Most, if not all, of the regulars on this board would say never. A pet is a commitment for life. 

Whether she likes your child or not, your dog is emotionally attached to you and your H. She would feel abandoned in the new home, not relieved to be away from your son.

Also, your baby will not be a baby forever. My son just turned a year, and we are already teaching him appropriate interactions with dogs (for example, we do not poke our fingers in doggie's eye sockets), and I give a short, sharp "Eh eh!" when I see him heading their way. He changes course and heads for something else. 

If your dog won't voluntarily go to her safe place, take her there. Lure her with a treat, or a stuffed Kong, so she doesn't feel like she's being punished. My pit bull voluntarily spends the day asleep on our bed but sometimes I have to tell my Australian Shepherd, "Go to bed," because she's a shepherd and feels like it's her job to "guard" us from the strange noises in the apartment common hallway. 

I know I am responsible for my child's safety, but I treat my dogs like family members and I don't think my child "trumps" my dog. I am responsible for my dog's comfort and safety as well.  

Crate training and NILF will help.

I should be clear that my son is not going to her; he does not poke at her or grab her. We have worked from the start with him to pet the dogs nicely. This is completely the aussie deciding she wants sit somewhere and it doesn't matter if someone else is there. Also, she is crate trained; we moved a couple of months ago into a smaller house and did not set it back up for her, so I set it back up tonight hoping it will help. What is NILF?

Mrs.LKA:

I should be clear that my son is not going to her; he does not poke at her or grab her. We have worked from the start with him to pet the dogs nicely. This is completely the aussie deciding she wants sit somewhere and it doesn't matter if someone else is there. Also, she is crate trained; we moved a couple of months ago into a smaller house and did not set it back up for her, so I set it back up tonight hoping it will help. What is NILF?

NILIF is "Nothing in Life is Free" -- you establish yourself as the one in charge by controlling the dog's resources (food, toys, affection, sleep space). 

http://sites.google.com/site/petsboardfaqs/home/training-and-behavior/nothing-in-life-is-free

Like I said before, YOU decide where your dog can be, or not be. If it's not safe (if your son is playing with his toys which could hit the dog), YOU make your dog move. Physically block her behind a baby gate. Let her and play with her (on your terms) when he's napping or gone to bed for the night.

YOU are in charge. The Aussie doesn't get to decide anything and NILIF will help her understand that.  

RedheadBaker:

Mrs.LKA:

I should be clear that my son is not going to her; he does not poke at her or grab her. We have worked from the start with him to pet the dogs nicely. This is completely the aussie deciding she wants sit somewhere and it doesn't matter if someone else is there. Also, she is crate trained; we moved a couple of months ago into a smaller house and did not set it back up for her, so I set it back up tonight hoping it will help. What is NILF?

NILIF is "Nothing in Life is Free" -- you establish yourself as the one in charge by controlling the dog's resources (food, toys, affection, sleep space). 

http://sites.google.com/site/petsboardfaqs/home/training-and-behavior/nothing-in-life-is-free

Like I said before, YOU decide where your dog can be, or not be. If it's not safe (if your son is playing with his toys which could hit the dog), YOU make your dog move. Physically block her behind a baby gate. Let her and play with her (on your terms) when he's napping or gone to bed for the night.

YOU are in charge. The Aussie doesn't get to decide anything and NILIF will help her understand that.  

Thank you!

Mrs.LKA:

I should be clear that my son is not going to her; he does not poke at her or grab her. We have worked from the start with him to pet the dogs nicely.

Your child is only 7 months old and I assume not even walking yet? If you don't get this under control, you are going to have a mess on your hands. I'd recommend that you reach out to a dog behaviorist in your area that can teach you how to best read your dog's body language and will also teach you how to do deal with these behaviors.

doglove:

Mrs.LKA:

I should be clear that my son is not going to her; he does not poke at her or grab her. We have worked from the start with him to pet the dogs nicely.

Your child is only 7 months old and I assume not even walking yet? If you don't get this under control, you are going to have a mess on your hands. I'd recommend that you reach out to a dog behaviorist in your area that can teach you how to best read your dog's body language and will also teach you how to do deal with these behaviors.

