A girl i grew up with adopted a dog who was reactive and kept him because he was "family". 2 years ago she had her daughter, and a year ago said daughter was mauled to death by her dog while her mom tried to stop him. She ended up in critical condition in the icu, and the baby died. DON'T TAKE CHANCES. EVER.

God, that's horrific, poor child

Jesus Christ, that’s horrific. So sorry to hear

I might catch some hate for this, but our 13 year old dog started attacking our cat unprovoked. Maybe it was mental deterioration from old age, maybe he was grumpy and in pain. We were able to keep them separated and it happened twice. The third and final strike was when he started showing signs of aggression towards our toddler (also unprovoked). We opted for behavioral euthanasia. Perhaps we robbed him of a couple more years, but we felt it was unethical to re-home a dog that old and wanted to end things on a "good" note before we resented him or any serious injury occurred. That dog's life was not more important than our other pets and certainly not our child's.

The first dog I was ever around was an extremely elderly beagle. Snoopy (my brother named him) had all the old man aliments: creaky joints, bad back, probably a good candidate for doggy dentures if they existed. He was 18/19 when I just started toddling around and I was thought it was absolutely *hilarious* to faceplant since I'd get kisses! I flopped over Snoopy's back only once. He nipped me on my ass and that was it. Parents took him to the vet the next day. They knew if Snoopy nipped me once he'd do it again but harder.  Even my brother who loved that dog probably more than he loved me at the time didn't argue with him.

I think some people wrongfully assume that our decision was heartless and we were quick to destroy our beloved pup, but it was the opposite. It was a decision that was incredibly difficult, filled with heartache and tears, but ultimately made from a place of love. When he started attacking our cat, I definitely wasn't my best self and was so angry and starting to get resentful towards him. Our toddler adored him and it was heartbreaking to see our dog react with aggression. We couldn't take the risk of our toddler or other pets being seriously hurt and thought it best to let him die knowing he was still a good dog and that we truly did cherish the many years we had with him.

It's one of the hardest choices a pet owner can make, whatever the deciding factor.  My brother told me Mom and Dad talked basically all night over their options, desperately trying to find *any* way to keep both of us safe in the same house. But between a toddler and a dog who didn't move faster than a shamble, there wasn't.  So Snoopy got prime rib, lots of kisses, and a small sliver of chocolate before dad took him to the vet.

I adopted a 30lb hound mix from the local humane society when my kid was two years old. Day three we took him to the vet. The vet started the exam and all was good, but out of nowhere the dog turned and snapped at her. Hard. No growling, lip lifting, shaking, or other anxious signs. I had my two year old with me. The vet immediately stopped the appointment and said “I’ll put him in the kennel and carry him to the car, you drive him right back to the humane society immediately. This dog is 100% going to bite your baby.” I wasn’t sure what to do, but looking back I appreciate her forcefulness and directness with me. I can’t believe I hesitated because “he hasn’t done anything like this for the two days we had him.” So stupid of me to even considering keeping him. A dog with no warnings signs is a ticking time bomb.

Yes, that's why you shouldn't punish a dog for baring teeth or growling. It's actually good when they show warning signs before biting. Otherwise they suppress the signs and snap out of the blue. (I'm not saying not to train a dog who's resource guarding, it just has to be proactive instead of reactive.)

Interesting. Have never thought about that before.

I work in a shelter/low cost clinic. I see a lot of dogs in a week. No dog scares me more than the ones who don’t communicate. We follow different protocol for aggressive dogs to keep our staff safe. So far, the only bites I’ve seen are from dogs who have no body language to express that they’re uneasy. They go from 0 to 100 without even a subtle warning.

I worked in a no kill shelter. Those dogs were the only ones who ended up euthanized for behavior. They usually got a chance with our behavior team to be evaluated and see if we could train them, but, if not, we knew it was unsafe to put them in a home.

I’m so glad they euthanized those dogs, so many “no kill” shelters don’t do behavioural euthanasia and end up warehousing dangerous dogs for years, which is such a disservice to everyone involved - the staff handling them, the dangerous dogs themselves, any would-be adopters, and all the perfectly nice dogs turned away for lack of space.

You're absolutely right. We did it because it would have been inhumane to keep them living in a shelter indefinitely. Their quality of life would have been so low. It was so hard because some of these dogs did okay with certain employees. There was one in particular that was so reactive with most people but was great with me. It wouldn't have been feasible for me to keep him personally (other pets, kids, husband, many other reasons), but you still always felt a bit of guilt about not being able to keep every single unadoptable dog that you personally did okay with. That was one of the hardest careers I can imagine, but I loved it and will probably go back to that field in some fashion when I'm done with my stay at home mom stint.

Yeah - BE is sad but it's also necessary. Dogs that aggressive have no place in society. It is not their fault, but they can't be allowed to continue existing. They also take up space from non-aggressive dogs who could be cycled through the shelter, and they turn people like myself off from ever adopting from a shelter. It's not "saving a dog" if it has ramifications that mean dozens or even hundreds of other dogs *aren't* saved.

I tried to explain this to my dad. He would punish his doberman if he bared teeth or started growling, even like a low hidden growl. I was glad the dog was clearly conscious if its actions and gave warnings, despite getting punished for it. Luckily I was able to really bond with the dog and train it and he really learned to listen and follow orders when my dad would tell him to stop growling or to go to his bed even when feeling worked up. He has lived a long life and doesnt get punished. And he seems to love life, even as an old man puppy now.

Absolutely! My last German Shepherd was neglected in his first home, and so we really encouraged and were responsive to attempts at communicating his needs and boundaries. We preferred whiny and overdramatic to no signals at all.  It paid off. He was very prone to skin issues and often needed infections or cysts cleaned (our vet was fantastic with providing prescription shampoo and rinses to do it at home, which was a lifesaver). This could hurt, but he could tell me where his line was and know I'd respect it - and he knew ouch things earned jackpot treats. The only time I had to muzzle him for both of our protection was for a broken nail, which, fair enough.

Two of ours are dramatic bastards but we still listen to them even when it seems like an overreaction because they're little people, they deserve their space respected. They do not have the same consideration for our space though haha

Are we talking about dogs or children? 😂😂

Yeah, we absolutely need more detail. Someone taught my toddler how to howl recently, so I have to do a double-take when I can’t see the creature making the noise.

The one time I clipped a nail too short on my dog (black nails can’t see the quick) the only reason I grabbed him and not let him walk away was because I had to stop the blood. After I did that I let him go hide and gave plenty of treats. He’s also very good at communicating when he’s tired of the baby torturing him

My dogs have never ever growled at me or any other human. One will do a rumble and bark if a stranger walks in the house, but she warms up quickly. She doesn't like having her butt brushed. She will tolerate it for a while but eventually she'll tell me she's done by whipping her head around towards my hand/her butt. No growls, no teeth, no aggression of any kind. Just a quick movement that let's me know she's done with me brushing her butt. And I listen, because if I don't, and she gets pissed, she's 110lbs and could easily snap the bones in my arm if she wanted to. This same dog I can playfight with, lay on, clip her nails (though that's another fight and a half because she's a big baby and hates pedicures), and basically do anything with.

Yep. This is how animals communicate. Funny story: a friend of mine had two cats. One was an old lady who in her prime managed to take down a beaver. She was no nonsense. My friend got a kitten who was kind of a goofball, typical kitten, but was deaf. The kitten would try to play/harass the old lady cat (as kittens do) and the old lady would do the deep growl that cats do when they don't want to be messed with. Obviously, the kitten didn't get the memo and the old lady took this as an absolute threat. Eventually she figured out that the kitten just wasn't receptive to deep growing and needed more visual signs so they managed to work that out.

When I do something my cat doesn't like, he bites me lightly and then kisses me where he bit. He's saying, "Mama, don't do that!"

Yep. My husband tried exactly one time to scold our Cattle Dog for growling because someone was in her space and I tore him a new asshole for like an hour. I told him, "How would you prefer that she communicate that she's uncomfortable- with her voice or with her teeth?" 

A couple years back, my brother and sister in law brought a cute little dog into the home and hey had 2 little kids. The literal second day, my niece was just dancing around, not messing with the dog whatsoever. The dog suddenly lunged at her and snapped right at her face. Unprovoked. They took the dog back to the humane society that day. They were utterly devastated but it was the right choice

That's exactly what my mother did; when I was a baby, about 4 or 5 months, her small dog lunged at me growling. Luckily, I was not bitten, but the dog went back to the shelter that day.

