I haven't spoken to my trainer specifically about his behaviour around children yet, we've always just avoided them to keep the public safe.

Azz, Cain has been seen by a number of dog trainers and behaviourists. Sadly it is not simply stroppy teen behaviour, he has aggression issues I've been working on him for over two years now and while he is vastly better, I truly believe there is a genetic element which can never be overcome. He'll be 3 in June.

A different trainer, who knows Cain well, says that he is one of the most demanding, difficult dogs that she has experiences and he is lucky to have me as any rescue would have put him to sleep for his behaviour. When I discussed children with her, her opinion was that she would never trust Cain around children and that he would be a liability to rehome and that if he was her dog, at that point of bringing children into the house, she would have him put to sleep I hope that puts some perspective on how serious his behaviour potentially is. I definitely not one of those people who ship the dog out just because they have a child, I'd love nothing more than to have my kids grow up with a dog, but I'm not stupid - much as I love Cain, I know he is a dangerous dog.... We only have so few incidents because he is heavily managed, but I can't imagine that working with a child in the house.

some times ,its the childeren ,who are able change your dogs behaviour, its called , agape love, the love an animal has for there offspring, some dogs will see infants as there responcibility.protect, tend to them and feel apart of the baby prosses, iv got one who, is calmed by baby.its nice to see a pit who is full of piss and vinigar turn into a mush when there ia a baby in the house...hopefully it all work s out for you...

I msut admit that Max is quite like Cain... we do a lot of 'management' - e.g. no visitors touch him etc. He has bitten several people (fairly light bites, no warning etc), including me, my FIL, every vet and vet nurse in the practice and a friends boyfriend.

However, when my nephew was 6 weeks old, he came to stay with us for a while (on and off). Whilst I would never leave a baby and ANY dogs unattended, Max was brilliant with a baby around.

He was much calmer, highly attentive to me and the baby, and fairly protective (in a nice way), e.g. he would want to be with us and wouldn't move until Baby had gone to sleep and was in the cot etc.

He is even OK dealing with Jake now he is 5 (but I still wouldn't leave them alone!).

It has given me hope that if Max is around when we eventually have children, I wouldn't be AS worried as I once was....

I must say, I feel totally appalled at some of this thead and, quite honestly, I really don't care how many of you disagree with me.

My dogs are a committment for life to me - I'd have to be dead or dying for me to even think about giving them up for ANY reason let alone having kids.

Should something happen to me (touch wood it does not) I have several plans in place for them with people I trust to look after them properly.

I'm aware of possible redundancy etc as well which I also have plans it place to ensure my beloved dogs are very well cared for.

I'm 27 in August and never wanted children at all, however, I'm, reconsidering my thoughts about that which may come as a surprise to many on here and those who know me, but I certainly would not have children if I thought it meant that I might have to rehome my dogs due to the dog/s being dodgy around kids.

I wouldn't be able to live with the guilt of giving up my dogs because I thought they would be a risk to my children and I chose to have children I would rather NOT have children as my dogs are my life and were there first. How dare I rehome them?!

You're welcome to your opinion but you got your dogs in the situation of not wanting kids - you've now changed your mind but you're happy to compromise that for your dogs, I think it's a different situation. If Amanda's always wanted kids then it's not as if something has suddenly changed. She ended up with a dog with a lot more issues than she realised and it is the dog that is not suiting the circumstances (potentially), rather than the circumstances changing to no longer suit the dog.

I don't want kids so it's never going to be a choice I have to make, but I know for some people it would be a huge sacrifice - to never start a family, because of a dog that, to be blunt, isn't going to be around forever like a child would be.
It's a tough choice and I think this thread shows that Amanda isn't making it lightly, but to be honest I think she deserves a lot of respect for sticking with Cain through so much already. I've got a dog with some similar quirks and to be honest I've struggled with him at times despite having the benefit of a much more suitable area to live in/walk him in and a "good" dog to enjoy when Casper's stressed me out! I know plenty of people would have walked away from a dog like Cain a long time ago, rather than invest the time, effort and money into improving him, but I think rehoming a dog because you want to start a family and you're genuinely worried about everyones safety is a whole lot different to the novelty of a dog wearing off and replacing it with a cute baby.

I am, quite frankly, disgusted at even the thought of it. It makes me feel sick.

Moon'sMum is being very sensible in putting thought into this.

She has a dog with aggression issues - are you honestly saying she should risk a child's life???

This is HER life and HER decisions about HER DOG and HER wanting to have kids. Not yours.

I don't think judgemental posts about what clearly may have to be a hard thought decision is very helpful

I think a bit more tact might have been useful when it's pretty clear from her posts that Amanda is struggling to even consider this Sometimes our lives just can't offer what we hoped to a dog. I had similar thoughts of rehoming Kiki recently when she suddenly developed seperation anxiety after our housemove. I couldn't afford to give up my job to stay home with her all day, I couldn't afford to pay someone to stay with her all day (and the unpredictability of OH's job would mean someone would need to be available all 8 hours, even thought they'd only be needed for half that or less, because he often doesn't know until that very morning or afternoon if he has work when he's on call), I couldn't take her to work with me. I'm fortunate that work allowed me to change my hours and work from home short-term and that I managed to make enough progress in that time to deal with the issue, if she hadn't improved quickly enough then I may have had to make a tough call not just with the dog's wellbeing in mind but other factors like how it affected my neighbours, the damage to the house, the stress it was putting on my relationship, etc.
Rehoming a dog isn't something I'd do lightly but I can see there are times when you have to consider it, even if in some occasions its because of your situation/wellbeing more than the dog's.

She asked what would we do and this is what I would do.

As I said before, I really couldn't care less that I may be in the minority with my feelings. My dogs deserve better than being rehomed because I may want to have children. Molly is not good with children, but I certainly would not rehome her so as I could have them!

Exactly, in YOUR situation you just wouldn't have kids. Which is entirely up to you, of course.

Moon'sMum wants to have kids. She is asking about what we would do if and when we were having kids.