boards and post unless they are starting drama. I personally think it is pretty rude to come and lurk on a loss board and then post on a thread to make the OP feel even worse then she does. Just bc you have expressed concern and apologized doesn't make it okay in my eyes. This isn't the Tri or Month boards...
If you were a member of our community you would understand. Be thankful that you are not.

I am very sorry for all of your losses.

I am very sorry, once again. I was not aware that the loss board was different. I do apologize for my rudeness. It really wasn't my intention to try to make the OP feel bad. Merely to express that I disagreed with potential euthanasia of the dog.

I really was not aware there were separate rules for this board with regards to expressing opinions. I know it doesn't make it ok & that my apologies won't matter but all I can do is apologize & move on. I don't lurk here for fun. I really am checking up on some good friends that post here & stumbled on the thread. I realize now that it's best not to respond to threads here unless I have suffered a loss & are part of the community.

Again, I didn't know & I am sorry for my behavior.

busterbeagle · February 2012

I'm so sorry you are dealing with such a difficult situation, I would be feeling just as emotional as you are in that position. I hope you can find a solution that is as easy as possible on your dog and yourself. Hugs.

Amanda78 · February 2012

I am so so sorry. I cannot imagine how hard this decision is. Please though call your pedi and make sure DS doesn't need to be on antibiotics. Please!!! Big hugs

OCIrishBruin · February 2012

I am so sorry. I agree with you - you must protect your DS first.

jertie · February 2012

Oh no! I'm so sorry about this. It has got to be a heart-wrenching position. I understand what you mean about your dog being your baby too. I hope you find a good home for her soon. ((HUGS))

Clerk9 · February 2012

julesjb:
I was avoiding responding to this because I can tell you have a strong opinion about the subject and I generally don't like to get into it. I just had to highlight a few points.
If a euthansia is done properly than the scene should not change physically at all only emotionally. All pets should be properly sedated and feel little to no physical pain at all.

I do not know any situation where a court order is necessary to euthanize your pet. A hot debate is that to this day animals are considered property which had led to very limited punishment for cruelty to animals due to their definition to our lives. To most of us they are family but the fact of the matter is they are your property and you can make the decision without a court being involved.

The part about not knowing a vet that would do this "just because she couldn't think of anything else" really gets me the most. I am a vet and have used my right to not euthanize many animals that people bring in for convience euthansia. Because they are moving and not allowed pets, the dog costs to much, barks to loudly, ruined the carpet.....in these situations I help the owner make a choice to either turn over the pet to our clinic or seek other homes. As a veterinarian the truth of it is if an owner brings their pet to you to be euthanized and is not willing to turn the pet over to you then sometimes euthansia is the most humane situation because it is one you can control. If people have decided to do this they often will go to any means to make it happen and I would rather be able to give that pet a humane peaceful end than other alternatives. OP's situation however does not fall into this category of convienence...her dog bit her LO in the face. I will not argue that this could probably have been avoided and I am sure OP is beating herself up enough but she is not considering saying goodbye to her dog out of convienence. I am sure that she will exhaust her other options but if she came into the clinic and told any collegue I know that her dog bit her baby they would help her through probably one of the hardest decisions of her life with support and understanding. The situation could have god forbid been worse, would that have made her decision ok??

The fact of the matter is a mistake was made. It sucks horribly and if there is a way to avoid it happening again while keeping the dog I encourage it. However if you are afraid for the well being of your LO and you are not able to find a home that would suit your dog who you already stated has separation anxiety and other age related changes than I support you and virtually hold your hand during what I can only imagine is a very difficult decision for your family. I am sorry that this happened....it could have happened to anyone.

I am SO sorry about what happened & about the position your family now finds itself in. But I am glad that it wasn't any worse.

Just wanted to say that, as another veterinarian, I couldn't have said it better than jules did & I agree 100% with her post. I am so sorry. Sad

luvmyducks · February 2012

BettyBookworm:
luvmyducks:
BettyBookworm:

To the other poster-- I mainly post over on the nest. I have some friends over here that I check up on to see how they are doing. I am not a regular over here & I am very sorry if I ruffled feathers. However, last time I checked this is a public message board & I am not required to keep my opinions to myself just because they are unpopular or the OP doesn't like them. I am allowed to say whatever I want as long as it doesn't violate the terms of service. People may disagree with me or think I am an Ahole but that doesn't mean that I should keep my opinions to myself.
Yes, it is a public message board, but usually the loss boards are treated a little differently, understandably. We form very close bonds through our journey--we are like a support group, not just a public message board. Most of the time "strangers" don't come over to our boards and post unless they are starting drama. I personally think it is pretty rude to come and lurk on a loss board and then post on a thread to make the OP feel even worse then she does. Just bc you have expressed concern and apologized doesn't make it okay in my eyes. This isn't the Tri or Month boards...
If you were a member of our community you would understand. Be thankful that you are not.
I am very sorry for all of your losses.
I am very sorry, once again. I was not aware that the loss board was different. I do apologize for my rudeness. It really wasn't my intention to try to make the OP feel bad. Merely to express that I disagreed with potential euthanasia of the dog.
I really was not aware there were separate rules for this board with regards to expressing opinions. I know it doesn't make it ok & that my apologies won't matter but all I can do is apologize & move on. I don't lurk here for fun. I really am checking up on some good friends that post here & stumbled on the thread. I realize now that it's best not to respond to threads here unless I have suffered a loss & are part of the community.
Again, I didn't know & I am sorry for my behavior.

Thank you.

rock-elle · February 2012

What an absolutely heart wrenching decision to make,I truly don't know what I would do. I pray you find the strength and guidance to make the best decision, huge hugs Broken Heart

BobbiJanay07 · February 2012

I am so sorry op.

magdalina.h · February 2012

I was bit several times by dogs when I was younger. It really taught me that no matter how loving and sweet they are, they are still dogs. We don't let Snoopy around Lucas alone. Lucas is only allowed to touch his back or his side belly. Snoop gets snippy if he gets backed into a corner, has sensitive paws and ears so we are very diligent to keep them apart.

Want a personalized experience?

Our dog bit the baby

Re: Our dog bit the baby

Choose Another Board

Search Boards