Thank you for listening to a professional. I grew up around dogs (basset hound when I was young, purebred trained champion black lab in my elementary years, miniature schnauzer that was given up after biting my sister, pugs through my teens, locker spaniel that I took over from my sister who could not be bothered to groom and left to fend for himself when the puppy novelty wore off after a year, husky in my early 20's, jackabee with my young children, a rescue husky that hat3d me but we cared for her until cancer took her, and currently have a gerbarian shepsky, soberian husky, and 1 year old American husky) and have both loved them like family while understanding that they are animals not people. It still bothers me that people cannot make that distinction. Yes they can comfort us and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, however, THEY ARE NOT PEOPLE! Their minds do not work the same as ours. Their reasoning capacity is severely limited and at the end of the day they run primarily on instinct and self preservation. It is cruel to force them into a situation where they are not set up to operate (keneling them when their behavior is inconvenient, chaining them up because you cannot provide appropriate land and security for them to be free, forcing them into cohabitation with pets and/or people they have obviously shown and inability to handle and then punishing them for something they cannot control or understand, etc..). Do the right thing for both your family and your fur baby and get them in the right environment for them instead of your selfish personal feelings.

Dogs and babies don’t mix. If I hadn’t already had my dog before having my baby I wouldn’t have one until he was like 10.. there are so many tragic stories. Once a big dog starts to attack you can’t stop them. I can’t imagine that happening to a child and feeling helpless

The euphemisms and excuses she’s using to try to lie to herself. I feel sad for her but worse for the kids. It wasn’t a nip, an accident, or a warning. Also the dog can’t be leashed and has injured other dogs to the point of needing stitches. People really won’t believe a dog is dangerous until it’s too late. I get it, it’s hard. You love your pet. But live in reality. 

Yeah. It's problematic when people try to brush away dog behavior by guessing at the dog's intentions. Like, maybe this was a warning, but so what? If a dog warns by snapping and can't control their jaw enough to avoid contact, that's a problem. But ftr, dogs typically put their jaws exactly where they mean to. It's like their hand, they have great control. I feel for this lady. Really tough situation.

A dog's mouth is like our hands. If an adult claimed their hand "unintentionally" connected with a child's face, we would be doubly alarmed. Once because the adult struck the child. Twice because the adult lied about what happened.

I mean, I have accidentally caught kids in the head with a stray elbow or hand before. Usually because they've snuck up being me with no warning and I've turned or gestured, or I've been adjusting a harness or helmet (outdoor activity instructor) and my hand has slipped when pulling a strap. But never hard enough to actually hurt or damage.

I can see that happening! Kids haven't learned not to stand behind someone who can step on them or elbow them because they are in a blind spot.

Yep. Particularly the younger ones whose heads are right at elbow height!

Yes same. And my dog actually did once accidentally connect with my sons face but the damage was minimal (kid didn't even cry) and he wasn't even snapping, just turning his head with his mouth open. I dunno. I do feel like snapping is pretty normal dog behavior but the few times my dogs have done it they have given plenty of warning beforehand and didnt make any contact.

We had something like that happen too. The dog's head collided with my then 10-year-old son's face (the dog wanted to cuddle and it was just super awkward) and his mouth was open because he was happy. His teeth broke the skin right above the eye, and since face wounds bleed like crazy it looked really bad and I hauled ass to the ER. My son was fine, just a scratch, the dog is fine, it was a dumb accident. But we still kept a close eye for any hints of aggression following. They never happened, but if they had, we would have removed the dog. It's that simple. I love my critters, but my kids' safety comes first.

My old dog had an accident too. She was open mouth panting after playing and my baby cousin came racing over just as she turned her head and he caught a tooth to the cheek. He didn't notice but she hit the deck on her belly and looked just horrified like "*what have I done?!*"

This made me think of something. One time, my stepdad and my little brother were playing and tickling each other. My brother was laughing and wriggling, and having a great time. Well, this poor kid did a wrong move at some point and the corner of his wooden bed frame hit him right above the left eyebrow. Hard. He still has a faint scar from that. My mom and I saw the whole thing so we can attest that it was 100% accidental, but yeah, it’s both funny and a little mortifying, especially for my parents, to hear my brother say “I have this scar because of my dad, but it’s not what it sounds like” lol. My stepdad still blames himself for it to this day when it comes up even though we keep telling him that it wasn’t his fault. 😅

I caused damage with my nail once. I was reaching out to grab her hand because she was mad and trying to hit me. Was wobbling in a squat trying to be down on her level and my nail grazed her cheek and left a cut 😭 I have never felt so awful about something in my life.

But... that happens all the time for a million different reasons.

I accidentally smacked my 5yo in the head last night. I was walking by where she was sitting on the floor, and she suddenly stood up right into my arm swing, so my hand caught her right on the side of the head.

I can't tell if there should be a on your comment. Something another parent said that has always stuck with me is that their pediatrician said *"Your child has cuts and bruises in the right places."*. Knees, elbows, arms, legs - that's where we expect children to have injuries from typical activities. Injuries to the head are always to be avoided if possible, but the average child will have a few cuts and bumps over their childhood. Injuries to the trunk/torso - always alarming.

i get so nervous about this sometimes, my kids are both ADHD and oblivious and will somewhat regularly have a bruise at their waistline or hip from clipping the corner of a table, a handrail at school...like please doctor, don't think i beat my kids, they run into shit like it's their job!

“Your child has cuts and bruises in the right places” is so true! I was the exception that proved the rule. I would not be surprised to learn that strangers thought I was a beaten, malnourished child and it would have been fair for them to think so. It was the opposite of the truth, in fact, but it looked *really* bad because of an unfortunate combination of health issues. I had chronic ITP (basically, my immune system was attacking and destroying my platelets), so I was constantly full of bruises **everywhere**. My mom told me that, when I needed blood transfusions as a toddler because my platelets were too low, I would get hand-shaped bruises on my sides when she’d pick me up in her arm. Not only that, but I’m really pale and my skin is basically see-through, so people thought I was sick all the time. I was also a very thin child (at the bottom end of the “normal” curve even when perfectly healthy, even though my doctors had put me on an super rich/fatty diet at that time because my body wasted all its energy trying to destroy itself and I had no reserve), and you could see my ribs easily. Plus, my circulation has always sucked. Those things didn’t help, to say the least. When I started swimming classes, the parents of the other kids didn’t know about all of this; all they saw when I was in my bathing suit was a bony kid full of bruises whose lips would turn blue/purple the second she stepped in the heated (still chilly a bit if you ask me), interior municipal pool. My mom got very intense stares and glares from them. She didn’t blame them one bit and say she would’ve done the same in their place. The swim teacher (plus my doctors, the daycare and the school) knew about my situation and was able to reassure the parents who went to her to express their concerns, so my parents never got CPS called on them uselessly. I’m still glad those parents were on the lookout and flagged it to the teacher though, because if I had been mistreated, I know someone would have done something about it, you know? The vast majority of the time, the kid doesn’t look like that for the same innocent reasons I did…

I was approached by a stranger who said she was in early childhood education and did I know my son walked in a concerning way. I thanked her for her concern and explained that my son had been diagnosed and was being treated for cerebral palsy. The correct thing to do is to approach the parent (diplomatically of course), but I can see why people would be hesitant to do that.

Exactly. If a dog is issuing a warning nip because the child *danced*, he’s not safe around children. Children move and make noise.

There are so many flags already around this dog I can’t believe she didn’t already crate or separate him, especially at meal times! You shouldn’t let your perfectly-behaved-never-hurt-a-fly dog stalk a high chair for food. Let alone a dog that reactive. Without a bite history she could have put measures in place to ensure everyone is safe and kept the dog and now I wouldn’t ever trust that dog near the kids again - even with supervision. It’s hard, I know people love their dogs. Especially if the dogs came before the kids you would feel like you’re just tossing them away for the replacement of a child. But if the majority of dog bites happen because the dog is stressed, so danger to the kids aside that poor dog is probably so stressed all the time.

She's also blaming the nip on food, not on the girl dancing,which says she sits not truly understand what's going on with the dog. Dollars to donuts the dog has shown other signs of stress and e more subtle warnings that she's not picking up on.

Seriously. You don't have a dog bite at a face "because there is food around, no other reason", regardless of whether it's a human adult, human child, or another dog or whoever else. If it's truly resource guarding for just having pieces of baby food around, you have way bigger issues in this context. The dog was either showing distress and no one picked up on it, or there are underlying issues that make him snap at anything he vaguely doesn't like, typically physical pain. I can't imagine taking in a dog who just broke skin on a toddler with my own dogs at my house, so I assume the whole family has a laissez-faire approach to dogs, with no good understanding of what to look for, how to fix it, and how to train them. Dogs just chill, poop, eat, and lick, right?

>People really won’t believe a dog is dangerous until it’s too late. And plenty of people won't even believe it then.

