HELP, My Dog Just Bit My Baby.
As parents, you never expect your beloved family dog to nip your baby. Unfortunately, this horrible occurrence is all too common. The moment when your dog bites your child, it makes you look at your dog as precisely that: a DOG. This incident is a big red flag for implementing changes around your family and home environment to keep your baby safe. Ensuring your dog can still fit in with your family dynamic is critical.
Feeling guilt, betrayal, and anger is typical in this situation. In most cases, the dog was already a family member before the baby arrived. Often, owning my pet training business, I will get a panicked call from a client after an event like this. The client states,
“I never imagined my dog would show aggression towards my baby.”
The reality is that the dog most likely has been tolerant of the baby up to this point. We may have missed some of the avoidance/displacement behaviors the dog has been trying to show us. When these signs go overlooked and ignored, we leave it up to the dog to “correct the baby.” That is the time when a first-time growl/nip usually occurs. Some dogs will muzzle punch the baby and won’t use their teeth. That behavior occurs when the dog has to take their warnings to the next level to demand their boundaries.
Many families expect their dogs to tolerate extreme amounts of stress around toddlers. That is why dog bites are on the rise. Getting bitten by a dog is the fifth most frequent cause of visits to emergency rooms among kids. You are not alone if you find yourself in this position, and many families wish they knew the steps to prevent this.
I know this is a very delicate time for you and your family. Here are the steps to help rationalize what happened and create a management plan to prevent this.
These steps are for families with dogs who have never had a history of aggressive behavior. This incident was an isolated nip. If the dog nipped a newborn under six months when the baby was not crawling, walking, grabbing, etc., then that baby is in danger. You must separate the dog permanently from your infant and seek a professional dog trainer.
STEP 1:
Immediately put your dog on a management program.
You need to alter your dog’s environment and routine, so the dog has no contact with your baby temporarily.
You’ll need to use baby gates or a dog crate or arrange a separate room away from the baby.
Please remember the dog still needs adequate exercise, stimulation, and training during this management time. Interactive toys such as Kongs, Nylabones, and Bully Sticks are great ways to keep the dog occupied.
During the baby’s sleeping times, the dog can have complete freedom of the house. I would use those times to train the dog and create new rules and boundaries around the house. The dog should not have access to where the baby is asleep.
STEP 2:
Reevaluate the circumstances leading up to the bite.
- At what stage in the baby’s development did this happen?
- Was the baby crawling, walking, screaming?
- Where was the closet adult when the bite occurred?
- What was the context around the incident? Was the dog’s food/water involved? Was the dog on the furniture, a dog bed, inside their crate? Was there a bone or a toy around? Was somebody petting the dog?
- How old is the dog, and what has been their tolerance level up to this point? Are they a nervous dog or a confident dog? What state of mind was the dog in before the bite? Was the dog sleeping, playing, or excited?
- What is your dog’s size and breed?
- Did the dog break the skin? Did the baby need stitches? Where was the bite located?
- What did the dog do after biting the baby?
Gather facts/information, and try to do it as soon after the incident as you can so you don’t overlook any of the details. You might need to recall this information for further training evaluation.
Now that we have those answers, it is vital to understand the totality of the situation from your “dog’s perspective.” Every case is individualized based on the scenarios surrounding the nip. If you need more help sorting through the details, I offer a “trainer invention”: a Zoom call or phone chat to help families in these situations. *See the details at the bottom of this blog.*
Here are some examples of real-life situations and how I would evaluate them from the dog’s perspective:
Scenario 1, taken from www.whattoexpect.com Forum.
A mom writes:
“Baby is all over the place. We generally let him roam since we’ve got the area pretty well baby-proofed. We pull him away from things like the dog’s water bowl but let him go.
Yesterday, one of our dogs was asleep in the sun. Both our dogs are excellent with the babe. They’ve been gentle and aware. If the boy goes after a toy or treats that they have, they let him have it. Well, the dog in the sun got grabbed and reacted with a snarl and nipped at the baby – I think he was startled awake, and it was a reflex, but still. Baby immediately starts wailing, and I’m flying across the room. The dog has his tail tucked and is now trying to lick the baby, who wants no part. I’m yelling at the dog and trying to comfort the boy; our other dog is hiding. It was a mess. Everyone was upset – baby, mama, dog one, and dog 2.
Baby is fine – has a bit of a bruise, and the skin was scraped (no bleeding). His boo-boo was cleaned up, and there was no lasting damage. But boy, do I feel guilty for letting the boy get to the sleeping dog and grab him like that.
I now understand why they say never to leave babies and pets alone. Even our sweet disposition dog can have a reflex that hurts that fragile baby’s skin.
