mils dog attacked my kid & blaming me bc her dog got put down

So she rescued a German shepherd & my husband & I both made it clear we don't want her around our toddler till she's older bc we don't know her history. She swore she was a sweetheart but we didn't care those were our rules for our child. So when we are there she's outside or in a separate room. She has tried putting them in the same room so they can get to know eachother & we told her if she tried it again we just wouldn't go to her house anymore & she agreed. So i was over at her place & the dog was outside. I'm cooking & I hear an earth shattering scream from both her & my son he's 2. She's biting my sons leg mil is trying to pull her off & I just start kicking the dog. She finally let's go & I grab my son go to the other room shut the door & call 911 bc the ambulance will be quicker than me driving to the hospital. The cops & ambulance gets there & my mil & her dog are gone! I call my husband on the way to the hospital & he's so livid he wanted to put the dog down himself. He Calls his mom & she's crying at the fucking vet bc i kicked the dog broke a rib & it punctured her lung so shes talking about surgery meanwhile my son is getting stitches which is going to leave a huge scar.. BTW this was hours later bc she was ignoring our calls for hours. In my state doctors are required to report dog bites to animal control. So once animal control got involved they investigated which didn't take long bc she has cameras in her house & yall she went straight for my sons face but he turned to run & she bit down on his leg. She let the dog in bc the dog came up to the door "looking sad" according to mil it was too hot outside for her meanwhile its 65°... They made the decision to euthanized her dog bc of the aggression she showed & my mil is devastated. She had this dog for less than a month & is more sad about her than her grandchild. She's pissed bc I called 911 & " you don't call the cops on family" like I called them on your crazy ass dog! The dog would have been put down bc again the hospital is required to report dog bites to animal control. Then it's "you didn't have to kick her that hard" bitch i couldn't pull her off! I am the biggest animal lover but when it comes to my kid I'll always choose my son like duh wtf. Honestly I don't even blame the dog bc it's 100% my mils fault. We don't know the history so it's her job as a dog owner to do the work & get her training. Or just listen to our fucking rules of keeping them separate. She tells her other son she's heartbroken by this situation & needs some space. So my husband called her & said not to worry she'll never see or hear from us again especially since she didn't call or text to see if my son was okay she asked my bil. & honestly idc to see her again I hate that woman. My son is literally scarred for life both physically & mentally. Honestly so am I im having nightmares of hearing his screams they literally wake me up at night. We even had to rehome our lab & cat to my sisters bc he's scared of them he's scared of animals. Cries when he sees dogs on TV & on cartoons he says " scary bite" like this boy was obsessed with animals now he's terrified. Never in my life did I think I'd have to put my 2yr old in therapy! Any advice is welcome bc we are struggling. Hubby is pissed damn near everyday & talks about his mom. He wants to sue her & have her pay for our sons hospital bill our therapy & im not working rn bc we can't send him to daycare with his injuries. I don't want anything to do with her I just want to focus on healing & moving forward & cut her out. I just let him vent but it's getting exhausting bc i don't want to talk about that everyday all day bc it makes me sad & pissed all over & i don't want this to affect our marriage. Ugh it's just so much shit bc she made one selfish decision.

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You did the right thing don’t let anyone tell you different. I don’t even want my child around my small animals, my parents are visiting and they have both my dogs here and I honestly dont mind keeping them apart. The nerve she didn’t even care to ask about her own grandchild! I would be livid. No contact is the only option.

Your mil is an absolute pissfingers of an owner and a shitty grandma. I feel for your son and for the dog, she could have had a future if it was done the right way and your poor son and other pets 😔

You 100% did the right thing and I'd go no contact, too. She chose to endanger your son and chose not to check on him. As far as your son, I would definitely recommend therapy just to help him get through it. A child psychiatrist/therapist would have advice on how you can help him become comfortable around animals again because I'm sure your sweet boy wants to be able to love animals again. I understand your husband wanting to sue, and I understand you wanting to just cut her out. It sounds to me like you could win a case with the hospital, vet, and camera evidence. And anything she texted to anyone is evidence, too. Your husband could probably benefit from some brief counseling just to work through his anger. You can set a boundary that you'll only talk about it for a set time per day, or one day a week (just an example?).