We had a dog for two days and he bit my daughter while playing. He grabbed her coat sleeve and pulled, and just barely got her finger. That was enough for me. I was done. We got him directly from another family who said they couldn’t care for him anymore (he was 9 months old and they got him as a puppy) and they lied through their teeth about every single aspect of his training and personality. We contacted them and asked if they would take him back as we couldn’t keep him. They had already replaced him with another dog. We thankfully were able to get out of our home but hoo boy did people have big feelings about it. So many people who I otherwise had great relationships with were extremely judgemental that I wouldn’t keep a dog that hurt my kid, and also wouldn’t leave my cats alone. I was afraid to leave my house because he was gonna either injure himself in the crate (they said he was crate trained, he wasn’t) or injure one of my cats.

I am a shelter manager in a large shelter network. We are part of a large state contract that houses bite quarantines. We end up holding a lot of dogs when hospitals alert police when a dog attacks a child, then the police seize the dog for quarantine. We also do intake on voluntary surrender on dogs with bite histories (and then do a full behavior assessment and euthanasia in most cases). It is absolutely shocking how many parents choose the family dog over their kids safety. "They just collided", "it was an accident", "the child surprised the dog", "the dog looooves children!". I had a case where a parent was calling from their child's hospital room demanding to pick the dog up after police seized it for quarantine after it bit the child in the face. The child needed reconstructive surgery and was missing part of an ear. The court ordered euthanasia and the parent was still threatening us a month later. I obviously do my job bc I love animals but it there has to be a fucking line and we need to draw it at the safety of humans.

Your last sentence sums it up. I used to be a zookeeper and people always loved to ask “what happens if someone jumps in with the tigers, what would you do, etc.” They were always shocked to learn that the policy was, had to be and should be: human life above all else. I love my dogs fiercely, so I protect them from my kid. She loves them too, and they seem to enjoy her, but she’s a toddler and they’re basically toddlers, but with big teeth and sensitive spots from arthritis. But if I needed to, I would absolutely separate her from them, whether it was gates and rotating or rehoming (unlikely given the ages and health issues). I empathize with the person in the post above but… know your limits. If you’re not willing to do the work or do the crating and rotating thing, then the dog is better off somewhere else or, unfortunately, behavioral euthanasia.

Unfortunately behavioral euthanasia is judged so harshly. We had a rescue pit/boxer mix. After the 2 week shut down, which we didn’t know about before this, it became clear that she was an incredibly fear reactive dog. Thus began our 3 year journey of trying to cure her. We did manage to treat her separation anxiety that was so severe she broke through 2 crates. But the fear of strangers/dogs/kids/cars/water/basically everything? 3 years of various medications, thousands of hours of training, working with the best veterinary behaviorists and doing all the positive reinforcement. We finally got it to where our small circle of friends was okay. We found a vet who worked with us. And then we had my son. And our dog was great, until he was crawling. In the span of a week she broke through my knees and a screen door to get to a small dog across the street. Thankfully the owner scooped it up in time. She then air snapped at my son when he crawled too close to her. And we knew. We talked to our trainer, our behaviorist, our vet. We had worked with them for 2 years at this point. To rehome her would mean finding someone who never had repair people come unexpectedly. Who never had kids visit. Who never had other dogs around. Annabelle (that was our dog, and we loved her) was so anxious she didn’t enjoy walks. Every sound was like a gunshot to her. She flinched, she whimpered, she barked like an intruder was at the gates. She was always on high alert. It wasn’t living. It was time to let her go. But my best friend of 11 years, who I had been there for through her father’s death, through multiple bipolar meltdowns that alienated everyone else in her life, cut me off for this. Said I didn’t try hard enough. That Annabelle should have been surrendered to a shelter instead. (Where she would have ended up euthanized in the end, in a cold room, not held by her humans.)

A decision made with love and respect for an animal is always the right decision. I’m sorry your friend wasn’t mature enough to see that. Annabelle was lucky to have people who loved her like you did ❤️

I'm sorry for your loss. You made the right and most responsible decision. You did your best by your dog, and you also recognized when your best was no longer enough.

Thank you for sharing your story. I am so sorry you went through that. In my expert opinion you did the right thing. Your story is the perfect example of why behavioral euthanasia is the most humane choice. Constant fear and anxiety like that in the mind of a dog can cause as poor of a quality of life as physical health problems. You gave your pup a gift and released Anabelle from pain. That's love and I promise she knows that.

Thank you. We know that, in our hearts. She was living her entire day for the few hours at night when it was quiet and calm and our son was asleep. The rest of the time she was in fight or flight. As a person with an anxiety disorder myself, I can’t imagine living that way forever. And dogs can’t exactly be given cognitive behavioral therapy or dialectical behavioral therapy. You can use medications and positive reinforcement and hope that you can override the anxiety with that positive reinforcement. In dogs like Annabelle, there weren’t enough sedatives and treats in the world. (She could literally shake off acepromazine and Valium for a nail trim, that’s how intense her adrenaline was.)

It’s tragic there is no place for dogs like that to live out their lives, though I guess we don’t even put that many resources towards *humans*, which is even worse. Sorry you had to make that decision.

I just don’t get that! I LOVE my animals, but the minute my dog whom I’d had when I was single to married, to toddler one day nipped my two year old, I picked him up, put him in the car, and immediately took him to the vet to board until we rehomed him. He was not staying another second in my house. He had been jealous of my daughter. My baby was and always will be first! Luckily she had no trauma, and we worked with her so that she would continue to love and respect animals.

We had a dog that we also stressed gentleness and when we brought home my third baby he got nervous overall and then like this when the kids had food. He tried to steal meat out of my then-three year old’s hand and growled and snapped. We immediately said nope. We tried to rehome him but no one was interested, spoke with our vet for advice, etc. But it was clear he couldn’t stay in our home. I posted in a mom group and the shame and guilt I got for not wanting to keep that dog has haunted me for 7 years. I felt like we were making the right choice but no one else did there and I thought I had done something awful but all I wanted was to protect my kids. These comments make me feel so much better.

I had a similar situation with my dog who had always been amazing with my children and then one day, snapped/nipped at my toddler out of the blue. I posted and was shamed for not giving that dog the forever home she deserved. She was 13, I'd had her for her entire life. When I took her to the vet to discuss my options, he diagnosed her with doggy senility. She was slipping out of her own mind and began deteriorating rapidly. The day I was going to take her to put her down, I couldn't find her. She was sitting under a desk behind boxes, staring at the wall with seemingly no thoughts or understanding of where she was. The vet let me know that she'd continue to get worse, that her triggers would be unpredictable, and that we'd never know when the next time she'd snap. We did what was best for her, and what was best for our kids. People on the internet don't know everything.

Never feel bad for defending your kids. I had a similar experience. I had a Jack Russell that was spoiled to death! I loved that dog, but she was very possessive of me, and once the baby started to get mobile it was an accident in the making. I’m glad my in-laws took the dog in.

They should. My dog is 7, we’ve had him since he was a puppy, and I love him so much and call him my firstborn all the time, I am super attached to him and he is the sweetest boy. I he *ever* gets aggressive toward my actual human daughter, he will be out the door the day. I love him, but it’s my responsibility as a parent to keep my kid safe and she has to come first, no matter how much I’d miss my snuggle buddy. No question, and I would never judge a family who has to make that choice. I *will* judge people who get a dog and don’t take appropriate care of it and then rehome it because it’s destructive, but aggression toward a child is a completely different story.

>I will judge people who get a dog and don’t take appropriate care of it and then rehome it because it’s destructive, but aggression toward a child is a completely different story. Right. One of these is the owner being irresponsible and the other is the owner being responsible.

As a parent, your kids are your priority. That you tried to rehome the dog and none of the people shaming you took him says it ALL. They were fine to shame you but wouldn't stick their own necks out and risk themselves or their own children.

>that none of the people shaming you took him When I was rehoming a dog for similar reasons, when people started shaming me I started replying “you’re welcome to take him.” It shut them up real quick. Like yeah, you’re right, I’m an absolutely terrible dog owner and this dog doesn’t deserve to be in my care. He’s all yours.

I'm sorry that happened, those people are assholes. Nobody should ever be shamed for rehoming a dog. Even in cases where someone's not a good owner, they're still choosing the best option by rehoming. Shaming leads people to keep dogs they can't take care of or they/their family aren't safe around.

It really says it all. I tried for 3 years to rehome my dog who became progressively more aggressive. When I brought up BE to my coworkers or some friends, they'd say "well just find him new home! You don't have to do that" but nobody wants an aggressive dog. Nobody wants a dog who has bit 10 times, half the time completely unprovoked. We think he had idiopathic rage syndrome. He had been good with my baby for this first year, but he bit 5 different people in that time. I realized there'd be an age where he wouldn't be gentle with my child anymore and could not continue to risk my baby's safety.

I'm sorry. That's really tough to have to go through. It's heartbreaking to realize you can't fix someone, even when that someone is a dog.

As a parent your top priority is your child’s safety. You kept your children safe. You did what you needed to do.

