Beware of Dog

Our greyhound, Chloe, is the gentlest dog I know. She's very passive usually (bordering on the lazy side) and is very hard to provoke. For a first time dog owner, like me, she's the perfect dog to have since she doesn't jump on people or lick people. However, she is very big/tall, which takes getting used to.

When we had Scarlett, we had wondered how the dog and the baby would adapt to each other. Before Scarlett was born, we've noticed that Chloe is very kid-friendly in that she's not aggressive in anyway, even when poked by kids. Her stature, though, is another story. She is very tall so she can knock little ones over easily unintentionally. So back to Scarlett - for the first 4 months of her life, it's almost as if Chloe didn't exist. She never seemed to notice Chloe and Chloe didn't seem to care too much about Scarlett. I think Scarlett finally noticed Chloe when she was about 4 months old. Fast forward to now, Scarlett has become Chloe's friend and foe. Most of the time, I worry more about Scarlett hurting Chloe rather than the other way around. Scarlett has been walking for about 6 months now and ever since she could push her toys around (shopping cart, wagon, etc.), she has figured out that she could chase Chloe with her toys and Chloe would run/dart away. We've had to teach Scarlett to be gentle to Chloe and not to chase Chloe (too much). Aside from the chasing, Scarlett has accepted Chloe as part of the family. In fact, starting about 2-3 weeks ago, she would go and give Chloe a good-night kiss on the head before her bath or bedtime. We thought that it was really cute but haven't had the chance to videotape it.

Last night, however, when Scarlett went to give Chloe a goodnight kiss, Chloe snapped/barked at her and in so doing, knocked her in the face and caused Scarlett to have a bloody nose. We were pretty shocked that Chloe was so aggressive, especially since she wasn't asleep when Scarlett approached her. We fussed over Scarlett to make sure that her bleeding stopped and that her nose wasn't broken or anything. It wasn't until then that I realized no matter how gentle, we just can't completely trust dogs with little kids. (My mom had told me that repeatedly but being that she's not an animal/dog person, I had disregarded her comments. Now I realize that a little caution should be exercised at all times.) Since that incident, I've been more vigilant than usual whenever Scarlett was near Chloe, in case anything happens again.