my boston has attacked our baby

[phillyctr]

hello everyone,this is my firstpost on here.its not a very nice first post,but here goes.
today had a phone call from my wife to say our 8 year old boston has attacked our 1 year old baby,which i could not believe as he his golden around her,he has bitten her forehead but not broken the skin,but left a nasty bruise.
due this i can not trust the dog around my daughter anymore,and he has had to go which breaks my heart,luckly my mother has taken the dog for us.

has anyone had any similar experiences of boston being like this,he's quite aggressive around other dogs,bar my mothers which a mini shnauzer which he gets on with,do u think he feel neglacted because he doesnt get the attention he used to have???

any views on this gratefully recieved,this is a very sad day for me on my family.

philly

[Bryan]

So sorry to hear that, philly. I sincerely hope your daughter is OK.

We had an incident not too long ago when my two-year-old niece tried petting our oldest Boston, Duke while he was eating. Duke is generally a very calm (though nervous) dog, but he is protective of his food when it comes to other dogs. Until that point, we'd never seen him become aggressive toward a person though, even while eating. Duke nipped my niece on the hand, and actually broke the skin just a little.

My wife just found out she is pregnant with our first, so I'm going to start trying to get Duke accustomed to being messed with at all times - including when he's eating & sleeping. I sincerely hope we don't run into issues with him and the new baby. Poor Duke has been tossed around from home to home 3 different times

I'm sorry to hear that you've had to give your boston away, but I'm glad to hear that you were able to place him with your mom - hopefully it will be a stress-free transition for him

[Heather]

Hi Philly,
I, too, am very sorry for you and your family and this situation. I'm Bryan's wife, mentioned in the above post, so you already read that Duke our 9 y/o boston bit our niece's hand.
I felt really responsible for that one because i let her pet him while he was eating. I had NEVER seen him agressive towards a person while eating or sleeping. He is a very lovable dog that i thought couldn't harm a fly. I have pet him all the time while he was eating and never even once had that response.
I am curious, was your daughter doing anything when your dog bit her? Was it totally random and out of the blue? Was she petting him? We are trying to prepare Duke for a little one, so any info. could be helpful......
I am sorry again....

[phillyctr]

Hi Philly,
I, too, am very sorry for you and your family and this situation. I'm Bryan's wife, mentioned in the above post, so you already read that Duke our 9 y/o boston bit our niece's hand.
I felt really responsible for that one because i let her pet him while he was eating. I had NEVER seen him agressive towards a person while eating or sleeping. He is a very lovable dog that i thought couldn't harm a fly. I have pet him all the time while he was eating and never even once had that response.
I am curious, was your daughter doing anything when your dog bit her? Was it totally random and out of the blue? Was she petting him? We are trying to prepare Duke for a little one, so any info. could be helpful......
I am sorry again....

its seems totally out of the blue,my wife was in the room when this happened,it could have been that my daughter could have knelt on him when crawling past,but she prods,pokes and pulls,sits on him and never once has he shown any nastiness towards.
its just so heartbreaking the house feels so quite without him,a part of me really wants him back,but what about next time??i really could'nt take the chance.

philly

[Ozzy's_Mom]

I'm so sorry for your situation....we opted to get a pup after we had kids so Ozzy is used to the kids messing with him and he's growing up with them...he still nips them if they get out of hand or if he's just playing but its not aggressive...you did the right thing by giving the dog to your mom...I would have done the same.

[esther]

this is a very difficult situation. the dog reacts to the child as a minor. he does not recognise the child as a leader in the pak. a child wil be recognised as a leader aproxematly at the age of 14. dogs and children should never be left alone together. a dog has to learn how to behave with a child but a child should be tought how to behave with a dog. a dog has only his body language and his voice and his mouth to communicate with. an adult can rarely read his language, a child cannot. its adviseble to get into contact with someone hoe knows about the behavior of dogs. the can advise how to lead your dog into goed behavoir and how to let the child interact with the dog. success!

esther