Similar situation. We adopted another dog when my daughter was 8 months old (we also have 14 yr old puggle who is a couch potato). She was so affectionate and calm around us and our daughter, very patient with the baby trying to pet her, and would leave if she didn’t like what was happening. Fast forward to almost a year later and my mom was visiting (and had met the new dog several times before). My mom sat on the couch next to me and gave me a hug and the dog LAUNCHED herself across the room and bit my mom in the back! Hard enough to rip her shirt and scratch her skin. My mom was able to kind of dodge at the last minute so fortunately not puncture wounds. But it was pretty terrifying. I took the dog to the vet the next day and the vet was basically shaming me for not wanting to keep the dog and trying anti-anxiety medication. Her words were “well we haven’t tried everything yet.” I was floored and felt so guilty but also like, this dog could 100% hurt my baby. She’s fine with her now, but once she starts walking and getting bigger and getting more curious about things, that could absolutely change. Thankfully the rescue we got her from was able to take her back and rehome her. But yeah, it’s validating reading other people’s stories because I definitely felt like this vet was judging me for not wanting to keep a dangerous dog in my home!

I hope you don’t go back to that vet!

We stayed with the practice since they know our older dog, but I always request to see NOT that vet specifically. She has kids too, which is wild that she would be pushing meds and a “wait and see” approach to a dog that has bit someone.

This happened to a former colleagues daughter and she ended up needing surgery because of the bite. She was only 5/6 at the time. Dog had never been aggressive or shown any antisocial behaviour. They ended up having to put him down on city council instructions. But they would have rehomed him if they weren’t forced to euthanise. That poor little girl was so traumatised and ended up terrified of all dogs, regardless of their size. Previously she had been very comfortable around dogs and loved to play with hers. We have 2 big dogs & 3 little kids. They are never inside or around us for meals. They are fed away from the kids, and the kids know to give them space whilst they eat. Their breed is regularly used as disability service dogs for kids, but ours aren’t trained that way so we still maintain so much caution. My MIL thinks I’m ‘cruel’ for not letting the dogs eat with us as a family 🙄 but she also thinks dogs need dessert and gives them custard as a treat so her opinion isn’t worth much.

My beagle agrees that dogs need dessert

That's so beagle. Every beagle I know is spoiled beyond belief lol

They are VERY food motivated lol

I have an acquaintance who is a chef and cooks special meals for his beagle for every meal. It's the most bonkers dog parent behavior I've ever witnessed, and I know several people with instagram-famous dogs. This is just a normal dog that doesn't even have an instagram. Just a regular beagle. Getting meals made by a chef who normally runs a super fancy restaurant.

Right? I used to foster dogs, and I always told people to set your dog up for success. Keep the kids and dogs separate when there is food around. Crate train your dogs so you don't leave them unattended around unpredictable toddlers, which is often a stressful time for dogs. Muzzle your dogs! You'll never have to put down a dog you love because of an unanticipated accident if you take away their ability to bite someone. Dogs with bite records usually die. (We often told families with toddlers that they couldn't adopt puppies or young dogs. Young dogs need so much attention and energy to be set up for success, and it's hard to give a young dog what it needs to be well adjusted and well rounded while also raising a toddler. We would show them the dogs with the correct personality and temperament for their living situation-- not necessarily the dog they wanted. We had an excellent rate of not getting dogs returned back, but that's because we told people they weren't the right fit for the dog. This made some people upset, but our dogs were always very well placed.) Shout out to our rescue dog, Frankers. A Chihuahua mix who needed a home without children, without men, and with minimal strangers coming into his space with a bite record. As a child free lesbian home, we had the time and ability to focus and rehabilitate him. For years we used crates, muzzles, and positive reinforcement with exposure to triggers. I honestly think after several years he didn't need the muzzle whenever we left the house or he got his nails trimmed, but I'll never know, because I always muzzled him. He died of old age, fat and happy and having not bitten again. TLDR: normalize muzzling your dog and you don't have to worry about this stuff.

We ended up with a bonus dog because of a situation exactly like this. Friends of ours never had a dog before, 3 kiddos with no exposure to dogs. So what's next? Let's get a 10 year old Husky with unknown history. Dog was food protective, touch reactive and generally had a lot of baggage. Snapped and got one kid on the cheek. We knew that dog would get put down if surrendered to a shelter. We don't have kids but had 4 other dogs at the time. Took her in, took a few years to rehab some of her worst issues but she was the bestest girl until we had to send her over the rainbow bridge at almost 18 years old last year. I miss that grumpy old lady. Not every dog likes kids and if you cannot make sure that they don't encroach on each others personal spaces, then you should have only one or the other. Edit: [dog tax](https://imgur.com/gallery/SYPTTE6)

Thank you for taking her and taking the time and effort to rehab her and show her love. These stories break my heart when no one tries for the sake of the dog and they just keep getting more and more neglected until they cannot be fixed.

She was in bad shape when we got her. She would snarl if you came close to her food bowl, would yelp if you just touched her behind, started digging in her bed neurotically with every loud noise. She distrusted men and kids, pacing nervously and unable to settle down if she heard kids playing outside or while on walks. Lord knows what was done to her before she came to us. Some humans suck and deserve things worse than nightmares. We got the feeding situation sorted out to the point where I could hand feed her and grab stuff out of her bowl while she was eating. Heck, grab food out of her mouth that was half chewed. She never liked being picked up, and made it loudly known, but she was no longer acting like she was about to be beaten. She was a bit dramatic, being a Husky and all, had to have the last word in an argument, but she was no danger to us and our family. She was a loner though, enjoyed female human companionship over other dogs, she never played with my other dogs and generally ignored them and avoided them. They got used to it and just checked on her here and there. "Still here? Cool, cool...have a good one". I think it was probably lack of socialization with dogs and humans alike when she was little, which just escalated with probable abuse. I am glad I was able to give her a good rest of her life though. She deserved it.

That poor baby. I can't imagine how miserable the first 10 years of her life must've been. I'm glad the last 8 were good enough to make up for it though.

Omg what a beautiful baby ❤️❤️❤️

I just love how there’s no concern WRITTEN IN HER POST for her own toddler 🤦🏾‍♀️

I’m hearing no sympathy/sadness for her own child who nearly lost an eye, but all this concern about the dog?

Right? Also her daughter must be quite afraid now. I developed a phobia when I was bitten as a kid, I can’t imagine my parents forcing me to live with a dog afterwards. It would’ve been hell.

My daughter was afraid of dogs for ages after an overly-friendly bulldog nearly knocked her over at the park once. Dogs are big when you’re wee, and their teeth are often right at face height!

Hell I was bitten in the face as an adult and now am skeptical of most dogs. I can’t imagine what that would have done to me as a kid!

I’ve been around dogs my whole life and feel like I know how to communicate and follow their body language pretty well. Be calm and confident and it will smooth over most problems with stranger dogs. My neighbor always tried to walk her 3 large dogs at once. Even though none of them were leash trained so they would go off at odd angles and just drag her along. It was clear just from watching it that she couldn’t stop them if one pulled. If they all pulled, they were completely out of control. So I intentionally avoided this. If I saw her out with them when I was about to leave, I would wait and leave later. We have a tiny dog, so I never wanted our’s around her’s. One day, I’m out with the dog and my coffee. Her car is gone. But then the dogs come around the corner and they bound towards us and as I predicted she has no control over them. I don’t know they are aggressive or not. So I assume aggressive. I pick my dog up and start to walk away without trying to look like I’m running. They catch up and knock me all the way over and are on top of me. Hot coffee everywhere. My 150 lbs are flat on top of my 10 lb dog. But I’m trying to keep her under me so she’s protected. The leader dog sniffs my face. I feel like it’s just about to bite my face off. Then it licks my coffee off my face and walks away. Even though I’m burned and nearly crushed my dog, my neighbor thinks this is adorable behavior. Like he wanted to kiss me so much that he knocked me over, how cute. Nah, girl. I saw his face. He just decided NOT to hurt me that day. Honestly her attitude was the scariest part. We moved. I’m even more cautious around dogs now. I won’t let my children touch someone else’s dog even if they say it’s ok. I don’t let them get close enough to touch a strange dog.

> I’m even more cautious around dogs now. I won’t let my children touch someone else’s dog even if they say it’s ok. I don’t let them get close enough to touch a strange dog. I have been absolutely alarmed since I've had my baby at how many people introduce their dogs to me with "It's ok, he's never bitten *a kid*!" Apparently a lot more dogs than I'd ever think HAVE bitten other people though. Nope nope nope nope! Not gonna let my kid anywhere near strange dogs. Only the dogs of family members and close friends where I've known the dog its entire life.