How I would evaluate this scenario:
- Boundaries must be created so the dog can have time away from the baby, especially when sleeping and eating.
- Toys and resources are not a competitive game between the dog and baby and shouldn’t be left to chance.
- The baby is at a stage where, unless there is constant supervision on interactions, you cannot trust that things will go well. It is better to have activities that the dog and baby could do together that are not stressful for either, such as stroller walks or sitting and petting together.
This could be an isolated incident if the parents take this as a huge warning and now manage their household differently. Adding baby gates and using crates or a separate room for feeding is a must. The dog could have felt trapped and had enough of sharing space with a baby that doesn’t know how to read dog body language. She stated that the dog was resting, and unless the dog was old or genuinely in a deep sleep, I found it problematic that it was startled. A baby approach is only a stealth activity if the dog has been so tolerant of the baby continually invading its space that it has learned to ignore him. Avoidance behaviors like the dog getting up and leaving were not an option to avoid a bite. The underlying reason the dog corrected the baby is that the dog needed boundaries and space from him. The icing on the cake was that this was an isolated incident. From the dog’s perspective, imagine being in a dead sleep and somebody pulling your hair. I bet you would wake up swinging,
Scenario 2, taken from www.babycenter.com
Our four-year-old sheltie snipped at our 14-month-old twice within 24 hours.
The first time, DH (dear husband) and I were dropping our van off at the mechanic, and LO (little one) was with my parents. My Dad was eating while LO (little one) sat beside him. The dog nipped her in the face. It left two scratch marks, and LO (little one) didn’t cry. We were upset, but it is more understandable with the food involved.
Today, she did it again! It was thundering, and the dog was antsy. She walked up to LO (little one) and nipped her again. It pushed LO’s head into a bookshelf, and she cried and cried. This nip was worse. It left an actual tooth/welt mark.
I’ve never posted here, but I’m seeking more advice than “get rid of the dog!” Our LO (little one) comes first, and we will give the dog away if it becomes too dangerous, but I would try to solve the problem instead. She is a good dog other than that, though she has started to pee on the floor. Also, a few months ago, she would mouth LO’s feet when she wanted to play. It didn’t hurt LO, but I stopped it by telling her to sit down when she got too excited. It wasn’t a big deal, but she might treat LO (little one) like another dog.
How I would evaluate this scenario:
- The bite escalated in intensity from the first to the second.
- The owner is trying to make an excuse for the first bite being “understandable.” Many dogs wouldn’t have snapped in that situation.
- The dog appears anxious and has a low threshold for stress.
When I read this, the first thing that stands out is the two incidents in less than 24 hours. It takes a conscious effort to bite somebody, let alone walk up to them from across the room, intending to bite. The first bite around the food could have been resource-guarding, but the second bite is a big red flag for me as a trainer. It sounds like this is a nervous dog, which is trainer-speak for a dog that lacks confidence and quickly becomes nervous. She states that the dog walked up to the baby and bit the baby, the only trigger being the storm. That is a huge red flag because the dog associates any stress with the baby.
On top of that, an adult dog who is nervous or anxious is a bad combination for the crawling/toddler stage. These dogs typically have a shallow threshold for stress. At best, this home environment needs a management program where the dog and baby don’t share space.
Scenario 3, taken from www.whattoexpect.com
I don’t know what to do. We have had this dog for over a year since I was a pup. He is a cocker spaniel and was supposed to be my three-year-old dog. For some reason, he just decided he is more my and my husband’s dog. She plays with him, but he gets temperamental and sometimes wants to be left alone, and she is so rough and rowdy. The dog tries giving her warnings; I try warning her and disciplining her for what I call dog torture. I can’t get it through her or the dog’s head. So the dog was sleeping on the other end of the couch a few minutes ago, and my daughter was sitting next to the dog and me. He is resting, and she starts poking and grabbing him around the neck; mind you, she is playing and not being vicious now. He growls. I tell her to leave the dog alone. She did for a minute and started again, and the dog just bit her in the face. Broke skin punctures straight in and out by her ear, cheek, and chin. It was probably more of a warning from him, but now I am super freaked out about him biting her or the baby. Especially when the baby starts exploring and crawling, hubby doesn’t think we should get rid of him yet….What are we waiting for, him to take out an eye or worse? It took all I had not to choke the dog out.
How I would evaluate the situation:
- There are zero rules and boundaries in this household
- A 3-year-old should not have been given a dog for herself as a buddy.
- The dog has provided plenty of warnings, and the mom still leaves it up to the dog and toddler to figure out.
I highly recommend they rehome the dog because of how they manage this household. There is too much freedom and no control when the dog and baby are together. The dog will continue to correct the child because the mother’s corrections are insufficient. When she said “dog torture,” she hit the nail on the head!