Hope your son has a fast recovery ❤️‍🩹 and as for the MIL… I would of been in jail because I would of dropped her. The only pet we have is a gerbil and she has her own large pet pen that she runs around in and we NEVER bring her over to our son. He just looks at her through her pen

@Tamsine yes like i felt bad for the dog too bc i never want to hurt animals like i cried for a whole week when I hit a deer & she died like I'd never purposely hurt an animal. I was panicked & immediately just started kicking bc she was not letting go. Shes delusional

You did what you had to do to protect your child !! The fact that she didn’t care to ask about your kid shows how much she cares about him lol so I would keep her away from him too. I think in regards to you husband it must be affecting him so much because tbh if my own mum did something like that to my child I would be super upset too so maybe he’d also need therapy to process this in a healthy way which won’t affect your marriage but as of now, I’m guessing he’s venting to you because you’re his only safe space and he has no one else to turn to to express how we feels.

The grandmother is at fault she had the dog less than a month ! It takes a dog at least 3 months to decompress into a new environment! Shouldn’t have been near the child at all

Omg I am so sorry!! I love animals and growing up with all different breeds of dogs we were always taught young how to interact and NEVER leave a dog alone or out of arms reach near a young child. Both child and animal need to learn how to interact with each other and it’s up to the owner to be RIGHT there and be ready to intervene if necessary. Even a dog that is well known and calm can have a bad day and react badly to anyone. I would definitely go NC. I don’t know if I would go as far as suing her only cause I feel that would make this situation go on longer than you would like as it sounds you no longer want to talk about it. I would do therapy tho maybe for you all.

I am an animal lover. I love animals more than people lol but when it comes to ur kids I get it 💯. My son was mauled by a Dutch Shepard. Mauled. 130 stitches. The girl couldn’t control her dog ON ITS LEASH. My son was going in to shock and I called 911 back and said if you don’t get here now and shoot this dog I’m doing it myself. First off you did the right thing. Second off if you want to sue go for it. It’s nothing personal. You’re going after her homeowners insurance, not her personally. It may cause an issue for her because I guarantee she didn’t add the dog on to her policy but that’s her problem not yours. My son was also scared of our dog when he came home and we had to reintroduce them. If you want to talk more about the process with lawyers or even how to handle your son now you can pm me anytime. I can give you some insight on how it works and also things to help with your son. I’m so sorry you’re going through this. 🩷🩷

@Kaylee thank you that's really good advice I'll definitely talk to him about only talking about it for 1hr. Ik he still loves her bc that's his mother & hes mostly hurt so I don't want to shut him down it's just draining. I definitely wouldn't be upset if he wanted to see her or have a relationship with his mother. But definitely not me or our son since she couldn't even check on him till days later

Also would never let her around my son again, forgot to add that

I'm so sorry this happened to your little boy and I'm so sorry for you too. That must be absolutely heartbreaking. I can't imagine what that moment must if felt like. I would 100% be suing and getting her to pay the bills. How selfish she only cares about the dog. She has no idea what that has done to you all for her being selfish and careless. You're husband is in a different situation slightly because it's his 'mum' but obviously he is diflsgusted. It's gonna take time to heal over it and venting may be his way of dealing with it. I would defo shut the door on that women and never let her near any of you again. Hopefully, one day in the future, your son can feel safe around properly trained animals that want to share love with him. Thinking of you x

Ooooooo this situation would have me heated big time. I’d never trust her around my child. You set a very clear and reasonable boundary. And she crossed it and got your child hurt, it could’ve ended much worse for your child. Her lack of empathy for a child over a dog is insane. I hate when people value the life of an animal over a humans and I LOVE animals I use to bring home hurt animals as a kid and I have such respect towards animals. If a dog attacks a child (not a bite but attacks) that type of aggression doesn’t just go away. I saw a TikTok of a mom who had to put her dog down because it attacked her 2yo and wouldn’t stop or let go. They had their dog since it was 10 weeks and it literally tired to kill their child unprovoked. You’re not in the wrong here, you protected your baby and did the right thing!! Good job mama!!

I'm so sorry this happened 😔 that must have been so scary and you're 100% within your rights to go no contact after her priorities being so incredibly backwards. I'm currently pregnant with my first and dreading the interaction between baby and my MILs young great Dane, she's such a sweet dog but also scares / can display aggression when spooked. I've had to stand between her and my niece because she started freaking out and squaring up and barking just because her jacket was pulled over her head and it scared the dog. I've also had to stand between the dog and a baby I was holding because she dropped a teddy in her mouth and went for baby's face. They've done nothing to correct this kind of behaviour and it feels like a ticking time bomb to me. Currently kids aren't allowed on their own in the same room. I just don't trust kids and dogs to be alone for a minute and believe that every parent's boundaries should be respected as they quite often have purpose and justification. Every kid deserves to feel safe.

I hope your little one is okay and can recover, I was petrified of dogs as a kid because of several dog attacks but can happily say now I'm okay with them. It gets better with more exposure and interaction but it has to be safe and with responsible owners. Sending love xx