Baby vs. Dog

Deep breath.

So I’ve had my dog for 6 years... I bought him as a puppy and we had a rough go. He was aggressive from the start... would not let you touch his paws or ears or mouth... would bite, wouldn’t walk on a leash, tried to attack other dogs... when he was a year old I broke down after he put 3 puncture like bites into my arm after trying to get a bone away from him... I thought about re-homing but his vet said no one would ever take him and that he’d probably be euthanized. I felt awful so I worked my ass off with him and now he’s 6 and walks great on a leash, we frequent the dog park and he’s great, the vet doesn’t even have to muzzle him anymore and he even sits nicely to be pet by kids and was great with my nieces (5 and 3)...

So my partner and I had our daughter last November, we did everything to get him acclimated to the baby, set up furniture early, treated him while listening to baby cries, let him sniff her, treated him for being calm around her and everything was great. But ever since she became mobile he’s been a different dog, he growls at her when she comes near him. There was an incident that started this... he was laying down and she went over and pinched his ribs really hard and ever since he’s been scared of her.

So he hasn’t been feeling well, he had stomach issues and so today he was on the chair and she pulled herself up to stand on it and he snapped at her fingers... I feel like this is the end of the rope.

We’ve tried separating them with baby gates and treating him when she comes into the same room and when he walks away from her if she crawls to him but it’s getting worse and although I’m always supervising them together I’m so scared he’ll hurt her. I doubt he’s a candidate for re-homing even though he’s pretty well trained except for the baby issue and he likes eating anything and everything.

Please give your advice, I will be calling his vet today to also ask for advice.

Just a quick note... my daughter was not hurt, she didn’t cry and he didn’t leave a mark... it was a warning bite.

We have seen a behaviour specialist in the past but she basically wrote him off saying he should never be around other dogs or people... but look how far he’s come.

I’m very sad as he’s my first baby and I don’t know what to do but my first priority is my daughter.