Her Golden Retriever Bit Her Toddler On The Face, And She Thinks The Dog Was Provoked

If you had a dog and a small child, and your dog bit your kid in the face, would you believe the only solution would be to rehome the dog to a child-free household?

This woman has a one-year-old toddler and a five-year-old golden retriever who has always been amazing with children. One night recently, her husband was sitting beside the dog and their toddler when he momentarily glanced away.

Her dog then bit their toddler on the face.

"[The] toddler has been trying to pull [the] dog’s tail and do other stuff the past week (we obviously intervene when this happens), so we are guessing that’s what happened to provoke [the] dog," she explained.

"It’s possible [the] dog may have been asleep when it happened, so maybe it was a startle thing…it was late at night, but the room was brightly lit."

Her dog has always been super friendly to everyone; however, he growls sometimes at the dog park when other dogs have come too close to a stick he's playing with. Additionally, her dog has growled at other canines at times with no good reason.

The bite their toddler suffered from is small, but on their toddler's face. Luckily, no stitches were required to treat the injury. She did bring her dog to the vet, who told her that the dog is perfectly fine.

"The dog, toddler, and [I] stay at home all day, and we might have another kid. Is it realistic for us to keep [the] dog and just always monitor and keep them apart? Or should we rehome?" she wondered.

"My gut is telling me to rehome to a home with no kids, but I’m also sad about it bc it was very out of character for the dog, and maybe if [my] spouse hadn’t looked away for a second, this wouldn’t have happened."

New Africa - stock.adobe.com - illustrative purposes only, not the actual dog- pictured above is a golden retriever in front of a fireplace

"But I also don’t want to risk another bite and worse. My spouse is leaning toward keeping [the] dog and just being very vigilant and keeping them separate always."

Throughout the last several days, they have not allowed the dog around their toddler, and they monitor them constantly. It's tough on their dog to be apart from their family, as they have put him in the bedroom or behind a gate, which causes him to bark and whine nonstop.

She does think it would be best for her dog to have a house with no children where he's free to move about with no restricted areas.

Well, it's unfair to her dog that she and her husband didn't step in to keep a closer eye on things before it came to this. She even admitted their toddler has been provoking the dog, and that shouldn't have ever happened.

Her dog deserves to be in a home with adults, where he doesn't have to be contained, because he's spent the last five years of his life not being shut away.

Do you think she should rehome her dog?

You can read the original post below.

Pictured above is a screenshot of the original Reddit post for you to read

Sign up for Chip Chick's newsletter and get exclusive stories like this delivered to your inbox.