snappy jack russell and 1 yr old

[denaverbena]

We live with our family who has a jack russell who is unpredictable and has bitten two family members several times. We made it through the winter because our house had two units and we simply kept the dog out of our house. Now that its spring and we all want to be outdoors its been a big issue. DD walks around with sticks and he would try and grab them out of her hands. So we set up a dog run and asked the family to put him on it. They do it half of the time. The other problem is since they haven't figured out what works they are constantly yelling angrily and swearing at the dog or the dog is on the run barking during nap time. Not only does it make the house environment seem stressful, but DD is absorbing all this language. She wants to pet and play with the dog, but this isn't even safe because if someone touches his feet or pulls his tail he'll get snappy. So its never relaxing if the two are around each other. All of this is driving me crazy! We've suggested dog training classes and even bought an entire season of the dog whisperer. No one watched it but us. We've said he's an unsafe dog to have arond babies, but they just say we've had him for 10 yrs and he's part of the family, we'll just try and be careful. I'm out of ideas. I dont know what to do from here. Any ideas? ~Thanks

[North_Of_60]

Prevention. Or maybe google pictues of kids with dogs bites on their face, print them out, and put them together in a booklet for your inlaws and give it to them to read with the morning paper. Total shock value and really passive aggressive, but unless whoever is supervising the baby is 100% diligent, that's what's going to happen.

I have 4 dogs and yet I still get super Mama Bear about people/dogs who want to hurt my child. I'd probably also have a supersoaker (the high powered ones) loaded with lemon juice in it (or bitter apple solution from the pet store) for when everyone is outside and seemingly ignoring the dog. Tell them next time it'll be a sling shot.

I kid.

But seriously, it's not your dog. You can move. You can just supervise your kid. Or you can make it BLATANTLY obvious you'll use non lethal, yet annoying and mildly uncomfortable deterrents if THEY do not control the dog. Really though, you just have to watch your kid and make sure the dog doesn't bother her.