Hi, I recently found out I am pregnant (about 6wks) and have been concerned over having a baby and my dog. I have two dogs, one female and one male. Both are mixes and bigger dogs. My female dog was abused as well as my male prior to me getting them. My male dog is older, around 7-8 years of age and my female is around 3 yrs of age.
My male dog is very dominate and can be aggressive. He has never been aggressive towards me, my husband, my close friends, etc. He has, however, been aggressive towards other male dogs. Recently, in this past year, he has bit my father which punctured the skin. He did not know my father very well and my husband was not home at the time of the incident. My male dog is very protective of my cats and my cat ran out of the house. My dad, thinking my male dog was going to get out, grabbed him by the collar which scared my dog and he bit him.
Again, I am concerned because we are bringing a baby into this house with a dog that has previous biting history. Granted, he has never bit anyone else but, he has growled at strangers (men only) and at one point lunged at another male. I have a step-daughter but, she is older and he has never once acted aggressive towards her. Still, I am concerned. We do have a fenced in back yard and a split level house. I am either thinking of keeping him outside or keeping him downstairs when the baby starts crawling and becoming mobile. He would not be able to jump a baby gate considering it would be positioned at the top of the stairs and we would get a tall one.
He has been around infants before but, they were not mobile. Since he is older, he is not hyper or anything of that sort, and sleeps the majority of the time. He usually spend most of his time in the basement anyway with my husband.
Does anyone else have any suggestions? Re-homing him is really not an option at this point. We have had him close to 7 years and would rather keep him if we could. Granted, if it came down between my dog and my baby, I would definitely find him a home.
My male dog is very dominate and can be aggressive. He has never been aggressive towards me, my husband, my close friends, etc. He has, however, been aggressive towards other male dogs. Recently, in this past year, he has bit my father which punctured the skin. He did not know my father very well and my husband was not home at the time of the incident. My male dog is very protective of my cats and my cat ran out of the house. My dad, thinking my male dog was going to get out, grabbed him by the collar which scared my dog and he bit him.
Again, I am concerned because we are bringing a baby into this house with a dog that has previous biting history. Granted, he has never bit anyone else but, he has growled at strangers (men only) and at one point lunged at another male. I have a step-daughter but, she is older and he has never once acted aggressive towards her. Still, I am concerned. We do have a fenced in back yard and a split level house. I am either thinking of keeping him outside or keeping him downstairs when the baby starts crawling and becoming mobile. He would not be able to jump a baby gate considering it would be positioned at the top of the stairs and we would get a tall one.
He has been around infants before but, they were not mobile. Since he is older, he is not hyper or anything of that sort, and sleeps the majority of the time. He usually spend most of his time in the basement anyway with my husband.
Does anyone else have any suggestions? Re-homing him is really not an option at this point. We have had him close to 7 years and would rather keep him if we could. Granted, if it came down between my dog and my baby, I would definitely find him a home.
