A pup on thin ice

I love my dog dearly.  And I'm a dog person.

So, when I'm thinking about giving our Juno pup up, you know it's a serious situation.  We got Juno with the best of intentions about 4 years ago, but things just seem to be getting more difficult.  She was acquired as kind of a bridge between married life and "babyhood" and she served her purpose well! Juno loves to be the center of attention and has a lot of sweet energy. 

We knew we had our hands full though when she first acted a little suspicious around our goddaughter, Maddy.  Cici did a great job of trying to be helpful and patient but Juno just wasn't having this little toddling creature around our house.  So from then on, every time Maddy or any kiddo friends came over, Juno got put away.  We tried to figure out how to acquaint Juno with kids, but it's really hard to test that, you know?  You can't just train that out of them easily.

When I became pregnant, I got nervous it would be a serious issue so we worked with a trainer a little, however Juno just never really took to it.  It's not like she is overprotective or territorial really, she just has a lot of energy and doesn't like being dominated by anyone, even us.  We learned that by a few of the lessons our trainer went through with us...anything where we had to show Juno who was dominant, she put her tail down and her ears down.  Not aggressive, just not comfortable and not responsive to it.

So now here we are.  Do we just recognize the signs when she is around Kai as evidence that she needs to go?  Or do we just keep them forever separated, until Kai is old enough to assert his dominance over her and not get bit? I know we could do that dance, and our vet said he had a similar situation and he just took care of it.  Make sure to keep vigilant, keep them apart, put her away when other kids are around, etc.  Never trust that it will just be okay.

but I hate that feeling.  It makes me uneasy.  It is also hard when I see pictures of my friend's sweet dogs, napping in the crib with their baby, or letting the baby just roll all over them, or pet them or anything.  We can't even let Kai on the floor with Juno.  So sad.

The place we adopted her from said that if we seriously consider giving her up for adoption, we have to call them first.  I would hope that they would take her and find her a new home.  That was the nice part of adopting from them.  They feel a great sense of responsibility toward any animal they adopt out. 

But yikes, the thought of losing this little happy personality in our home is a rough thought.

But yikes, the thought of having her near Kai dude gives me heartburn. 

yikes.

And what if we can't find her a home?