 This.  It is very important that you get this under control for your child's safety. If you can't get it under control, I don't care what other people say, a new home may be necessary.  Your child's safety should be priority #1, not whether the dog would be abandoned in a new home with a loving family (without young children).

gamergirl522:

doglove:

Mrs.LKA:

I should be clear that my son is not going to her; he does not poke at her or grab her. We have worked from the start with him to pet the dogs nicely.

Your child is only 7 months old and I assume not even walking yet? If you don't get this under control, you are going to have a mess on your hands. I'd recommend that you reach out to a dog behaviorist in your area that can teach you how to best read your dog's body language and will also teach you how to do deal with these behaviors.

 This.  It is very important that you get this under control for your child's safety. If you can't get it under control, I don't care what other people say, a new home may be necessary.  Your child's safety should be priority #1, not whether the dog would be abandoned in a new home with a loving family (without young children).

The problem, though, is that this personality trait basically makes him nearly unadoptable. Even if there aren't young children living in the home, most have young children as relatives, friends with kids or neighbors with kids. 

There are millions of dogs with no behavioral issues euthanized every year -- why would someone seek out a dog with behavioral issues? 

RedheadBaker:

gamergirl522:

doglove:

Mrs.LKA:

I should be clear that my son is not going to her; he does not poke at her or grab her. We have worked from the start with him to pet the dogs nicely.

Your child is only 7 months old and I assume not even walking yet? If you don't get this under control, you are going to have a mess on your hands. I'd recommend that you reach out to a dog behaviorist in your area that can teach you how to best read your dog's body language and will also teach you how to do deal with these behaviors.

 This.  It is very important that you get this under control for your child's safety. If you can't get it under control, I don't care what other people say, a new home may be necessary.  Your child's safety should be priority #1, not whether the dog would be abandoned in a new home with a loving family (without young children).

The problem, though, is that this personality trait basically makes him nearly unadoptable. Even if there aren't young children living in the home, most have young children as relatives, friends with kids or neighbors with kids. 

There are millions of dogs with no behavioral issues euthanized every year -- why would someone seek out a dog with behavioral issues? 

 

RedheadBaker:  I do agree with you that it is a personality trait that would make her nearly unadoptable from a shelter.  But like I said before, we have a couple (retired with no kids) that would love to have her.  We are very close to them and they know why we are thinking of rehoming her (They were the ones to approach us about it). 

 Doglove & Gamergirl522:  That is the exact reason I reached out on this board.  I do feel that my child's safety is #1.  I do love my dogs very much and can't image not having them BUT I also can't image how bad I would feel if my child was bit by MY dog. 

I just wanted to let you know I sympathize with the struggle you are facing right now.  And you are in no way a bad mom or dog owner for considering giving your dog a new home- especially since you appear to have a great home lined up.

 

There are a lot of valid points brought up from PPs and worth reading through and listening to, but only you can make the right decision for your family.  I, like all posters on here, love animals. And I applaud the trend of working with a dog to help their behavior and not just giving up the dog. BUT at the same time your child is at risk of being seriously SERIOUSLY harmed by this dog, and at 7months that risk is only going to go up for the next year at least.  Beyond that, I do agree separation of the dog and child would do the trick, but is it also fair to the dog to get excluded from his social group for a majority of the day? 

Forgive me as I can't remember if this is already answer further down but how much exercise does the Aussie get?  They have high energy needs and if they are not being met you can have other behavioral issues appear.  

aggiebug:

There are a lot of valid points brought up from PPs and worth reading through and listening to, but only you can make the right decision for your family.  I, like all posters on here, love animals. And I applaud the trend of working with a dog to help their behavior and not just giving up the dog. BUT at the same time your child is at risk of being seriously SERIOUSLY harmed by this dog, and at 7months that risk is only going to go up for the next year at least.  Beyond that, I do agree separation of the dog and child would do the trick, but is it also fair to the dog to get excluded from his social group for a majority of the day? 

But the child is danger b/c of the owner's failure to take leadership. She's allowing the dog to call the shots.

