My almost 5 year old Chihuahua/dachshund mix bit my 8 month old daughter in the face a few days ago. He is currently “quarantined” at home for 10 days. He is a normally good dog. He has always been very protective, hyper and a bit jumpy of new people. He has growled at people before but never attacked. My 8 month old daughter and the dog have never had a problem, but this day they were sitting next to each other and she was petting him, and then she grabbed his tail and he turned around and bit her in the face. I can no longer feel comfortable with the dog in the house around her. I do not want to put the dog to sleep as I feel this was a pretty isolated incident but she is too young to learn from her mistake so I feel it is very necessary to find him a new place to live. I am weary of trying to find him a new home in the chance he bites again, and I do not want to have that guilt over my head. Also, he is showing no signs of rabies but he has become more anxiety ridden since the attack/barking at all noises/people outside (with being quarantined though, I believe he is feeling depressed and scared). *Side note – I have a 9 year old son as well, who has been with the dog since a puppy (and my son was 4) and they have never really had any issues. The dog would get upset sometimes but he has never bitten my son. *Another side note – we recently moved (About 3 weeks ago) into a new home, and he has shown more anxiety/jumpiness since the move. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I do care about my dog a lot and want him to have a good life as he is not that old yet.
Thank you for your honest advice.
This is one of the hardest situations I have ever had to deal with. He is definitely a family member, and this is why it is very conflicting for me. I have family members telling me to just send him to the humane society but I know what would happen and I cannot do that without feeling extremely guilty. If it was just me I would do anything to help the dog, but my husband does not agree. I am in a very difficult situation and heartbroken. I thank everyone for their honest advice and will take this all to… Read more »
This is one of the hardest situations I have ever had to deal with. He is definitely a family member, and this is why it is very conflicting for me. I have family members telling me to just send him to the humane society but I know what would happen and I cannot do that without feeling extremely guilty. If it was just me I would do anything to help the dog, but my husband does not agree. I am in a very difficult situation and heartbroken. I thank everyone for their honest advice and will take this all to… Read more »
Thank you, I will be looking into the Chihuahua rescue to see if they can assist me, I truly appreciate your help and honesty!
Thank you again for this information! I am full-heartedly trying to convince my husband that we can help our dog and keep him at the same time. He has had no prior aggressive behavior towards anyone in the family or anyone I bring into the home (the only aggression he has ever showed is to strangers when he is outside in the fenced yard – but I just think this is because he is very protective of his territory)…. I really do appreciate your opinions, help AND suggestions (rather than just being told I am at fault for everything).
DO NOT TAKE HIM TO A SHELTER! Doing so will condemn him to death. Even shelters that say they are no-kill often turn over dogs that have bitten to other organizations that then put the dog down. This allows the first place to keep their “no kill” label, but does not save the dog. These are highly strung dogs. You have made a lot of changes in his life, adding stress upon stress. I am not surprised that he defended himself in this way. The rule in my house is that NO CHILD UNDER THE AGE OF THREE gets to… Read more »
The Humane Society should not even be on your radar! It is a sure death sentence for this poor boy. They take in so many dogs each year that they can only save the ones that are most adoptable! And a dog that has bitten is usually considered unadoptable by the HS. Your family members may mean well, but they don’t understand that by giving this boy a home you made a life long commitment to doing what is best for him – not just your human children. The only way to be sure he is not put to death… Read more »
I don’t know where in the US you are located, but doing a quick search I found http://www.Chihuahua-rescue.org that is working out of the midwest. And there is a request form for more information on the Chihuahua Club of America at this link http://www.chihuahuaclubofamerica.com/contact-the-cca/contact-breed-rescue that may lead you to a person in your area for rescue.
Hey Brittany, I just came across an article in The Whole Dog Journal about getting your dog ready to deal with a baby – this article mentions a company Family Paws Parent Education in Cary, NC which has a program, “Dogs and Toddlers” which is available to families through a worldwide network of more than 200 licensed presenters. Jennifer Shryock developed this program in response to a huge number of families that wanted to surrender a dog after an incident (bite) had already occurred with a child in the home. This program takes an in-depth look at helping the family… Read more »
Great chart and videos about dogs and toddler supervision: http://familypaws.com/fpaw/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/5-types-Supervision-HR1.pdf
ANY sudden behavior changes should be met with a vet visit first to rule out any medical problems. please, take your dog to the vet and get him checked out. i’d also talk to a veterinary behaviorist about this situation.
i can’t imagine how difficult this is, but please, do the medical checks to make sure there isn’t something else going on. it’ll make it easier for a rescue to place him, as well.
I had a problem like that, sometimes the Humane society won’t take a dog that has bitten before, also you would be killing that dog, also I believe I made the wrong choice by putting my dog down he was still a puppy (9 months old) but he had bitten and had drew blood, and I just didn’t feel safe around him, and like I said we put him down which was the hardest decision of my life, so I don’t want you to make a decision like me, be good and caring person and do not let that dog go,… Read more »
Totally and absolutely agree with P K here. The brutal truth is you allowed this to happen by letting an 8 month old baby pull your dog around, and how many times has she done it before? Look at it from the dogs point of view, if someone was constantly poking you and pulling your hair what would you do? You would retaliate. Which is just what your dog has done. This is honestly not your dogs fault. You shut him away now and you are compounding the problem, I’m not surprised hes stressed and barking….dogs pick up on our… Read more »
If you have to remove that sweet dog from your home, call a reputable rescue in your area and try to find a good home for him. Perhaps his tail was pulled harshly and it was just a warning to your child, but I understand she is too small to know better. You can take him to a behaviorist and see what that say but please don’t put a family member in a shelter. Can you imagine what he would feel like after only know your family all these years. Best of luck to you!