Scenario 4, taken from www.whattoexpect.com
I have a three-year-old American bulldog, and she is like my second child. She is one of the sweetest dogs I have ever met. She is in love with my 16-month-old, and My nine-year-old always has his friends come over; she is fantastic with all the kids in the neighborhood. We have never even suspected her of having any form of aggression. She will lick you anywhere there is skin showing and not stop. Lol. I always exercised her, and she had been trained by a well-known trainer who had taken dogs from Cesar Millan and introduced them to be working dogs of some sort, like cop dogs, personal protection dogs, drug dogs, etc. He can train them to do pretty much anything. Anyways….she is very well behaved. I have always taught my 16-month-old not to pull on her ears, annoy her, etc.
I am very persistent regarding him and my dog, But she always lays there no matter what and licks him to death. Well, this morning, we went on a nice run, and she had just laid down all day like she usually does because she is tired, so nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Tonight, my DS was annoying her, and I pulled him off a few times and told him “no,” but he continued to go back and annoy her. I removed her from the area to give her time to lie in the living room, and then she wanted to return to the bedroom with us. I was on the phone with my ML, and DS was on my dog. Then she nipped at him. It all happened so fast. His skin was not broken, and she didn’t leave a scratch, so I think she scared him more than anything, so he was crying. I called my husband, and he said we needed to find another home for her. I know it might be the right thing to do, but at the same time, I have invested so much time and energy into this dog, and this is such a hard decision. She is like one of my children, and I didn’t ever see this coming. I am still in shock and am so confused.
So my question is: If there is no broken skin or a single scratch, should I find a way to work with her? Should I call my trainer and take extra precautions, or should I listen to my husband and find her a new home?
How I would evaluate the situation:
- The owner understands how necessary training is, and the dog she feels her dog is very well trained.
- The dog is getting proper exercise, and the incident happened after a run, which tells me the dog did not have any pent-up energy.
- The dog has been extremely tolerant of the baby crawling all over her. The owner just assumed the dog was okay with it. The owner stated that the dog would lick him to death. If the owner understands the dog’s body language, that is a displacement behavior that makes the dog uncomfortable or stressed. It is not from some Disney movie that it means the dog is giving kisses; that is what we project onto animals.
- No matter how much you tell a baby or toddler not to do something, they don’t understand that critical of boundaries at that age.
Unfortunately, situations like the above lead to a dog being brought to a shelter. Adding a new edition to the family is the top 2 reasons people surrender a dog to a shelter. This dog was left to stand up for herself, and now she most likely will be rehomed. It’s a shame.
STEP 3:
Develop a training plan for your dog so they are clear of the new rules around the baby. If you need help or guidance from a dog training professional to feel comfortable moving to the following steps, contact info@dogstodiapers.com.
When you are ready to move forward, these are the steps:
*Gradually reintroduce the baby and dog in low-stress scenarios, such as stroller walks together.
*Have supervised petting sessions where you teach the baby how to pet the dog calmly and respect the dog’s boundaries.
*Help the baby to give the dog treats throughout the day for good behavior.
*Feed and water the dog away from where the baby can’t get to the bowls.
*Create a safe place for the dog if they need space away from the baby.
*Learn your dog’s body language so you can recognize when they are getting stressed or uncomfortable.
*Ensure all supervised interactions between dog and baby and that you are continually monitoring the dog’s body language.
STEP 4:
Suppose the Mom or Dad is uncomfortable with the baby and the dog being together anymore. In that case, it is time to either rehome the dog or create a full-time management schedule so that the dog and baby won’t interact during this season. The entire family has to be on the same page to create a healthy environment for the dog and baby. Remember, this stage with the baby could last a few months or years until trust between the dog and the child is rebuilt.
The most challenging stage for the dog is the crawling and toddler stage. We also can’t teach a child this young to respect the dog’s boundaries. Nothing is wrong with the dog needing space to adjust to these changes as the baby keeps evolving. You can still give your dog an extraordinary life by ensuring they get the attention they need from an available family member and proper exercise and training.
There are ways to be proactive as a parent regarding dogs and kids. Ideally, preparing your dog while you were pregnant could have indicated areas of concern even before the baby was involved. Help educate expecting family members, co-workers, and friends so they can avoid being in similar situations.
For more intensive help,
Dogs to Diapers offers a “Trainer Intervention” Package. It consists of a Facetime/phone consult and a tailored behavior analysis (Including supporting follow-up notes based on the intervention’s totality). The cost of this package is $250. Contact us at info@dogstodiapers.com to book your consultation for the Trainer Intervention.
