Anonymous poll for pet owners.

This can be completely anonymous to prevent drama. As such, I am holding off on making my own opinion known.

Re: Anonymous poll for pet owners.

I'm not doing the poll for this reason....
I would try training and give it a little time, but if a few months went by and the behavior didn't change I would have to get rid of the dog. No matter how much I love my dog a child would come first.

Re: Anonymous poll for pet owners.

That makes sense!

I should have added that it.

Re: Anonymous poll for pet owners.

I love my animals more than most anything, but I have to imagine I would love my child even more. I would do every and all training possible. I would have CONSTANT supervision with any problem animal. Only if I felt the child was in serious danger, would I rehome the animal, and that would only be to family members.

I know I want to have children, so I socialize my dog with kids all the time to try and prevent bad behavior in the future.

Re: Anonymous poll for pet owners.

My answer is similar.

I would try to train and hope for the best, but if that didn't work the dog would either have separate living quarters (basement, backyard, something) or give him away to someone I know.

If there was no other option, I think you are obligated to protect your child more than your pet.

Re: Anonymous poll for pet owners.

I would NEVER forgive myself if I decided to try to train the dog and during that time the dog acted out against the baby, and for that reason, if my dog ever showed even an inkling of aggression to my daughter, I would find a new home for him ASAP. You just never know. Thankfully, though, our dog took to our daughter very well. If I leave her alone in her room to play while I do something, he stays by her side. She grabs his hair, tail and ears and he just whines a little and runs away. He's never shown any kind of aggression at all...

Re: Anonymous poll for pet owners.

Re: Anonymous poll for pet owners.

Re: Anonymous poll for pet owners.

Wow this sparked some debate.

Enjoy ladies!!

Re: Anonymous poll for pet owners.

Luckily Molly has been around kids of all ages -- from 2 months to 5 years. She LOVES all kids and is soooo good with them. Hopefully I will never have this issue!

Re: Anonymous poll for pet owners.

I would get rid of my dog. As much as it would break my heart to do so I couldn't live with myself if something happened to my child and I could have prevented it by getting rid of the pet.

That said I would make sure my pet went to a loving home. I hope I never have to make that choice though.

Re: Anonymous poll for pet owners.

It depends, if the dog acted out aggressively, yes, without a doubt - and I would probably opt to euthenize. In reference to the other post, I don't see those as aggressive actions by the dog and would not get rid of the dog. It seems more like an adjustment problem then the dog being aggressive.

Re: Anonymous poll for pet owners.

DH and I would carefully observe the dog- if the behavior seemed aggressive and/or jealous, we would separate the dog and baby at all times and see if the dog adjusted- we would consult a trainer too.

If nothing changed after a while we would find another home for the dog- not a shelter. The child's safety comes first.

I am lucky that the dogs could go to my parents until the baby got older.

Re: Anonymous poll for pet owners.

Re: Anonymous poll for pet owners.

I would be forced to get rid of the pet.

I have had my cat for almost 16 years now - more than half of my life. I can't imagine life without him....but the second he threatens a child of mine, he would be gone.

Pets are important - but children have to be more important!

It can only imagine this would be an incredibly difficult decision to make!

Re: Anonymous poll for pet owners.

option number 2.

but with the dogs i have now, i feel as if i know them well enough. theyd never do anything.

and if they did id be the most shocked person in the world.....

but if they did, id have to just train them and stuff. i wont get rid of them. thats not even an option in my book.

Re: Anonymous poll for pet owners.

I would get rid of the animal ASAP!
I wouldn't take that chance of it happening again!

Re: Anonymous poll for pet owners.

i would attempt a trainer first

i think people often get dogs because they are cute and never really read intothe dog. Or even bother to find anything out about it PRE-buying it....

Some dogs, if one read up, are known to be not so good with kids. Some dogs get jealous....

Some dogs are barkers, protective/defensive in nature....some are hard to train....
the point being....READ UP ON THE DOG!

I think that it is something that is worthy of looking into before buying the cute doggie in the window...