And my dogs voluntarily "exile" themselves to my bedroom for the day. Are dogs who spend the day alone because their owners work outside the home 8 to 10 hours a day being neglected? 

I didn't read all of the other responses so I apologize in advance if this information is being repeated. As background info on me (since there's none in my siggy) I'm mom to 2 large dogs (85 lb Lab mix & 65ish lb GSD/Collie mix) along with 2 cats. I also have a 14.5 month old.

Baby gates are your friend! In some cases your best friend. My dogs cannot be crated due to anxiety so we use baby gates everywhere. The kind that attach to the wall with a swinging door are the best because when they're open, they're for the most part, out of the way. For my dogs, the couch and our bed are their safe places but if they are being too rambunctious OR if it's unsafe for them to be around DS because of what he's doing, they get baby-gated in another area. Sometimes that means they're locked out of DS' room while he plays, other times, that means they're locked in the kitchen where their food and water is. Also, rarely do I separate my dogs. They are best friends so if one is kicked out of the bedroom, they both are. That way it's less like punishment or more like nap/snack time.

Things have gotten better now that he's walking/running, so it will get better, you just have to be patient and give it time. I personally could never re-home any of my animals even though I regularly threaten to send the cats to Aunt Audrey's house to live.

I had an Aussie for several years (unfortunately, she passed away on Oct at the age of 15). She was also not good with children. What did I do? I worked on NILIF, gave her jobs to do, bought interactive toys for her (such as NIna Ottoson's dog brick), made sure she was getting the proper exercise and I didn't let HER call the shots. Working on NILIF will cause her to begin to gain your respect and it doesn't hurt to contact a behaviorist. When I say behaviorist, I don't mean a trainer. There is a difference. One cool job I gave her to do, which she loved was to pick up all the toys and put them in a basket that she carried around with her. Aussies are working dogs, they want to work and be mentally stimulated constantly. This could also help cleaning up the baby's toys! I will never advocate giving a dog up. Pets are family members and they are a lifetime commitment. Not to mention there are hundreds of thousands of other dogs that need homes... please don't add one more to the mix.

aggiebug:

I just wanted to let you know I sympathize with the struggle you are facing right now.  And you are in no way a bad mom or dog owner for considering giving your dog a new home- especially since you appear to have a great home lined up.

 

There are a lot of valid points brought up from PPs and worth reading through and listening to, but only you can make the right decision for your family.  I, like all posters on here, love animals. And I applaud the trend of working with a dog to help their behavior and not just giving up the dog. BUT at the same time your child is at risk of being seriously SERIOUSLY harmed by this dog, and at 7months that risk is only going to go up for the next year at least.  Beyond that, I do agree separation of the dog and child would do the trick, but is it also fair to the dog to get excluded from his social group for a majority of the day? 

Forgive me as I can't remember if this is already answer further down but how much exercise does the Aussie get?  They have high energy needs and if they are not being met you can have other behavioral issues appear.  

She get's several hours outside during the summer months (we live in ND so it is COLD outside now) and as much time as she can stand/wants outside now. I don't feel good about crating her most of the day and we have a very open floor plan so baby gates don't work in our house. We have had her crate set back up for 5 days now. She is seeming a little happier about most things but still doesnt like being anywhere near DS. We have given her a deadline of DS's first birthday to get better. I want to be very clear to everyone that I would NEVER bring her to a shelter. If we didn't have a home lined up we would work with our vet to find the right home for her.

Mrs.LKA:

aggiebug:

I just wanted to let you know I sympathize with the struggle you are facing right now.  And you are in no way a bad mom or dog owner for considering giving your dog a new home- especially since you appear to have a great home lined up.

 

There are a lot of valid points brought up from PPs and worth reading through and listening to, but only you can make the right decision for your family.  I, like all posters on here, love animals. And I applaud the trend of working with a dog to help their behavior and not just giving up the dog. BUT at the same time your child is at risk of being seriously SERIOUSLY harmed by this dog, and at 7months that risk is only going to go up for the next year at least.  Beyond that, I do agree separation of the dog and child would do the trick, but is it also fair to the dog to get excluded from his social group for a majority of the day? 