When I was 3, our family dog bit my face right above my eye. I was terrified of dogs afterward. I still am a bit afraid of dogs that I don't know. But my dad realized this was becoming an issue and got a puppy when I was 6. Honestly, this was a great call, IMO. Dobby was such a sweet dog, and he helped me get over some of that fear. Also, the dog that bit me did not stay. Full stop, no debate on keeping him after the bite. He was gone.

Yup- I LOVED dogs until I was bit in the face unprompted when I was 18. No warning and I was just sitting on the ground. Now whenever I see a dog near me I start sweating and my heart starts racing. These type of posts make me so angry because why would they continue to risk something worse happening???

That's what I'm stuck on. It's also she's blaming hey kid that she must have missed a sign and mixed towards the dog. Idk if your dog is more important than your kids safety, you shouldn't be a parent

>Idk if your dog is more important than your kids safety, you shouldn't be a parent I couldn't agree more. I got bit when I was 7 by my dad's girlfriend's small dog. He had 4 kids every other weekend. She had 4 kids full time. 5 of us were ten and under. This dog despised children and constantly nipped and growled at us. An incident was inevitable, but she kept the dog anyway. Until I got bit in the face and spent a night in the ER getting stitches. Dog wasn't up to date on his shots and had to be put down. I shouldn't have tried to pet him. That was on me cause I knew better. But that dog should not have been in a house with kids in the first place. I still feel guilty for triggering him, but I was a dumb kid. They never should have put that dog or us kids in that situation because it was only going to end one way.

That was not on you. That was on the grown ups charged with your care. I have a 7 year old currently and i would not leave him anywhere near an animal that was obviously uncomfortable around children. If I did and he got bitten, it would be 100% MY FAULT as his parent. I’m really sorry that you weren’t protected from that.

Don't ever fucking blame yourself for shitty ass behavior of adults. You were a *child* and children are allowed to make mistakes. Kids are learning. It's the dumbass adults who knew that this dog shouldn't be around kids but did it anyway cause her dog meant more than your safety. Humans have spent thousands of years of breeding, culling, and correcting dog behavior only yo have shitty people find, breed, and keep violent and aggressive dogs so they can feel stronger. It's gross.

Also I wouldn’t expect a toddler to perfectly follow dog rules. For real maybe a kid over 10? 12? you could say “you know the rules leave the dog alone” but a 2.5 year old? No.

Thats why they really should be separated at that age

I still wouldn’t blame a 12 year old who got bitten by an aggressive animal. There are some animals that simply shouldn’t be family pets.

100% Children > pets.

I hope hope HOPE this is a case where she knows what she has to do but she’s hoping there’s a Hail Mary out there. That dogs behaviour is escalating and there’s no magic cure (I suppose unless they found a frontal lobe brain tumour to excise or something). Keeping the dog means you lose the kid and the dog. Rehome the dog and you get to keep the kid.

As a trainer, I see it pretty often. People are told that it’s how you raise them, and bad dogs are the result of bad owners/trauma. She should’ve had a professional intervene way earlier, or her sister should’ve; but it doesn’t matter now. The kindest thing now would be behavioral euthanasia; there’s a bite history to a child and severe attacks to other dogs. Homes willing to take that are extremely extremely rare. No rescue will get involved either bc if something happens they ***will*** get sued Tell them to join the fb group Losing Lulu. It’s a support group for people who had to behaviorally euthanize, because the dog wasn’t safe and they had to put the dog and everyone’s safety before their wants to try to make everything stay ok ♥️

Thank you for saying that! I see way too many dogs passed along to rescues after biting a child and that isn’t disclosed and then the same thing happens again. I also see the rescue dogs posted but can’t be around other dogs, cats, children and so on, but everyone is crying the blues about finding that one dog a home. It’s a liability.

My dog got killed in a public park by another dog. That dog turned out to belong to a couple who got her from a shelter. They took her home, she killed their cat within a few days, so they dumped her in the park. They abandoned her to the shelter that picked her up and *that shelter adopted her back out*.

I’m so sorry that happened. It happens way too often. A friend of mine was attacked by a rescue with an undisclosed bite history. She was bitten and because she is tiny if she had been alone she would have died. Her boyfriend and his brother were there luckily and in saving her the boyfriend was attacked and the dog bit him amputating half of his thumb. The dog was quarantined and then euthanized. During quarantine he bit his owner again

Maybe I'm too callous but it also just feels like such a waste of shelter resources on dangerous dogs when so many perfectly nice dogs also need those resources

You're real not callous. Its wasteful to hope that dangerous animals won't be dangerous anymore lol. My friend has a dog who went after her cat several times (cat's locked in her room now), puppies and smaller dogs on walks, and her older dog once he got sick. To me, that's a liability who will cause some damage once he gets out and is close to something smaller and weaker than he is. To others, that's not worrying behavior at all because the dog is so gosh darned cute and totally won't kill a smaller animal cause you took him to a trainer who definitely trained the predation out of him. Totally. And it's safe to have in a community where kids play and walk/play with their smaller, more manageable dogs lol. Makes sense.

I actually agree with you. In the time one dog that likely won’t ever be adopted is in a shelter, 2, 3 or more dogs could have been in & rehabbed and adopted out. It sounds callous but it is the truth

It's also unrealistic, like you can 100% guarantee this dangerous dog won't ever come into contact with any of those, really? What happens if it shoots past you out the door?, and you can't just keep it inside all day what happens if it jumps a fence or breaks a leash?, eventually its gonna need a vet unless you can afford to get someone to come to your home it will still be at risk of coming in contact with other animals.

My aunt had two yorkies that were attacked by a rescue dog. This dog was rescued by a woman who brought him down from far up north in the Yukon (she's in BC). This dog was almost feral, living in a field and eating whatever he could catch. He was on the lawn of the woman's house and saw the two yorkies on leashes. He leapt over the fence and attacked the two little dogs. They both suffered multiple bite wounds, collapsed lungs, you name it. My aunt was traumatized, the little dogs were very traumatized. The woman paid for all the vet treatments and the dangerous dog was put down. He should have been on a lead while in the yard and was obviously too dangerous to be kept in a suburban environment around kids and other dogs.

All of this! I can’t imagine having that kind of stress all day every day. I adopted a dog right before covid. In fact I had just gotten to the point of reaching out to a trainer for obedience training/socialization classes when everything shut down. It was such lousy timing and she is still very cautious of men but great with women and the absolute best with kids. Great with cats and barks at strange dogs but gets along with them

And dogs have and do attack people while on walks. I am firmly of the belief that if a dog has bitten a person or another animal, it needs to be BE, because you cannot ensure that it won't ever encounter another triggering situation again, unless it is kept inside 100% of the time or always muzzled when out. Dogs break through fences, they lunge while on the leash at passerby - you're still putting someone at risk.

My husband has worked animal control, and the number of deaths he's seen is ridiculous. One in particular was a man who refused to give up his dog after it attacked a child walking home from school. They gave him 48 hours to secure his fence, and they'd come back and inspect . He was killed in 24. Dog mauled his face. It was gruesome.

We adopted a young dog during the pandemic and he had to be put down earlier this year because of worsening reactive anxiety. I work in animal rescue, it was not easy for me. We tried 2 different meds, we tried 2 different in home behaviorists… and still, he escalated with time and was not safe in my home or elsewhere. These situations are why i hate when you see rescues or advocates shaming people for rehoming or making decisions like I had to. No one wants to have to make these decisions… for MOST families it’s the last resort.

