How can I get up the courage to take my dog to the shelter?

As much as I agree that a truly aggressive dog belongs nowhere near a baby, I have to ask......have you even bothered to attempt to train this dog and find out if it really is aggressive or just untrained? MANY untrained dogs can seem aggressive when it's simply too much energy coupled with bad manners.....both are completely fixable and you owe it to your dog to find out. If it is best for all for the dog to not be around the baby, don't dump the dog at the shelter. The chances for it to find a home are close to zero. Take it to the vet and do your dog one last favor and have it put to sleep. Sentencing your dog to dying alone and scared in a shelter is not the last thing you want to do to your best friend, is it?Added: I'm sorry, but to all suggesting a breed rescue, the chances there are slim to none. As a breed rescue volunteer, I can tell you we are turning down purebreds with perfect temperaments due to the economy landing so many dogs in rescues and shelters so the odds of a breed rescue taking on a mixed breed with questionable temperament are not good.

Find a friend of yours that might want her. Then you still get to see it has a good home and it is out of the house.

You make it sound like your wife is the evil shrew. Shame on you.Both you and you your wife failed your dog. You should've been working with the dog all along, to help it cope with life. But instead you just call it "wild and aggressive" and therefore cast it off as someone else's problem...and even worse than that, you blame your wife for feeling protective about your newborn baby!Shame on you!How DARE you say, "how do I get the courage to take my dog to a shelter"? How can you POSSIBLY think that taking your pooch to the shelter is courageous? Don't you realize, that within a few days after you take your dog to the shelter, that your dog will be killed? Jeesh.

There are a lot of no-kill shelters, such as the North Shore Animal League (http://www.nsalamerica.org/). I am sure that there are some in your area....Good luck, and I'm sorry about your situation.

Your dog is wild and aggressive because both you and your wife neglected to train her. This is a human error not a canine error but it's the poor dog who pays the price for the irresponsibility of the owners.Is this dog human aggressive, dog aggressive or just uncontrolable? In what way has she shown aggression...if in any way at all??It's never too late to obedience train a dog. That would certainly be a better alternative to dumping her in a shelter where she will probably be killed. You know, you could start obedience training with this dog immediately if you want to save her life.Your wife "demanded" you take the dog to a shelter? You don't want to make your wife angry?? FFS grow a pair and man up. To cave into demands is not smart. It allows the person issuing the demand far too much power that they will misuse by further demands until they have you beaten into submission. These people are called control freaks for good reason.I have no issue at all with someone making a reasonable request but if anyone demanded something of me that I did not want to do and that I thought was unreasonable I would tell them where to put their demand.Of course you must protect your baby, the baby comes first but you make no mention of this dog ever doing a thing wrong towards the child or anyone else.We hear this so often in rescue. Dog is treated as a family member until a baby comes along. Wife can no longer be bothered caring for the dog and the dog is displaced in affections and no longer wanted. There are millions of parents caring for babies and dogs without issue because they're people who live up to the responsibility they took on when they got the dog and they love their dog.Have a qualified behaviourist come in to assess your dog. My guess is that a behaviourist will find the dog to be totally untrained and out of control but would respond well to obedience training. The life of this dog is in your hands.If you are not prepared to do this then try to muster up enough courage to take your dog to the vet and have her painlessly put to sleep. Stay with the dog to offer words of comfort. She will go in peace and your wife will then be free of the dog.I truly hope you will never get another dog, even when the child grows and begs for a puppy. That will be the time for you and your wife to remember what happened to this dog and could happen to another one if/when your wife tires of it.

Just to make it clear, all shelters put down dogs. There is no such thing as a "no kill shelter" unless the people above me meant rescues. Yes, some will prolong the inevitable and may try harder then others, but if the dog is considered "aggressive" or has been in the shelter too long it will be put down.Which, would be my suggested solutions. Rescues are no-kill and usually would foster your dog unless they have a facility where they can kennel your dog. It would be even better if you could find a 'Bully breed' rescue.

Please don't take her to a shelter where she will be afraid and will die at the hands of strangers.The kindest thing would be to take her for a long walk,feed her her favorite human foods and then take her to the vet and be with her while she is humanely euthanized.Better that she die peacefully in the arms of her master than to die afraid with strangers.