Forgive me as I can't remember if this is already answer further down but how much exercise does the Aussie get?  They have high energy needs and if they are not being met you can have other behavioral issues appear.  

She get's several hours outside during the summer months (we live in ND so it is COLD outside now) and as much time as she can stand/wants outside now. I don't feel good about crating her most of the day and we have a very open floor plan so baby gates don't work in our house. We have had her crate set back up for 5 days now. She is seeming a little happier about most things but still doesnt like being anywhere near DS. We have given her a deadline of DS's first birthday to get better. I want to be very clear to everyone that I would NEVER bring her to a shelter. If we didn't have a home lined up we would work with our vet to find the right home for her.

Is she outside by herself? Dogs don't exercise themselves. She needs walks/runs, interactive games (find the hidden treat), playing fetch, doing agility, etc. 

Is there no bedroom that she can go to, to get away from the baby?

Do you even want to try to work on this problem?  

RedheadBaker:

Mrs.LKA:

aggiebug:

I just wanted to let you know I sympathize with the struggle you are facing right now.  And you are in no way a bad mom or dog owner for considering giving your dog a new home- especially since you appear to have a great home lined up.

 

There are a lot of valid points brought up from PPs and worth reading through and listening to, but only you can make the right decision for your family.  I, like all posters on here, love animals. And I applaud the trend of working with a dog to help their behavior and not just giving up the dog. BUT at the same time your child is at risk of being seriously SERIOUSLY harmed by this dog, and at 7months that risk is only going to go up for the next year at least.  Beyond that, I do agree separation of the dog and child would do the trick, but is it also fair to the dog to get excluded from his social group for a majority of the day? 

Forgive me as I can't remember if this is already answer further down but how much exercise does the Aussie get?  They have high energy needs and if they are not being met you can have other behavioral issues appear.  

She get's several hours outside during the summer months (we live in ND so it is COLD outside now) and as much time as she can stand/wants outside now. I don't feel good about crating her most of the day and we have a very open floor plan so baby gates don't work in our house. We have had her crate set back up for 5 days now. She is seeming a little happier about most things but still doesnt like being anywhere near DS. We have given her a deadline of DS's first birthday to get better. I want to be very clear to everyone that I would NEVER bring her to a shelter. If we didn't have a home lined up we would work with our vet to find the right home for her.

Is she outside by herself? Dogs don't exercise themselves. She needs walks/runs, interactive games (find the hidden treat), playing fetch, doing agility, etc. 

Is there no bedroom that she can go to, to get away from the baby?

Do you even want to try to work on this problem?  

 She is not outside by herself all the time but believe it or not dogs do play with each other and run around to check things out.  Also, maybe you should read a post above that we tried getting her to go to our bed (that is in a bedroom) as a safe place.

  RedheadBaker, do you have kids?  because you seem to be much more concerned that about my dog getting attention then my child being bit.

Mrs.LKA:

She is not outside by herself all the time but believe it or not dogs do play with each other and run around to check things out.  Also, maybe you should read a post above that we tried getting her to go to our bed (that is in a bedroom) as a safe place.

 RedheadBaker, do you have kids?  because you seem to be much more concerned that about my dog getting attention then my child being bit.

See sig. I have a one-year-old son, an Australian shepherd and a pit bull. I've also been volunteering at the local high-kill animal control shelter for almost five years, where I'm a member of the behavior team.

Believe it or not, I'm concerned for both. I don't hold my dogs over my kid, OR my kid over my dogs. It's not either/or.   

Hey I am sending you a PM!

Mrs.LKA:

aggiebug:

I just wanted to let you know I sympathize with the struggle you are facing right now.  And you are in no way a bad mom or dog owner for considering giving your dog a new home- especially since you appear to have a great home lined up.

 

There are a lot of valid points brought up from PPs and worth reading through and listening to, but only you can make the right decision for your family.  I, like all posters on here, love animals. And I applaud the trend of working with a dog to help their behavior and not just giving up the dog. BUT at the same time your child is at risk of being seriously SERIOUSLY harmed by this dog, and at 7months that risk is only going to go up for the next year at least.  Beyond that, I do agree separation of the dog and child would do the trick, but is it also fair to the dog to get excluded from his social group for a majority of the day? 

