In-Laws and Dog - Baby on way

foxy-roxy

I have 2 staffies and i have had this conversation with my OH, i would never ever leave a baby/child alone with either of them, although the female is really sweet and lovely but i still wouldn't risk it.
As for the male, no chance, he is so possessive of me i don't trust him one bit, i even muzzle him when i go out just incase.
I love him to bits and he is a great dog but if i were to become pregnant i really don't think i could keep him.

Too many stories latley about this subject and it is not worth it. Am sure most dogs will be fine as long as you do not leave your baby and dog unsupervised. EVER.

Any

You never leave a dog alone with a baby.
I don't think your in laws need to be told that.

However I think that you will find out when you actually bring the baby in and then see whether it needs to be mentioned with tact.

But I seriously doubt it.

I can say though that for someone just to come to me and tell me out of the blue that babies are not left alone to crawl around dogs I think I would take it as an insult to my intelligence.

I can just talk for myself. You know your in laws better. However if you feel they would leave the dog alone with a baby, I would just drop a sentence in front of them such as "have you seen the report on the baby attacked by a dog? I mean, how can that happen? Everyone knows that you never leave a dog with baby alone."

Flearoy

To answer the posters original question (i.e. what to do about the dog-baby situation without offending the owners of said dog), I think if you should express your concern that you are a bit worried the dog might not react well to a baby, having not been around them before. Don't worry too much about offending them - any dog owner will have been embarrassed by something their pet has done (like cleaning their parts on the rug in front of visitors) so they should have a pretty thick skin!

It's not up to you to train their dog or assess it's behaviour using your child. I would be inclined to take round a baby sized doll, treat it like a real baby, and see how the dog reacts. It may be completely disinterested, in which case, you may feel confident one day to have your child in the same room under your supervision, or it may react in a less favourable manner. No risk to anyone using this method. It may seem bizarre, but that's what I would do.

Any introductions to a real baby should be done on the terms of the babies parents and under strict control.

PS - I have two dogs, both of whom have thus far been excellent with people of all ages. I have a 14wk old nephew who may visit with my sister soon, and if she would like me to keep the dogs in a separate part of the house for a short while, I certainly would do, to make her comfortable.

Gemsgalore

I had 2 friends and one aunt who took great offense at me asking if their dog could be kept in the kitchen or another room while I visited with my child. So I don't think everyone agrees that dogs and young children don't mix. I was made to feel as if I thought my baby was more important than their pet........well I did think this (surely that's not wrong?), but they didn't agree and if it's their house, what can you do?? I had to keep her in her pram and in the end I stopped visiting them (as she wanted out of her pram to crawl and play eventually) ....... which caused even more bad feeling and in the end we didn't speak at all.......so sad but I explained what had happened with my dog and they just didn't agree with me about banning a pet.

I don't know what else could I have done

mountainofdebt

In a village near where I live there was a case last year of where the grandmmother fell asleep and woke to find that her dog (s ?) had attacked her grandchild - who was only a few months old- who died becuase of the injuries.

Like many dogs, the grandmother wouldn't have thought for one minute that her pet(s) would have attacked the baby.

I guess the question you have to ask your in-laws if they do get funny about it is would they keep the child safe or organise it's funeral - no contest imo.

WolfSong2000

I'd be tempted to introduce the dog to the baby on "neutral" ground rather than in the dog's house as that way the dog will be less likely to see the baby as an invader/threat.

Dogs are just like people - they have different personalities. Some dogs don't like children, most at the very least tolerate them and some, like my parents (male) Golden Retriever absolutely adore babies. It's just a case of figuring out where on the spectrum the dog lies...my parents have 3 dogs - eldest probably wouldn't like kids (he is an old boy, though), but wouldn't snap, etc...youngest just loves everyone (lab X golden retriever) and I have personally seen him tolerate some really awful behavior from neighbours kids (pulling ears, tail, snapping, etc) - I've told the kids off repeatedly, but they always do it. The dog just walks away. Never so much as a growl.

The middle dog (father of the youngest and the Golden retriever) will actively seek out young kids and babies and absoutely adores them - it's the weirdest thing. Over winter when there was lots of snow, whenever he was taken on a walk he'd seek out the kids who were sledding and just follow them round. When he was younger he'd quite happily have baby ducklings/chicks, etc crawl all over him (mother had a smallholding and hatched eggs in an incubator). I've never met a dog like him - most dogs tolerate kids, but you can tell they find them annoying, eventually (hence why it's not a good idea to leave kids and dogs alone together), but like I said at the beginning of the post - dogs do have very distincy personalities.

kindofagilr

I think you just need to talk to them.

I have an aunty who has two labradors who jump allover you when they first come into the room they are excited cos there are lots of people there

And I was terrfied of seeing them at new year as I am pregnant and I didnt want them jumping on me

Should have given my aunty credit she didnt let them anywhere near me.

So I know I could take my baby round once he is born and she wont let the dogs near him and I certainly wont leave him alone in the room with them

cheepskate_2

rach83 wrote: »

Following on from the in-Laws and smoking thread I have a similar problem but relating to a dog.

I am expecting my first baby in May. My OH's family have a staffie. I am no dog expert but he seems to be reasonably well behaved (hes 2 and has been owned from a puppy). I don’t want to start a massive debate but I know that as dogs they do not have the best reputation for one reason or another.

The dog has never experienced being in the company of children/babies before and I am worried that because he gets so much attention at the moment that he will get jealous of the baby. He is a very strong dog and I am not overly happy about the baby being around him full stop. We are inevitably going to have to go to their house with the baby and this worries me.

What can I do without causing upset to the in-laws?

I find it GREAT how the in-comming and usually the daughter in law can cause 101 problems before they even arise.
Hopefully my son will never marry or will turn out to be GAY so i never have to deal with the daughter in laws from hell.

trying-my-hardest

I have Golden Retrievers, they have a lovely nature and I'm sure they would never hurt my children....but i would still never take a chance. Dogs are dogs at the end of the day and it only takes one second for something awful to happen.

My children are older now, 5 and 9. They know not to put thier faces in the dogs face or to play on the floor where they are lower than the dogs. My children and dogs adore each other and there is a mutual respect.

S1976

I think you will find when the times comes the in-laws will know to keep the dog away from the baby, it tends to be something that just usually happens.

I do agree though no matter how daft you think a dog is, no matter how gentle, never ever trust any dog with a baby or child. The same can be said for many other animals too.