Replies to '03/30 Is This Normal?'

As usual, I think Dr. Phil is dead on with his advice.   

The first priority must be the safety of the child.  But the child's safety would not be compromised by keeping the dog provided they are not allowed to be together.  Clearly the man loves his dog and there is no reason to have to get rid of it if they simply take some measures to keep the dog and the little girl seperated at all times.   

When my son was 2 years old, he stuck his face in the dogs food bowl pretending he was a dog too.  The dog was eating at the time and turned an bit his nose.  It was nothing as severe as this incident, but non the less, I was horrified!  My knee jerk reaction was to get rid of the dog.  My husband found a co-worker who was willing to take him.  We dropped him off and I immediately started to ball, I loved that dog!  We turned right around and picked him back up.  We realized we could keep our beloved pet and keep our child safe.  We simply put gates up on a couple of doorways.  The dog had access to a bedroom, bath and hallway at all times.  The hall went out to his enclosed dog run out doors.  When our son was asleep in his room or away at preschool the dog could have free run of the house.  When our son was home the dog was limited to areas that our son could not access.   

Several years later our kids were old enough to completely understand that certain things, like sticking your face in the dogs bowl, were not safe to do by a dog.  At that time we let the dog and the children be together and there was never another incident.  Frank, our lab, lived to be almost 12 and he and the kids were best of friends.   

There is just no reason the child can't be kept 100% safe and the dog can still be a loved member of the family.  It is really very easy to keep the two seperated.  I don't understand why so many people are leaving messages that are so strongly worded that the dog must go.  Why?  Just keep it seperated from the child.  Very simple.