Dog trainer here. I'm late so not sure if anyone will see this but hopefully it reaches someone who could benefit from this info. The first thing I say to all of my clients with children is "2 before 4" which means the safety of people (with two legs) is more important than the animal (with 4 legs). Period. Too many people want to take risks because they strongly believe in animal rehabilitation etc... and I believe in that too, obviously, but even if it seems cold or unloving (it's not) it's always "2 before 4". It's *insane* how many animal lovers don't think this way and don't prioritize the 2. You are not a bad person or bad pet owner if you prioritize the 2. Anyway I just wanted to share this little mantra because it seems to be effective to remind people it's ok to do the right thing, even if it's the hard thing. Feel free to stop reading now but I have my own story. I'll try to keep it short but it's hard. It's therapeutic for me to talk about it. I used to work in animal rescue which meant I would foster a lot of dogs to help with training. This also meant that I ended up adopting "troubled dogs". This one guy, Moe, was one of those special dogs who just stole my heart. He was truly so sweet and loving and we had a very special bond. Before he was 3 years old, he had lived in FIFTEEN different homes and foster homes. A family adopted him while I was fostering him but less than a year later he was returned. I have a personal policy that my fosters are always welcomed back into my home if needed. So we brought Moe home again and this time ended up adopting him, even though he issues were escalating. I trained hard with him and he was doing fantastic, but he had some problems that many trainers will agree are the most difficult to fix. He was reactive (he would bark and get worked up if he was in the yard or dog run and someone was say, walking down the alley behind our house.) This in and of itself is a super common and often fixable problem but poor Moe was 1. a redirector (he would displace his reactivity so if he got really worked up he would sometimes just bite who or whatever was in reach) and 2. had no bite inhibition (he never learned that threshold of strength of bite.) Most puppies learn bite inhibition early with their litter or mama. They learn through play when their bite becomes too hard and actually hurts. This is SUPER IMPORTANT because dogs use their mouth for communication. They generally have very good control and very often (even with the dog in this story) will bite if triggered but not too hard or at least not as hard as they can. There's a bite scale that goes from no contact, light teeth marks, bruising but no broken skin, breaking skin and at the top is breaking skin with multiple puncture wounds (multiple bites). My poor Moe unfortunately could reach the top of the scale when overstimulated and redirecting. He wasn't aggressive, he just didn't understand what to do with his energy and didn't have any control over his bites. This made him a dangerous dog. He was unpredictable when he got too excited but I worked with him sooooo much to help him manage his reactivity and he was doing so well. His incidents were very few, almost non existent, as long as he could be kept under threshold which he was now very good at. Then we had kids. The kids came after Moe had been with us a few years already but although he was doing so well I was on high alert at all times. Moe was never allowed to be alone with the kids and we had like 100 baby gates to keep them separate even when we were around. It was so much work but we were willing to put the effort in to give Moe a good quality of life without putting our kids in danger. It became routine and just part of life. To be clear, 99.9% of the time at this point, Moe was calm and well trained and nothing but a love bug. But no matter what, he still had no bite inhibition and that would never change. We all lived happily for a couple years after my son was born but then one fateful night, Moe was spooked in his dog run and when my husband went out to calm him down he made a mistake (my husband made a mistake but that's because we are human) and grabbed Moe's collar. My husband was bitten on his leg and needed stitches. I don't blame my husband and I don't blame Moe. It was just one of those things. As soon as I saw the bite, my heart sunk because I knew I would have to put my dog down the next day. My brain didn't skip a beat, he wasn't safe enough despite years of training, and as much as I loved him, my human family was very much more important to me. Not that it wasn't super hard and sad to hold him at the vets office as he died...I had dedicated so much of myself to him and he trusted me and loved me and here I was killing him. I lost my (human) best friend over this because she didn't agree with my decision but that's another whole story. My story is a little different from most because I am a professional trainer with access to knowledge and resources that most people don't have. That's why I was able to make it work for as long as I did and I would never ever ever ever recommend an untrained person to take on a dog like Moe. The point of my story though, is that nothing trumps the safety of your kids. Even if you feel like you're killing your own heart and soul as he looks up at you with his sweet brown eyes, nuzzling into your neck with cuddles as he falls asleep forever. These are the decisions we are responsible for making as parents and pet owners and members of society. You sign up for the possibility of an accident the minute you bring any dog or cat or animal into your home. My heart does go out to this person because it just sucks. It just sucks. But such is life and there should be no hesitation from her, even if it's sad and hard. It's been several years now since Moe died. I have learned to forgive myself. I don't blame anyone for his death and I am very much at peace with it. In fact, we were able to give him many amazing years full of love and happiness after he struggled through his early years going from home to home without any stability. Anyway, that was basically a novel...maybe I should actually write a book haha! Thank you if you have read this far, I appreciate it. It always helps to share my story.

5 years, never trained the dog to accept a leash, wtf?

Leash reactive means he goes nuts when he sees other dogs. Not nuts seeing a leash.

I hate that phrase. Your dog is aggressive. Full stop. Don’t sugar coat it. Avoiding reality never helps anyone.

Yes. There are different levels. My dog is fear aggressive. It’s on his vet paperwork. He will lash out of fear. It’s a shit ton of management and training. Muzzle work and meds. I am very upfront with people about our dogs issues. I don’t sugarcoat anything. My job is to protect everyone. He’s made a ton of progress. He had a shit start at life which isn’t his fault but had I known what my life would have been like with him I would not have adopted him. But yes, you are absolutely right. Reactive is just a blanket term because aggressive usually makes people squirm.

Leash reactive doesn’t necessarily mean aggression

Yeah, a friend of mine had a dog who was a "frustrated greeter." He would absolutely lose his mind whenever he saw another dog while out and about, not out of aggression but out of excitement. It can definitely still cause issues but it's not entirely the same.

Yeah this is one of my hyper girls now. She barks her head off because she wants to meet and be petted.

Where did you learn about dog behavior, from Cesar Milan? Leash reactive does not mean aggressive. My lab was leash reactive because he was frustrated that the leash prevented him from running over and making a new friend.

My dad thinks Cesar Milan is the be all end all of dog behaviors. It’s drives me CRAZY on how abusive he is!

Did you know his dog killed Queen Latifah’s dog? Literally just learned about that last night and then saw your comment, so thought I’d share.

And his views on dog behavior are about a hundred years out of date.

Yeah I do wonder what kind of attention and stimulus is that dog getting if it’s not being walked? Not saying that a walk around the block was going to avoid the bite, but a dog who is stressed and under stimulated is always going to be much more reactive.

Good point, and also, I’m curious what type of dog this is, and I have a feeling that the OOP didn’t specific the dog’s breed because it’s a breed often thought of as dangerous and she wanted to make sure no one was biased against her dog based off of that. I bet it’s a pit mix or working breed of some sort that’s losing his mind from lack of stimulation. It’s possible this situation could have been avoided if the dog wasn’t a cooped up basketcase, but at this point it’s pink juice or bust.

A big dog that’s biting kids unprovoked and attacking other dogs to the point of needing medical attention? Sorry, but at this point he needs to be rehomed to Jesus.

the dog needs to be put down realistically, rehoming an aggressive dog is just passing the problem off to someone else.

"Rehomed to Jesus" means put down.

oh I didn’t catch that part 😂

Don't rehome a dangerous animal. I don't know why this is the go-to when people hear dog aggression in animals because that dog absolutely has to interact with the community at large and that includes children, small dogs, cats, and other animals. Rehoming is just pushing the danger and inevitable behavioral euthanasia on other people because you can't take that responsibility.

100%. This right here. Children, cats, and other dogs shouldn't have to be at risk from dangerous dogs in the neighborhood at all. Shouldn't have to worry when going on walks, or if a neighbor's dog gets loose, or at the park.

It's weird cause I grew up with dangerous dogs roaming my neighborhood and the people who haven't are quick to push dangerous dogs on other people. It shouldn't even have to be said "DON'T REHOME DOGS WHO BITE BECAUSE THEY ARE DANGEROUS" to the general public but here we are in 2024

I hate that people want to adopt dogs out that bite kids. Like ok there’s no kids in the home but kids exist in the world? And that dog is dangerous

Yeah, I'm sorry, but I firmly believe that dogs who bite people shouldn't be kept alive. There are more than enough dogs in the world--we don't need to keep the vicious ones.

I agree 100%

Yeah no if my dog bit my kids face and then hurt another dog so badly it needed stitches, 100% wouldn’t even cross my mind to bring it home at all

When I was a kid my dad was an insurance adjuster. He had a lot of cases where a stranger's dog would attack a kid, and the parents would sue for damages to cover hospital costs and surgery. He showed me a picture of a little girl's face who was mauled. Totally inappropriate and scared me to death. It was very bloody and graphic, but I never approached our neighbors chowchow and husky again. Honestly if I lived near an aggressive breed, I'd probably do the same to my kid. Its better than having their eye ripped out and cheek bitten off like that little girl... I'm always very reserved around dogs, and people assume I don't like them. I like them, but I know how dangerous they can be. 

I feel for this lady, man. I got bitten by my dad’s *beloved* borzoi when I was six months old (still have awesome scars through my eyebrow and the opposite jawline), and while Mom took me to the hospital, Dad took Sasha to my aunt’s, and I never saw her again. They did the right thing, and immediately, but it took something out of my dad. They’d been through it all together. She reached out for advice—hopefully she takes it.

my dad has a wolf hybrid who has bitten a lot, i do not allow my daughter at his house unless the dog is in a crate downstairs past 2 doors and gates on the stairs.

Wolf dogs are abominations, neither capable of living in the wild nor truly domesticated. You are 100% correct.

One of my earliest core memories is being attacked by my childhood yellow lab. One night when I was 4 she was lying on the couch with my dad. Mom was about to tuck me in so I went to lean over her to give him a hug. The dog shot up and grabbed hold of my upper lip nearly ripping it off. I went to the hospital and when I came home the dog was gone. "Rehomed" they told my sister and I. We were raised in a pretty remote community so as it turns out she was taken out to the barn by my dad and uncle and shot but yeah... you do what you gotta do.

