Should I put down my aggressive, anxious dog before the baby arrives?

First off, I'm so sorry you have to make this decision! It's a very hard one to make, but it likely is best for the safety of your baby especially if he put your brother in the hospital before with a bite. I can say honestly that dogs who are aggressive are not recommended to be rehomed due to the safety risks. I'm not sure that lead Henry to bite your brother, but you need to be honest with the animal charity about that situation. They may want to do evaluations with an animal behavioral expert before deciding if it's safe to rehome him. Sometimes it does happen that a dog needs to be put down for the safety of everyone, and you don't want to keep a dog who can potentially hurt your baby. Ultimately you have to put the safety of your baby first as hard as it is, and removing him from the home is likely best. Again, I'm sorry you are in this position!

Wow, this is very tough. Unprovoked aggression is very serious, especially since it was so bad that Ryder died. The big problem here is that you don't know what caused it, and that means this could happen again any time without warning. I'm very concerned about your baby, and what if he went after your newborn? Things like that have happened before, and you have to ask yourself do you trust him anymore? Would you trust him around your newborn? Could you live with yourself if he attacked your newborn? If you cannot answer yes to these questions, then honestly euthanizing is the best option. Trust me, I get how hard this is. I recently put my dog down for aggression against our kids. He was an anxious dog, and it was getting worse. He become protective over his bed, and one day when our back was turned, he bit our son in the face right next to his eye. A few millimeters over, and he would have gotten our son's eye. I could not trust him anymore, and had to put the safety of our kids first. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, he was only four. I get your despair, but you have to put your baby first. I hope this helps.

Wow, it does sound like Macie is very aggressive! I'm quite concerned that she has bitten a child in the face, pulled you down when you were pregnant, and you've had the police called on you three times. You have two options: One, you get her into see a professional behavioral expert right away for training. Do not attempt to work with this problem yourself, as aggression is a very dangerous behavior to train. Keep in mind, however, the behavioral expert may deem her too dangerous to work with, or the training may not work. Two, put Macie to sleep. If you don't want to see if training will help, I would have her put to sleep. She is a danger to other animals and humans, and I would be very concerned she could serious injure you or someone else. I would recommend making a decision about what to do very soon before she can hurt someone else. I'm sorry you are in this position :-(

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Maila. I recommend setting up a consultation with her veterinarian. It is important to discuss her behavior and any treatment options. She may do well on an anxiety medication or an antidepressant. However, this depends on her aggression. If there is a risk of her harming someone, euthanasia may be the best option. These are hard decisions. I hope this information helps.

You have to do what is best for your family. All dogs, whether trusted or not, should always be under direct supervision around babies. I would recommend that you have Jack evaluated by a veterinary behaviorist. The vet will be able to help you work on behavior modification and give you guidance on what changes need to be made before the baby comes. Use this link to find a veterinary behaviorist near you: https://www.dacvb.org/search/custom.asp?id=4709

You are facing a difficult decision. You need to consider your family’s safety first. Also the more you isolate Days the less enjoyable her life is. She can’t be placed with another family and you have done a good job trying to have her settle in but it has not worked. Unfortunately I do think having her humanely euthanized is the correct decision in this circumstance. While every life is precious we need to make tough decisions to protect others. She could cause life threatening injuries to you, your dogs and family or someone else and you would be liable since you’re aware of this aggressive behavior. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you get answers to your veterinary questions.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. I am sorry to hear you are going through this with Horus. If you have not tried behavioral training or anti-anxiety drugs, I would speak with a veterinarian before making the decision to put him down. I've had a couple of cases where the owners were at their wit's end and as a last ditch effort, I prescribed a combination of anti-anxiety medications and had them start behavioral training. After 3-6 months of this combination, I saw a drastic reduction in the aggression that the owners had reported. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further. Please take the time to mark this question as helpful or not as it helps us to improve on the quality of our answers to other pet owners. Thank you kindly!