I've been warning DD to NEVER leave the baby alone with her St. Bernard

[winniedapooh]

I was born and raised with St. Bernards and we are on our 3rd. While I would trust all of them more than I would trust my own Mother, I do agree that they often do not realize how big or strong they are! Daisy too, thinks she is a lap dog and romps and play with the kids. When she is blasting full steam at me and runs over my foot, it is not a minor bruise that goes away in a day or two-lol! They are one of the kindest most gentlest dogs around but again, they do not realize what big babies they really are!

 

[Poohbear123]

I did not mean to say ALL St. Bernards are vicious, but, this one SURE was! My DS was about 14 at the time, and witnessed this dog go after a Duck, and mall it in front of him. Needless to say, he never trusted that dog again. It could be his tempermant, but, whatever, it was not a good dog to have around small children in my oppinion, and he died soon after she had her first Child about 5 years ago. By the way, his name was Ben but they should have called him CUJO! He looked JUST like that dog!

 

[katerkat]

Originally posted by CEDmom
I agree that no animal regardless of how friendly s/b left alone with a baby. I know a few people that took the door off their baby's room and installed a full length screen door in it's place. This allowed their dog to see, hear and smell the baby but be at a safe distance with a protective barrier.

We plan on doing this for our nursery with the cats. They would hop over any other barrier!

 

[marlasmom]

We have had 3 and they have all been extremely gentle. No too smart, but very gentle. One of them never woke up when 12 cheerleaders pelted down the hall at 2:a.m. to kidnap my football player son. Sarah has pictures of her dog sharing breakfast with a one-year old visitor. The baby put a spoonful in his own mouth and then held out a full spoon to the dog - who took it and waited patiently for the next spoonful.

The dog I have now is a rescue dog (German Shephard mix) who was terribly abused as a puppy. She barks ferociously when someone comes in the house and then is very meek and friendly. When the kids were little and would form a line to go down the slide, she would get in line, wait her turn and come down the slide. I trust her with any kid but I would not leave any dog alone with a newborn.

 

[Jeafl]

We have a yellow lab that lives behind us who is the most vicious dog I have ever met. It jumped over the fence and bit a man in the back who was just cutting his grass. It also jumped up and bit me on the shoulder, and I have to say the bruise was about 7 inches across and extremely painful. It also bit the little autistic girl next door in the chest. She never knew it was coming.

The owners swear he is a very good pet They left their 2 daughters alone with him from the time they were born. It still scares the heck out of me. The cops have been called a couple of times, but all they've done so far is quarantine the dog for 24 hours until they could verify his shots were up to date.

 

[Lezah]

I have always been a firm believer in that no dog should ever be left alone with any dog no matter how gentle the dog. Unfortunately, my dog proved that this weekend when he nipped my son (I posted about it earlier), they are both okay and everything is okay now, but it proved what I had always said to my DH. I did not want to be proven right this way, but I ust think that it is just asking for trouble. JMHO

 

[EsmeraldaX]

It seems like common sense to me to never leave a baby alone with any dog, cat or other type of pet (regardless of breed and regardless of how well the pet behaves), or alone with strangers, people you have a bad gut feeling about or young children (who are obviously, older than the baby) or in a locked car in a parking lot.



It boggles my mind when I hear about people who just leave their kids with anyone, everyone and everything.

 

[slo]

When my DD was a baby we had a 120 lb German Shepherd who I loved very very much. I was never worried about him hurting DD out of jealousy but out of love. From the minute we brought her home from the hospital I think the dog thought she was his. He would always lay be her and want to lick her face - he loved her very much.

Because of this, I didn't even have DD sleep in her bassinet at night because I was afraid my dog would accidentally tip the bassinet over while trying to look inside. So DD slept in her crib from day 1 and only slept in her bassinet during the day while I was in the same room.

When I needed to take a shower or do anything else away from the baby I would keep her in her playpen. In fact, DD was in a playpen until she was 2 1/2 yrs old (she loved it in there).

It's hard to want to believe that your beloved animal could do harm to your baby, but it could happen. Therefore to save the baby from injury/death, and to save the animal from being removed from the home/destroyed even, it's best to keep the two apart for quiet some time.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Originally posted by workinggal
Why would a baby be left alone to begin with??????

Hmmm, to go to the bathroom, to check on an older child playing in another room, to sleep at night, etc, etc. LOL

I would normally bring my baby with me, but when that baby was sleeping or I needed to go to the bathroom I sure wouldn't. But in that case, I brought the dog with me.

I don't think that the OP meant to go out to dinner.

I would never leave a baby alone with a dog. Sometimes their high-pitched cries can be misunderstood by a dog as an animal in distress.

We had our older dog when our 4yo was a baby, but not our younger dog, which I'm glad about. She is hyper and would have trampled Jake, even if she meant no harm.

We've always had cats, though, and never felt worried with our young children around the cats (worried more for the cats). Not that I still didn't supervise, of course.

T&B

 

[EsmeraldaX]

Originally posted by missy28
I'm sorry, but I just hate broad sweeping generalizations about any breed of dog-- ALL St. Bernards are not vicious animals. I am smaller than my St. bernard, and I don't worry about my safety. My St. Bernard is the gentlest creature I've ever seen... this doesn't mean that some couldn't be vicious, but it doesn't mean that simply because they are a St. Bernard that they are gonna attack and rip to pieces everything it comes in contact with!! A dog's temperament is dependant on many factors, including bloodline, and how a dog is raised. Don't throw all dogs into one vicious pile!!

ITA. As I said in my other post, it should be common sense to not ever leave a baby or child alone with any dog. Even the best behaved dog or smallest breed can get nippy if annoyed, or accidentally hurt a little kid while trying to play.