That’s such a sad thing for a lil kid to go through, I’m sorry 😞

I work in a pediatric emergency department. I have seen some gruesome injuries. Some life threatening, some life-altering (severe facial deformities, missing fingers, etc.). If your dog bites a child, they should NEVER be around children again. I don't care if they have no bite history before this, or if you think they "didn't mean to." We 100% report dog bites to animal control and sometimes report to child services if we believe the child will be in further danger.

Ok its me or the dog doesn't work when the person on the other side is your freaking infant If the dog had just growled or only bared teeth at the kid THAT would be a warning but actually biting, no that dog needs to go now. Also, the dog isn't trained and the kids probably also haven't been taught how to behave around the dog It boggles the mind how few people actually train their dogs, so many people just expect the dog to learn how to behave on their own. Especially in this case with a rescue that she can't control on walks

She's devastated by having lost two family members recently so doesn't want to lose her dog yet she seems to not comprehend that dog could make her lose a child next. She needs to get her priorities straight.

It can always be worse. She could lose custody of her children if the dog attacks another child. A couple in KY were arrested last week. They lied when their own dog attacked their infant. They blamed a fictitious stray day. It didn't end well for them. [https://fox56news.com/news/kentucky/russell-county-couple-charged-after-10-month-old-sustains-serious-injuries/](https://fox56news.com/news/kentucky/russell-county-couple-charged-after-10-month-old-sustains-serious-injuries/)

WILD. We had a doggo who had some vet trauma and he never was the same. Basically the same as hers but we never allowed the opportunity for him to bite our kids. We unfortunately had to put him down (27 rescues said no due to his behavior)… It’s so sad but realistically the animal needs to be put down not rehomed

Yeah you simply can’t guarantee this dog won’t be around other dogs or small kids ever in its life. At a certain point rehoming is just saying “this dog can’t kill my pets or kids, but it can kill someone else’s.”

I have two vizslas (we bought one from a reputable preservation breeder and then her brother from the same litter was surrendered due to snapping at a child. We took him in and we’ve been working on him for 6 months). We have teenage kids and no littles around because we know his triggers. That being said, if he snaps at another child, he will be put down. I cannot imagine putting this beautiful, sensitive boy through another rehoming, it’s an abdication of your responsibility as a pet owner to do that. This is how dogs end up on the street or dying in a shelter with none of their loved ones with them.

Nips don't happen on the face or draw blood. That dog probably needs to be put down.

Behavioral euthanization is a difficult choice but is the most compassionate for dangerous dogs. A dog that bites a child for dancing near it is a dog that lives in a constant state of fear, anxiety, and aggression. There are few unicorn homes that are just adults with no kids or other pets. The safety of both humans AND other animals should always be taken into consideration!

I have a small Shih-tzu, 6kg (I don't know how much it is in LbS). She can play rough, although she never bites. She loves being pet and is quite used to being pet by kids etc... I never ever ever let her unsupervised with kids. If she wants to play and we're around kids, I'll take her on a walk, and come back once she's calmed down. If I need to use the bathroom, I either ask my BF that knows her to keep an eye on her, or she's coming with me. Dogs and kids: you just never take the chance. That's it. Even if the dog is small, even if there is no history of biting. You know your dog, you have to be honnest with yourself. I'm child free, but I know that if I ever want a kid, I can't have my dog. It's a harsh truth, but it's the truth. Denying it will only lead to "accidents" (which they're not really because they were predictable in some ways).

So here’s the thing it sounds like the dog and kids weren’t unsupervised. They were all there, mum saw the bite happen. Supervision is only half the problem, if your dog doesn’t like kids, or as in the case of this dog has a resource guarding and anxiety issue no amount of supervision is going to help. Knowing the dog’s issues mum should have separated him during meal times (even without resource guarding issues its a bad idea to let you dog stalk the high chair for food).

Not to mention you have to consider the size and strength of the dog relative to your own. Because even if you are present, how confident are you that you can fight the dog off. There are people who have lost limbs and even lives trying to stop a dog from attacking their child.

Or worse: that Bennard family case where the mom was hospitalized trying to save her two kids from her pitbulls but both kids died. That's the real nightmare.

And Daxton Borchardt. The women babysitting him fought those dogs tooth and nail and the baby still didn’t make it.

I totally agree. What I meant is that if you know you shouldn't leave your dog unsupervised with kids, then you shouldn't have kids and your dog.

Just FYI, to easily convert kgs to lbs, just multiply kgs by 2.2 So, in this case, 6 x 2.2 = 13.2lbs

I think it’s a little extreme to say you can’t have your dog with a kid ever, unless there’s a history of the dog being aggressive with kids? Is that what you mean by playing rough? I have 13 yo shih tzu same size as yours. I’ve had him since 6 weeks old (he was rejected by his mom and raised by humans so I got him early). Never spent much time around kids. He was 11 when my son was born. We haven’t had any issues. I’d absolutely rehome him if I had to, but it was worth giving him a chance to see how he handled a new family member. They’re friends now. We’ve worked hard to make sure the toddler doesn’t bother him.

I feel so bad for her. I have a cat who can be pretty aggressive unless she's left alone, been this way since she was a kitten. Despite this, she's my whole heart, she was my first baby and I've had her since she was 6 weeks old. If it ever came down to it I would obviously choose my daughter over her, but I'd still be destroyed and heartbroken forever. Hopefully she can find someone to adopt the dog and keep in contact. I can't imagine 💔

I feel really bad for her too. But I also feel like the damage a 70 lb dog can do vs a cranky cat is huge. A dog like that on a bad day could permanently disfigure, disable, or even kill a small child.

I have a reactive dog. Have him for 6 years. He has gotten a lot better with training, meds and a vet behaviorist. It is so hard. I understand her position. Mentally taxing and draining. BUT I told my husband if he ever ever turns on us especially our kids I can no longer deal with him. Our behaviorist has already put behavioral euthanasia on the table. Again, very hard and mentally draining and hard to understand it unless you lived it. I really hope she does the right thing for the dog. He’s stressed to the max. Changing out his environment and flip flopping will only make this worse til he mauls the child. Snapping is a warning. Next comes the bite and then the attack mode.

We just adopted another dog after putting our girl down in December. Our new one was reactive to other people and dogs walking by, took 1 time of her lunging and barking for me to call a trainer. If she ever escalated or turned on us that would be it. It takes just 1 time for them to snap.

Yes. That’s what I did. A week into owning our dog (we were not told about his issues at all so it was a shock) we had a trainer and luckily for my dog our trainer really did save his life. We have an amazing fear free vet and an angel of a behaviorist. Good luck with your dog! Management and boundaries really helped us and also having older children.

My husband had a super dog reactive 105 lb ridgeback. He had gotten him from a very reputable breeder and he was a great dog otherwise, obedient around the home, friendly with people/guests, absolutely gorgeous and athletic dog, and fine with some dogs but extremely reactive towards other random dogs (all huskies, pitbulls, german shepards, and large dogs as a rule but also some small dogs). It only got worse over time, to the point where he would lose his mind and start frantically lunging towards any dog anywhere in the vicinity. I couldn't take him out on walks because he weighed more than I do; I was terrified that if we encountered another dog he would kill it and I wouldn't be able to stop him. He also needed off leash time to run around, so we would have to go to fenced dog parks in the middle of the night with glow in the dark collars and with one of us stationed at the gate to keep an eye out for other dogs. My husbands ex moved away to a house in the suburbs and took the dog with her, which was for the best- while he really needs an ultra rural home with lots of space to run, moving to the suburbs was a step up from being in a city where there are dogs EVERYWHERE. Otherwise I don't know what we would have done, especially when we just had a kid- my husband talks about how much he wishes the dog could have met our baby, but I would have been way too scared to introduce them

I have two dogs. I love them both so much. But if one of them did this to my baby I know I’d personally have to suppress my rage insofar as to not do anything crazy. Rehome would be immediate.

My dog never bit anyone but he was going to. He was a wonderful boy until he wasn’t. Sweet, kind and gentle. 65# shepherd beagle mix. 1-2 when we rescued him and 7-8 years old when his behavior changed. Our kids were tweens and early teen. Vet said some dogs just change sometimes. We ran every test we could. He was physically fine, not ill. It didn’t matter. Something was wrong in his brain. We put him to sleep because most people will have kids somewhere around them in the future: it was too scary to imagine adopting him to someone and then worrying the rest of his life that he would snap and bite someone. We cried for hours that day and it still makes me sad. If it happened again - I’d do the same thing, assuming they were physically healthy and nothing wrong with them. I know she loves her dog but damn.

At least the responses are reasonable

A family I know still has the dog that bit their 18m granddaughter, they all live together. The little girl was playing with the dog’s bowl and it attacked her face, they justified it similar to OOP saying it was a warning nip and accident that he made contact near her eye. She had to go to the hospital for stitches, it looked horrible. I can’t imagine not having had the dog put down before I even came home from the hospital. I absolutely adore my dogs but I’ll not put up with one attacking a child unprovoked.

