hello

i have a japanesespitz at 9 years old
now i have a baby boy and my wife and mum do not want to keep it at home

i got him from bombay india and spend 2 years at sea while i was working as an chief mate
i know he can not live without me

last 2 years he was with my mums home

i do not want to kill him

please help me

regards
sadi nalci
istanbul
turkey

As a Jap Spitz is only a small dog it should be easy to keep him out of the room that the baby is in if your wife and mother fear for the baby's safety, a baby gate, which you will find useful for baby will work well. How is he with children generally? If he is nice to children then I think your wife once the baby is bigger will be a little less worried. No dog should ever be left unsupervised with a young child, as if the child hurts him he has no choice but to bite for protection, and he is blamed, when it is the parents fault not supervising, or allowing the dog an escape route from bullying children. I have had both my children as babies with my Dogs. The first was with a Belgian Shepherd which are highly strung, and the second with my Elkhounds (also a Spitz breed). Your Jap is only a little dog, so it is more likely a child could hurt him than the other way around, assuming he isn't vicious to children.

You have a sad story, why do your wife and mum not want the dog now - is it because of tales they have heard, or because the dog has shown any reaction around the baby?

My friend has just had a baby, she has an old dog who is a Collie X, and they all go out walkng together with the dog next to the pram.

We have actually put off having a baby as I felt it wouldn't be fair to our old dog <g>.

Generally speaking, as long as your dog does not feel left out, and dog and baby are supervised, all should be well.

If you have ot get rid of the dog, won't you always feel angry towards your wife and mum?

i do hope you get this sorted out,

best wishes
lindsay

It must be very difficult for you this .... if your wife is insistant on getting rid of the dog you will need help urgently as Turkey is not I understand the dog friendliest country. Sorry , Lindsay but you have probably misunderstood the cultural differences our friend here will be experiencing.

I do not know if it would be possible to bring the dog to this country ... perhaps the breed rescue might help, they were excellent with a dog I had here for rescue .... you can email me at caitwats@hotmail.com

I do understand the cultural differences, but one can only try....I wish the original poster would let us know what has happened. I doubt if there are many dog rescue agencies in Turkey...

I visited Turkey once and while I loved the people generally ... the situation for animals was awful. I worry about the dog ... but there is no way really to do anything realistically. I brought one back from Greece a few years ago and would help with another from abroad if I could ... but I fear they would do little to help you do that.

Sadly I do think you are right......and apart from anything else there are so many street dogs that are destroyed on a yearly basis, just like those in Egypt and so on. i have read recently that there are a few people setting up organisations for spaying and neutering and worming etc so perhaps there is just a little bit of light at the end of that long and very dark tunnel....

Hi guest. I feel really sorry for you. I know I was very worried when I had my first baby, that the dog would be jealous of the baby and dislike it or maybe even harm it. She had a very good loving temperament, but was not young, being 6, and had never had to share me. I took lots of advice and this is what I did, though I cannot quite believe it now!!

She was taken for a long walk, so she was calm and sensible - a bouncy spaniel, and bathed and dried. I undressed the baby and sat him on my knee- only 2 weeks old bless him- and with my husband holding her on a loose lead let her sniff him all over, except his face. She was a dog that would "test" everything with her paw, and I was concerned she might scratch him by mistake, but she was so gentle. I gave baby a bath straight after as she had licked him a bit!!Within a couple of days she had got used to his cries and noises and lay on one side of the baby gate with him in his pram on the other side, guarding him! Of course not all dogs may be as good, but I think most are. they seem to know that a new baby is a "family member" to be loved and protected.

As long as your dog is clean, regularly wormed and disease/flea etc free, there is no health hazard to a baby, as long as you are sensible. If your family will not tolerate him, and you cannot find a good home for him, can you consider having him put down by a vet, at home? The few dogs I have had to have put down, always have a large dose of injected valium first, to make sure they are "out of it" when the final injection is given. It only costs a very little more, and the dog will be in no distress at all, he will just go to sleep. It may be better to have him put down, if you have to part with him, unless you can find a really good home with someone that you know will look after him well. I hope I have not been too blunt, I do not intend to upset you further. What a dreadful situation for you to be in.

I agree sad though it is, it would be better for the dog to be put to sleep at home if at all possible.....if there is no other way out.