Moral dilemma - a dog and a baby

I'm having trouble with a decision and I was hoping some of you good people can point me in the right direction. Let me lay it down...

I've got a 12 year old labrador retriever. About 8 years ago, he was provoked, and bit my nephew in the face, leaving a nasty scar on his cheek that my nephew will carry for the rest of his life. My nephew was 2 or 3 at the time. I was prepared to put the dog to sleep, but my sister said that I should forgive him, just keep him away from kids.

My SO and I are expecting our first child later this year. The way I see it, I have 3 choices: 1) keep the dog, and make certain to keep him and the child separated, until the dog should pass 2) try and find someone to give the dog to for his remaining years (which may not be many) 3) put the dog to sleep.

I'm leaning towards just putting him to sleep. I don't want to give him to another person just so they can have him while he withers away. I also don't want to risk anything happening to my newborn. If the dog bit my child, I would never forgive myself. Thoughts?

Tough choiices but generally speaking it is not he dogs fault.
Most dogs will only react in a fashion to wich they are conditioned.

With an older dog it becomes a quality of lige thing and you do notidicate any physical issues with the dog.
At the dogs age, is there anyone that he is familiar wtih that would want the dog.

Is the dog an inside dog.

Lots of things to think about to figure into the end game.

Ugh One thing to consider. Till you unborn child approaches being a toddler the dog and child wont have a situation that might lead to provoking the dog. By that time your lab my be having health issues and being put to sleep may be an act of kindness. Just a thought R

Thanks for the input. To answer your questions T2:
He is an inside dog, and he's relatively healthy, aside from the arthritis that's beginning to set in pretty bad. It's tough for him to get up sometimes.

Romab: I understand that while the child is an infant, there shouldn't be any issues, but if there were...I'd be mortified.

Kill it.
The dog or the baby?
Yes.

I know what I would do: Option (2) if I could find another home for the dog; option (3) if not.

Get in touch with Victoria Stillwell....She can help....And she's kinda hot.

The answer is simple........

Give the baby to your sister
Put the SO to sleep
Exchange the dog for a cat

I had a German Shepard when I was pregnant with my son, he was such a brilliant dog but was so big and a bit clumsy so I was weary of keeping him after I gave birth. I wanted to give him a chance around the baby and he did fine but I was constantly having to keep him outside or in his crate because I was afraid he would trample on him so in the end I got rid of him as it simply wasn't fair to keep him caged up and not give him much attention. Being that yours has bitten a child before though would scare me, I don't think I'd risk it. You will be so busy with the baby after it's born anyways, if you're going to keep the dog then I would suggest keeping it outside. If it's old and suffering in any way though, I'd put it to sleep.

You hear that Wakeup.......the slightest limp and you are sleeping with the fishes.

You hear that Wakeup.......the slightest limp and you are sleeping with the fishes. Originally Posted by dearhunter

Lmao.... Yeah, if I wanted to deal with all that I'd go work in a nursing home

So THAT'S her nefarious plan to take over my bed...wait for me to get older, get sick, and euthanize me...bitch...

I believe there's a law that requires you to put such animals to sleep when they bite a human. Especially a minor. Give the dog away or euthanize it. It could mean your progeny's life. It did it one it could very well do it again.

I have to say it up front, I'm bias toward the dog. So my question to OP is how much do you love your dog? Because I can't imagine putting down a dog when he/she is relatively healthy despite the fact he/she is old. It's also hard for me to give the dog away when he's been with you for so long, good and bad. So that leaves me with just 1 option - keep the dog.

You always hear that when a dog bites someone it's ALWAYS the dog's fault, no matter what. To me, that's BS. Just imagine you are the dog, gets beat up and I tell you you cannot fight back. So just b/c your nephew got bitten by him once, doesn't mean your dog is in the wrong. Has your dog ever bitten anyone else?

I think you'll be fine with him and your baby living together. Like you said, he's getting old, he can barely walk, think he'll be rather sleeping all day than trying to find something to bite off of. Let him go thru his final stage of his life with his beloved master.

just my .02

Depending on the dog's disposition you might think about getting a 2nd dog. Not a puppy though. One that will keep the other one company. Older more mature dogs have a hard time finding a home and usually get put down quickly. You could save a dog and help keep the one you have more comfortable in his twilight years.