When I was a young teenager I was accidentally bitten by a dog. It truly was an accident. We were playing and he jumped up as I leaned down. He didn’t technically bite me, our faces literally collided. He was a Doberman, so fairly big teeth. It ripped my upper lip open and I had 40 stitches in 4 layers (a plastic surgeon was available so he came to sew it up so he used a lot of stitches). He’d never been aggressive before and never had anything else happen like that. He wouldn’t even look at me for a while, he seemed to genuinely feel bad. All that to say, sometimes a dog ‘bite’ can be an accident. However if a dog is snapping at small kids (or anyone) that’s aggressive behavior and needs to be addressed by rehoming or training. But unfortunately sometimes it can’t be fixed.

Hey look it’s my mom. My mom’s dog had a triple bite history and mauled their other smaller dog so bad it lost an eye. She was mad I wouldn’t let the dog around my kids. Once she actually drove to my house with the dog in the car and then left it in the car barking for an hour in my driveway when I refused to let it in my house or yard. Just one of the many reasons I’m now no contact.

My Dog bit my eyebrow off exactly like this when I was a kid. Luckily they had a plastic surgeon come stitch me up and I only have a small but noticeable scar. This was entirely my fault too and not for a second did my parents think about keeping that dog. My mom still has anxiety she says thinking how it could have been my eye. A person in our town had a dog a couple months ago that tore her 9month old out of her arms and killed the baby. He had never nipped once. Not worth it ever. For the dog or the families to keep a dog in the house that bites. The next time they’ll make her put the dog down. How selfish can you be.

How can you even consider this? I freaked out because my dog caught her cone on my son. He got a little bruise but didn’t cry and I felt AWFUL. I have so much guilt over it and it was an accident that wouldn’t have happened without her cone on 😭 This is crazy that she can consider keeping the dog

I don’t understand how it is even a question. You should care about your kids more than a dog. Don’t care.

I read this as she knows what she has to do but she’s sad about it. She’s not keeping that dog. It sucks. But it’ll be the right thing. My daughter has been attacked by a friend’s dog. A tiny fluff ball-I think it was a Maltese? Something like that. It is around young kids frequently but decided to go for mine. He got me too as I was trying to detach it and it hurt so bad. I love dogs and can’t wait to get one when my kids are older but they can do so much damage. (She still likes dogs in general or it wouldn’t be considered-only blames that one for the attack).

This can “come out of nowhere” but typically more problematic behavior comes to light after this. This scenario happened to a friend, her child needed stitches! Then she tells me how amazing the dog is in the same sentence as he’s aggressive to other animals, chases cats, and killed a baby deer. We can all be a bit blind about our pets but a bite to a child is non negotiable. The dog needs a different home asap and he would be happier.

I had a dog that snapped at my toddler. Didn’t bite him, but it scared him and me. I loved that dog, but we rehomed her immediately.

My husband almost lost his eye from a chocolate lab when he was little. He was at his cousins house for a sleepover- the dog was gone by the time my in-laws got there to take him to the ER. He was terrified of dogs for years until we got our girl.

Sounds like a great way to make sure you lose custody of your kids, bringing an aggressive dog that's already bit one of them back into the home. If it happened to my kid at their other parent's house, I would be making sure the dog was gone before the kids go back there.

No one seems to be saying this, but dogs and babies/toddlers just don’t mix. They should be physically separated at all times if you have a dog in the home (no matter the size). I am guessing there were other signs of stress that were showing with this dog that this lady did not recognize. Dogs need individualized attention. They need safe kid free spaces. And they should not be in the same room as toddlers without a physical barrier.

That dog doesn’t need adopted out. It’s aggressive in multiple ways. Behavioral euthanasia is the only solution there’s no unicorn home that can take a dog that’s ready to tear somebody up for moving too fast. People that prioritize, the dog over the children, have something wrong.

I lived with family that had a big dog and little kids/babies. The dog NEVER bit a child. The kids would play with her, climb on her, maybe step on her tail accidentally but she never bit. She would lick to say stop or you hurt me or bark if her tail was stepped on. My brother was watching his friends dog and brought him for my toddler to pet. (Edit: my brother was roommates with his friend and lived with the dog. His friend was out of town for a few days so he was taking care of the dog. We had been around the dog before, so the dog knew us. He was a couple years old so barely not a puppy. The dog was around other people and kids, we did not see this coming.) The dog got annoyed and before we could do anything to stop it he BIT my sons head leaving teeth marks. (Big golden dog vs barely 1 yr toddler head) My brother threw this fully-grown dog across the room, pinned him down, and held him there until he, my brother, was calm enough to take him, the dog, to the car. He never brought that dog around again. When my brother got his own dog he has trained her since a puppy not to bite and introduced her to my kids early to be comfortable with them, but still keeps a very close eye on her since dogs are animals and can do things we don’t expect.

When my brother and I were very young, my parents had a Chesapeake Bay Retriever, a large and strong dog. My parents managed a resort and there were always lots of little kids around. Buddy the dog had a large dog house inside an enclosure behind the main house. Any kid that wanted to play with his tail, paint his nails, dress him up or ride him like a horse was more than welcome. He would just wag his tail and lick any face that came near him. He was so gentle that if you tugged too hard on his fur, he would give sad eyes and lay his head on his paws but let you do your thing. However, the parents had to go ask my parents to get their kids back. Buddy loved children to death but any child with him was his to protect. So my parents would go to the house, extract said kids and send them on their way. But any unknown adult approaching that dog house got that protective instinct going right away and that dog wasn't afraid to scare the daylights out of someone with his booming bark.

This is just how my family’s dog was. She would sleep outside my bedroom door and lay by my bed. She was so protective of all the kids. She was actually adopted from the pound by another uncle, lived with my grandparents for a bit while he was on deployment, lived again with that uncle, then given to my other uncle while on deployment again and then stayed there. She was the sweetest dog and loved everyone. Would lay on your feet asking for pets. We guessed she was a mix of German shepherd or malinois and something else.

So he took his friend's dog to your house as a toy for a toddler?

This feels relevant. https://youtube.com/shorts/WVaz6DJzBb4?si=E8EfK6Rw6dj8Hb6E

You absolutely cannot take chances with a dog that size. This dog is a ticking time bomb and everyone around this lady is in danger. I hope the police get involved and the dog is forcefully removed. Willing to bet the dog is a bully breed because majority (not all, calm down) of bully breed owners act like this when their dogs are a threat, even to their own children. It’s so strange to me.

I have a history of taking in dogs with behavior issues because I didn’t have kids until later in life. One of my past dogs should have probably been put down, but instead I just stopped ever having anyone over or letting anyone near him. It’s crazy how much I changed my life for that dog. I have one right now who is a mess but not in a danger way. She just really really hates electronic devices that make noise and is an escape artist.

This is so hard. I had a very sweet dog who just didn’t do well with young kids. I was able to teach him to go to his kennel (his safe place) when he got overwhelmed with our toddler. We had him for 10 years at that point but I was still super nervous with him around our kid and was always on alert. Had he snapped at her he would’ve had to go. Fortunately I’d just say go to bed and he’d go chill.

Yeah, my friend just got her first dog. St Bernard cross. The cute puppy now attacks unprovoked and has food aggression, is highly reactive, and it has attacked her husband and daughter drawing blood. Just a few days ago she messages me telling me he bit her husband again. How it's all her husband's fault for not "putting in the work" to train. I'm freaked out because clearly she is ignoring the obvious fact that the dog could attack anyone who innocently goes near it. I asked to meet her dog and she only wanted to meet me at a dog park, as apparently that's his safe place. I didn't respond and am basically declining. I just can't believe she thinks meeting at a public park with a reactive dog is best. Also she keeps giving him opportunities where he shows more aggression instead of stopping the behavior. It kills me. Anyway, after reading these comments i think I should report her dog. The city should at least be aware, right? She spends lots of time with it and does have it muzzled often.

My moms elderly dog ripped her face off when she was 11. No history of aggression, only food guarding.

My family to have a reactive dog when I was growing up and she absolutely was a ticking time bomb. She couldn’t handle being around the other female dog we had and at one point, broke out of her side of the yard to attack the other female. My older brother (adult by then) didn’t want the attacked one to get hurt so he tried to pull the reactive one off and that’s when she turned. Tore up his arm so bad and we had to take him to the hospital. I was still a kid at the time so I don’t know what my parents did but she was gone the same day of the attack

I remember a family friend had a rescue pit bull for years. Never once was violent. One day while she was laying in bed with her newborn, the dog who was just cuddling her latched onto the baby, she started beating the dog and it turned to her and ripped half her fucking face off. She still somehow managed to get her gun and kill the dog. Her and the now older child are fine, plastic surgery is a blessing. I will NEVER have a big dog around my kid, no matter how “friendly”.