Feel uncomfortable with my toddler being around my in-laws dog
So a little back story, we originally brought the dog as a puppy, he tried to attack me when I was pregnant, so our in-laws took it in, it can be aggressive toward strangers etc. Basically up until this point, it hasn't showed any more signs of aggression, they've socialised it in dog classes, paid for private dog trainers etc. My little boy is 18 months and the dog has always been so gentle with him, obviously hes never been left unsupervised with the dog at all round my in-laws, they had my little boy for the day today and i get a message saying that the dog has snarled, showed its teeth and growled at my toddler. I'm not comfortable with my child going round there anymore being near the dog. Any advice?
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If the dog is generally socialised (obviously never left unattended with your toddler) is there a reason to why the dog snarled? Most dogs (not saying all of them) usually snarl as a defensive technique as a back off or leave me alone warning.
There’s something we learned in vet science in school it’s called sudden rage syndrome it’s basically what they classify dogs that have random violent outbursts to have. 2 cousins have been attacked by beloved family pets that the owner swears the dog would never but they ended up having the disorder and my cousins ended up having stitches on their faces. If you’re not comfortable don’t do it get a cage or put the dog up, the syndrome can be prone to certain breeds more than others, ours happened with German shepherds and a chow chow. It’s not worth disfiguring or traumatizing your baby or worse. They both look normal with minimal scarring now that we’re grown but I remember one of them at least had ptsd and was majorly behind on milestones and speaking all the way until kindergarten.
Maybe they could send the dog to doggy daycare when they plan on having your toddler over. Dogs can get quite jealous.
My SILs dog would do the same thing with their kids when they were little but the kids would usually be pulling on the dogs fur or doing something to aggravate it.
well what I heard my baby was sitting in between my mil and his auntie, wasn't bothering the dog or anything and the dog looked straight at him and started snarling. He doesn't really go up to the dog because he doesn't like being licked on the face
yeah he genuinely shows no signs of aggression it's like completely random. He attacked my sister in law, and he is normally a loving dog, he's just abit boisterous, but like he did to me when I was pregnant, he has been known to randomly turn on people. He's a English bull terrier X Doberman
yeah exactly usually they're only known to warn off when they want to be left alone, but like my previous comment, he was sitting with my MIL and SIL, not bothering the dog at all, with dogs my little boy is very gentle, he just strokes them once or twice then walks off. I've even went round before and my lb hardly goes up to the dog, as he doesn't like his face being licked
That is really weird the dog extremely attached to your mother in law or his auntie? All I could think of is him either being jealous of your toddler having their attention or unhappy that your toddler was sitting where the dog usually sits or a toy that was his. I’d recommend telling them if he is showing that sign of behaviour to close the dog away into another room, dog cage or outdoors.
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