he needs a vet, Bria.  please find a way to take him in, even if you have to get Care Credit or surrender him.

you have to think about HIS needs first, here…and not taking him to the vet when he’s obviously very sick is willful neglect.

It all depends on the dogs attitudes and they all should be fixed.

you need to take him to your vet first thing this morning.

honestly…i would get a vet involved.  sometimes they can identify a malady based on the smell, but they’d want to do further diagnostics.

Thank you!

I’m no vet so I’m not sure if that means anything. However, I have a 2 year old boxer and sometimes her nose seems to be black one day than brown. Sometimes maybe it is just from dirt, but I think as long as its wet and they seem fine it’s good. Cute puppy! Hope that helps..

Thank you very much 🙂 no PitBull in him though, he is 3/4 valley bulldog and 1/4 boxer 🙂 but yeah I’m just not sure about it, it maybe time to take him in for a check up

what else are you feeding her?  has she been to a vet?

hmm. that definitely doesn’t sound like enough. i’d take her to the vet to see if there’s something else wrong.

have you offered her pinkies?

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.

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!

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 heart and continue to soul search in which road I should take. I do not believe he needs to die in any way shape or form.

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.

Thank you, I will be looking into the Chihuahua rescue to see if they can assist me, I truly appreciate your help and honesty!

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 emotions very well indeed.
Please don’t rehome this dog. Rather be sensible and keep your baby out of his way for both their sakes. Again I agree with PK I would not let a dog go to a home with a child under the age of 7 years when they are old enough to treat a dog with respect.

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 dog successfully live with kids (and since he has been living with the 2 boys successfully I don’t think you have a big leap to hurdle!).

I can’t encourage you enough to give a trainer a try – they can help you design a training plan to keep everyone safe, while minimizing the dog’s anxiety.

One of the techniques recommended in the article is to teach your dog to be calm and happy in a room that is gated away from where the baby has access.  This works best if it is a room where the dog can see your family.  For example gate the kitchen so the dog can be in there with you while you cook and he can peek out and see the living room or family room.  Since it is dangerous for babies to be in the kitchen anyway (hot food or knives falling, reaching for pot handles…!) it makes sense to let the dog be in there, but not the baby.  The older boy can let himself through the baby gate to interact with the dog but the younger children are kept safely away in an area where they can be overseen but not touching the dog.

Ways to keep the dog happy in this space is to interact with him there, and when you are not interacting give him toys and chews to work on.  A Kong stuffed full of goodness and then frozen will keep him content for hours.  A trainer can help you with this!

I am just so worried for this sweet little guy!  My best wish for him is that he stay in the home he has known his whole life, with the people he loves.  But if that is out of the question I wish I could come scoop him up!

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).

Hello Britanny…..have you vaccinated your dogs yourself? I believe you can do that in the States I’m in the UK and we can only have their shots at the Vet here….and theres always 2 injections not just one.

I’m so sorry to hear you have lost 2 of your 3 dogs to Parvo….., its a dreadful disease I know. You would be doing the right thing surrendering the puppy to a shelter. If he can be helped they would do that. You need to have a look in the phone book for Shelters in your area, give them a ring and see what they say. I only wish you could take this puppy to a Vet yourself and save him…at least you would have one dog left to love and receive it in return. Perhaps it may be worth phoning Vets too and ask if they could help you? Please do try, its very sad to think you will lose them all.

However if you do surrender this puppy to a shelter please please don’t get another puppy until you can afford to get its shots at a Vet and have enough funds for its future health care. 

I wish you good luck and thank you for putting your puppy first.