Forgive me as I can't remember if this is already answer further down but how much exercise does the Aussie get?  They have high energy needs and if they are not being met you can have other behavioral issues appear.  

She get's several hours outside during the summer months (we live in ND so it is COLD outside now) and as much time as she can stand/wants outside now. I don't feel good about crating her most of the day and we have a very open floor plan so baby gates don't work in our house. We have had her crate set back up for 5 days now. She is seeming a little happier about most things but still doesnt like being anywhere near DS. We have given her a deadline of DS's first birthday to get better. I want to be very clear to everyone that I would NEVER bring her to a shelter. If we didn't have a home lined up we would work with our vet to find the right home for her.

You're giving your dog a deadline? WOW! Great idea!!!! I am sure she totally understands said deadline. You get dog parent of the YEAR!!!! :::EYE ROLL:::

RedheadBaker:

Mrs.LKA:

She is not outside by herself all the time but believe it or not dogs do play with each other and run around to check things out.  Also, maybe you should read a post above that we tried getting her to go to our bed (that is in a bedroom) as a safe place.

 RedheadBaker, do you have kids?  because you seem to be much more concerned that about my dog getting attention then my child being bit.

See sig. I have a one-year-old son, an Australian shepherd and a pit bull. I've also been volunteering at the local high-kill animal control shelter for almost five years, where I'm a member of the behavior team.

Believe it or not, I'm concerned for both. I don't hold my dogs over my kid, OR my kid over my dogs. It's not either/or.   

I heart you Redhead... but you already know that.

you sound like you've already given up, and are just looking for permission from us, which you won't get here.

what have you done in the past?  have you consulted a behaviorist?   if i'm not within arm's reach to stop my kid, a simple "go" (to my dog) has prevented him from getting accosted by my toddler on numerous occasion.   i'm also not above asking "who wants a cookie?" which would result in both of my dogs running to me at lightning speed.   and at my feet=away from the toddler.

allowing your dog to "stand her ground" is not acceptable.  YOU are the adult, you are the leader, you are the provider.  you need to control both dogs and baby. 

nital:

you sound like you've already given up, and are just looking for permission from us, which you won't get here.

what have you done in the past?  have you consulted a behaviorist?   if i'm not within arm's reach to stop my kid, a simple "go" (to my dog) has prevented him from getting accosted by my toddler on numerous occasion.   i'm also not above asking "who wants a cookie?" which would result in both of my dogs running to me at lightning speed.   and at my feet=away from the toddler.

allowing your dog to "stand her ground" is not acceptable.  YOU are the adult, you are the leader, you are the provider.  you need to control both dogs and baby. 

 

You're awesome, too!

Hi there, hope I am not to late to respond to this post. I just went to Cesar's website and searched 'children' and came up with this. I know it isn't exactly your situation but I found it to be similar.

http://www.cesarsway.com/askcesar/aggression/Dog-Aggression-Towards-Children

Most people who have responded to your post already have pretty much said the same thing that Cesar responded with- PLENTY of exercise and possibly to have a behaviorist come in and access the situation. I know you said it is COLD in ND right now but even just 15 min of throwing a frisbee a day should help.

kbielenberg:

Hi there, hope I am not to late to respond to this post. I just went to Cesar's website and searched 'children' and came up with this. I know it isn't exactly your situation but I found it to be similar.

http://www.cesarsway.com/askcesar/aggression/Dog-Aggression-Towards-Children

Most people who have responded to your post already have pretty much said the same thing that Cesar responded with- PLENTY of exercise and possibly to have a behaviorist come in and access the situation. I know you said it is COLD in ND right now but even just 15 min of throwing a frisbee a day should help.

Cesar is a dog groomer who has no training in animal behavior, and while some of his advice happens to be good, a majority of the rest of his advice is pure crap and the OP would be much better off looking to behaviorists like Victoria Stilwell, Patricia McConnell, and Jean Donaldson. 

He must be doing something right if he advised the same things you did.

kbielenberg:

He must be doing something right if he advised the same things you did.

Everyone gets lucky sometimes.