According to the CDC in the US:

Being struck or crushed by an object (other than a vehicle or a machine), a person, or an animal (more than 44,000 annual injuries)

Just because your dog does well, doesn't mean others will. I guess that since I've never been in a car accident in my 16 years of driving a car, I shouldn't bother to use a car seat?

You're very lucky to have such a well behaved dog but there is no way to know if a dog is not going to be well behaved until something bad happens. I was attacked a year and a half ago by my very own dog that *slept in my bed every night* with his head on my pillow. He is a 16 year old black lab who had never bitten or growled at anyone before. (and who I had lived with for 2 1/2 years) I was on the other side of the room coming in the front door and he suddenly got up and ran at me as I walked in the door. I ended up in the ER with some serious injury to my kneecap and leg. The vet said that he was just getting old, got confused, and didn't recognize me right away. Never saw it coming since he had always been a very sweet dog without any aggression issues... DH had him since he was 3 mths old. We still have him and he still seems like a sweet natured dog, but we now know he's not to be trusted. (he's bitten DH once since then as well out of confusion) I'm just glad it was me that got hurt before we decided to have a baby because otherwise we never would have predicted such behavior from him. Labs are supposed to be great with kids.

Well i thought about wrapping my kids in cotton wool but they might be allergic!!!!. Life is full of danger., but i use my judgement to what I will expose my kids to.

What a terrible thing to go through. This explains being overly cautious about this issue.

(Also: lol at the "allergic to cotton wool" post!)

I also had a friend growing up that had half his face literally torn off by his family dog as a child... half his face is a giant scar. To me it seems like the risks are too high to just hope for the best.

I haven't read all the replies yet, so sorry if this is just repeating anything or just plain irrelevant by now. The only encouragement you'll get from me (a dog lover) is to keep the dog and work through his problems, unless you think he is really dangerous and would pose a threat to your baby. Getting rid of a dog because of a baby coming along is not usually "the right thing" in my book, so I can't give you that.

Rubbing the nose in it is not a good idea. It's mean to the dog, it's ineffective and (sorry!) but if I were a dog, I'd have bitten you too! If the dog is not aggressive in other ways, then since your baby isn't likely to try this rubbing-nose-in-mess malarky, s/he should be safe. Also, you owe it to the adoption people, and the next people who own him to be HONEST about his background, and that includes a bite history. So even if the shelter doesn't usually put a dog down, they may do in this case. And if they don't, with a bite history, how much chance do you think he HAS of being adopted, when there are plenty of dogs in shelters who have never bitten anyone?

I completely understand your frustration, I had a similar issue with my own dog and it was just HORRIBLE. At one point I was cleaning up his mess every day and I got SO frustrated. I wanted to throttle him, never mind rehome him! The temptation to try the rubbing his nose in it or giving him a slap was pretty strong at one point. But that is abuse, and it's not fair to the dog. Then, just when I'd think we were getting somewhere, he'd start peeing or pooing everywhere again! BUT - and it's a biiiiig but - it's not an unworkable problem. We got through it, even though we had a slight relapse when we moved house and had a baby.

I don't agree with rehoming animals just because of a new baby, so all I can do is go through some of the stuff that worked for us and hope and pray you give this poor doggy another chance

- Has he been checked out for a medical problem that could be causing the problem or making it worse? You need to rule this out before assuming it's a behavioural problem.

- What do you do when he does it in the right place? The one thing that made a HUGE difference with our dog was giving him a SUPER tasty treat (tiny pieces of hot dog) for going outside, and making sure he never got that treat at ANY other time. He'd do backflips for hot dog sausage, and knowing he could only get it for going outside gave him an added incentive to hold it and do his bizz out there.

- What do you do if you catch him going inside? It's crucial that you don't punish him, or he's just going to be scared of eliminating IN FRONT of you. Then you have an issue where you TAKE him outside, and he won't go, because he is too scared to. Just calmly interrupt him, take hi outside, reward for anything he does out there, and then put him out of sight while you clean up.

- What do you do when you find mess indoors? Dogs associate very closely with their own waste, to them it smells strongly of them. So when you get mad about it, they just take it personal, and have no idea that it is WHERE they put it that is the problem. Any punishment AFTER the fact won't be effective; just cruel and confusing to the dog. Best thing to do is calmly put them out of sight, clean up and MOVE the waste outside using a paper towel. Then take them outside on a lead and just let them see and sniff. Don't talk or point or anything, they won't understand and it will just clutter the message and confuse them. Just let them see and smell that you haved MOVED it. Leave it there for the time being, to encourage them to use that spot again.

- What do you clean up with? Most cleaners WON'T remove every trace of the smell. You need to use an enzymatic cleaner - one specifically designed for pet mess.

- When did it start and did anything ELSE happen at the same time? House move for example, anything stressful for the dog... Stress and anxiety is a major cause of house soiling. It could be the dog's reaction to the changes in his environment due to your pregnancy, and a little more routine, structure and reassurance might be all that is needed to fix the problem.

- Have you tried crate training? Confine the dog any time he can't be watched, just as you would with a tiny pup with no control over his bodily functions. Don't give him the chance to make a mistake. Tether him to you so he can't wander off and pee or poo anywhere. Prevention is better than cure...

- What does he eat and how much? If is fed a little too much, or a not very digestible kibble (and a lot of kibbles AREN'T, check the ingredients and if it has carbs listed in the first few ingredients, it's not a very digestible food) - then it could well be making him need to eliminate more often... which means more chance of accidents happening.

Sending your dog the best of luck.... it sounds like he has been through a lot. Poor critter

A lot of these posts are going to make the op feel really bad when imo she has done nothing wrong!
Saying "oh poor doggy" to guilt trip her just isnt fair, she has put 4 years of hard work into this dog, and has tried many ways to train him.

Dogs are not people, they dont feel sad!

That comment, is total bs. They may not be human but they sure as heck have feelings and feel sadness.

WSS!

Also, expressing empathy for another living critter is not the same as a guilt trip.

Seems like the OP has made their mind up to rehome and with that being the case, it's wholly appropriate to feel sorry for the dog. He's either going to be euth'd, or he's going to be waiting in a no-kill shelter for a LOOONG time, getting passed over for cute puppies and "easier" dogs who don't have a bite history and house soiling issues. Or he's going to have "Reason for surrender: new baby" written on his kennel, which will put off anyone with children.... and when he does get a home, he's still at risk of getting bounced back to the shelter for his soiling issues. This isn't a guilt trip, it's just stating what is going to happen. Folks in rescue see it happening all the time, like a train wreck that you can't stop.

And, FTR, if this was my dog, and if I was so convinced that the dog was so violently dangerous that my baby was at risk, rehome would not be an option. I'd go with PTS. I couldn't live with myself knowing I had passed that danger and liability on to someone else, and that a child might one day end up paying (with their face) because of that. The safety of people (especially children) always come first.

I have to say I do agree with this...I made the decision to have a dog PTS as he bit my [now ex] husband. It was a horrible thing to have to do but this dog had been sort of dumped on me after allegedly being mistreated, and the bite was bad enough to result in pins being put in his hand. I dread to think the damage that could have been done if it had happened to a child, without the strength to get the dog off. He was absolutely lovely to me/women in general...but it became apparent that he couldn't be trusted, so IMO it isn't fair to pass that risk on to anyone else

Agreed. Wow. I've never actually heard someone say dogs don't feel before. I knew some people thought that but never ran across it personally.

Emotion is not limited to human beings. I have a range of personal experiences with dogs to know that they feel. That doesn't mean dog=human being. It just means they experience emotions too.