So some people will never be put into this kind of scenario...

But if i have exhausted all the resources i could think of....yes. I would have to say my child would come before my dog...

I would probably allow my dog to stay at my dads for a few years....Until my child is old enough and then bring him back to my home...when i felt my child was able to understand better than a baby what dogs are...


JMHO

Message edited 6/28/2006 8:32:45 PM.

Re: Anonymous poll for pet owners.

I cannot fathom some of the posts on this thread, or the poll results. Guess what, you are IN CHARGE of your pet. They need training, love, affection.


If some of you would get rid of your pet, because you are afraid it will hurt your child, obviously you have a pet for the sake of having a pet. I could NEVER give up a part of my family, without trying to AT LEASE, fix the problem first.


This makes me very sad.

This is why there are so many homeless animals.

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Re: Anonymous poll for pet owners.

I would not get rid of my pets(but you all know that). I would look into training.

But with all I know about pet psychology and with my background.. well I would be able to avoid training and solve it on my own.

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Re: Anonymous poll for pet owners.

Re: Anonymous poll for pet owners.

"If some of you would get rid of your pet, because you are afraid it will hurt your child, obviously you have a pet for the sake of having a pet. "

I say- if you get rid of your pet because you are afraid it will hurt your child, then you are a responsible parent!!

That being said, every pet owner knows their pet the best. My dogs are NOT alphas, they are gentle loving dogs that have let toddlers climb all over them (supervised). If one of my dogs starts to urinate where my baby is or growl, or start to act aggressively I could NOT take a chance that they would hurt the baby. We would try consulting a trainer, but if we were not 100% confident that even with our constant supervision that they would not act out on the baby how the heck could we take the chance of keeping the dog in the house?

If we find the dog a good home then why is it "poor poor doggy"? They are going to a GOOD home! Poor poor baby that gets bit!!! Why is everyone assuming that this poster did not try to change things- why is everyone assuming that they are just throwing the dog away? We are going to start making our dogs sleep downstairs next month- months before I am due- we are going to play the CD of a baby crying and try walking around with the doll. You can try all of these things but dogs are animals and can be unpredictable even if you prepare or provide training.

It is unbelievable to me that people are jumping on this poster for trying to find their dog a good home when they are scared about their baby. This will not be a homeless dog. And my dogs will never be either. But, if there is a problem (that we tried to prevent and will try to fix) they will not live in MY home when my baby is young. But I pray we never have to make that decision. I understand loving your pets so much that it breaks your heart- so I understand where people are coming from. I just don't agree that you can risk a child's safety.

Sorry for keeping the controversey going- I guess I'm just scared that I might find myself in this situation (even though we will try and prevent it and I can't see our dogs doing this) and I'm a little wierded out that people jumped on this poster.

Message edited 6/29/2006 10:26:38 AM.

Re: Anonymous poll for pet owners.

I'll share my story and try to keep it short...

My sister had two dogs, one which was abandoned on the street and they took it in. The rescued dog was great with adults and teenagers and the other dog (an American Eskimo) was viciuos with everyone other than them, the owners. They were concerned about the Eskimo when they had their first child, but she was great and gentle with the baby. The rescued dog didn't show any interest in the baby and snapped if she came too close.

My sister never let the baby near the dogs unsupervised, but long story short, when my niece was 2 years old the rescued dog went for her and bit her face, scarring her lips and nose. It was a horrible time for us all. We are big animal-lovers and my sister and her husband were very upset about the idea of getting rid of the dog, but their child (at that point, soon to be children) CAME FIRST.

They waited 2 months to find a place in a no-kill shelter in CT. All that time they kept the dog in the basement and they were still very sad about not keeping the dog, but there was no way they could take another chance. Getting rid of a dog does not mean the only option is to destroy it. There are other options out there. When I see the scars on my poor little niece, I firmly support the decision they made.

ETA: They also advertised in Newsday and put up flyers in the supermarket during that 2 month wait, but nobody wanted a 7 y.o dog.

Message edited 6/29/2006 11:02:39 AM.