We had to get rid of our dog, The Dog. My heart is broken. We got her two years ago, and she came with some baggage. She was a rescue, brought up from Georgia as far as anybody knew. Despite her baggage, I worked with her a lot. We took a couple obedience classes, and we had fun with it. She made a lot of progress, and given that I worked from home, she was a really good dog.
When we brought The Baby home, it was OK. The disruption to any semblance of a schedule was tough on her and there were some accidents. We got through the worst of it, but she was never the same dog after The Wife went back to work. She was always a nervous dog, with a little bit of separation anxiety, but it got worse. She'd overreact to movements and sound. This was all before The Baby got mobile.
So The Baby is crawling now, and she got underfoot while I was making dinner the other night. I scooped her up and set her down in the living room. She and The Dog tried to go through the door into the kitchen at the same time, and it was too close for comfort. It was like The Dog looked over and thought, "OH SHIT WHAT'S THAT THING DOING RIGHT THERE?!!!" She barked and nipped The Baby. Game over, no more dog for us. I called the rescue society from which we'd got her the next day.
I know we did the right thing. Hell, it's not even really a choice, is it? I love that dog so much. We were inseparable for the first year we had her. But I can't risk the health of my baby girl, and I can't keep the two of them separated and hope for any quality of life for The Dog, and it will be years before our kid (kids if all goes according to plan) are old enough to understand how to act around a dog. So it's not a choice. The Dog needs a calm, quiet house and a routine. We don't have that now, and we won't for a long time, if ever.
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