Duh Ask yourself which is more important your babies safety or keeping the dog?

When you take an animal into the home it means FOREVER. What happens when the kid is 14 and wild and crazy, are you going to put him into foster care? I don't think so!!You need to get a dog behaviorist with credentials over to your house to help train you and your wife to rehabilitate your dog. Then you can live happily and sanely with your dog.Pets are not disposable!

If you question her agressiveness...no matter how mild she has been your dog.I HAD to give away a dog per my boyfriend (30 yrs ago), but I refused.When I got home from work he had taken the best dog and had him put down. Gimme thumbs down all you guys want , but any dog with slight agressiveness should be humanely put down. Someone else may not understand him and tie him up in the yard or do worse.I would hate to think of my loving companion sitting in a cold dark damp cement home till he 'wasn't' chosen cause of his attitude.Talk about depression on both your parts.I wish you luck, with your wife.Cause if this has always been your dog and she is making you chose..thats just wrong. You will resent her in the end,.Find an Akita rescue..Call Cesar Milan!

You have some options here, as others have said.First of all, dumping her at a shelter is the cowardly way out. It doesn't require 'courage' to dump YOUR problem on someone else. You are balking at doing that because you know it is wrong, not because you are afraid.1...The best option is to have a trainer evaluate her, and see if she is indeed trainable. You CAN teach an old dog new tricks. Your vet will recommend a local trainer.2...The second option is to enroll in obedience classes, and learn how to train her yourself. You should have been training her for the past many years.3...If you are unable or unwilling to do either of the former, take her to your vet, and have her humanely euthanized. Death at a shelter, among strangers, after being deserted by the one she loves and trusts, is agonizing and terrifying. Death at the vet's office is at least quick and peaceful.

Hi, I am so sorry you are forced with this desicion. I am have a few helpful tips you could use! -Tell your wife to give you a month so that you can train him/her. Train her with anything she needs. If it works out well enough maybe you can keep him/her. (And if you still cant, when you take her to a shelter she/he is more likely to be adopted) Watch videos on youtube on how to train dogs. For example if she is barking at you when you eat. Search for videos on how to train a dog not to beg for food. ;-)-Give her to an ANIMAL loving friend! Like this your friend is most likely to be able to train her AND you can see her more often!- Give her to a NON-KILL animal shelter. She will find a new home. And you can live assured she will not be PUT DOWN. (:I hope I helped! Good Luck.(The first tip I put is supposed to be MANDATORY no matter what you end up doing. Please do the first tip.) My prayers go to you tonight.Cavalier Gal.

Before purchasing a Pit Bull x Akita you did research the breeds to see if you were capable of handling the dominants traits present in the dog?When the dog came home you did set clear black & white boundaries of what was acceptable behavior, so the dog knew what was expected of it & how it was meant to behave.You did obedience train the dog & clearly teach it basic commands such as sit, stay, down, hush, leave ect. A responsible owner steps in a the first sign of a behavioral problem to either correct or control the dog. A dog should never be allowed to learn & practice unwanted behavior. If you allow it to go uncorrected, you approve of it.Either the dog has a mental character defect or she has been given no boundaries & scant/no obedience training.It would be easy to shift the responsibility for your mistake onto a shelter & call the problem *solved*. A Pit Bull x Akita with behavioral problems has no realistic chance of being adopted, when there are so many stable dogs looking for a home. If training the dog is not an option then step up, do the right thing & at least take her to the vet & hold her while she is euthanized.

She's "wild and aggressive" because you and your wife failed as her owners. ANY human being that expects to have children in any time of their life should KNOW that whenever you get a dog you have to TRAIN it to behave a specific way around children.You're right, she will be put to sleep- especially when you fill out the form saying WHY you're dumping her in that hell hole. "Too hyper for children". EVERYONE will pass by her not only because of her breed/s, but because of your mistake.You've damned her as much as the shelter will.Why not find a breed specific rescue who knows how to handle a dog like this. http://pbrc.net/webapp/cgi-bin/orgs_by_state.cgi/fb53ff1171d9f340287c504c8df81e6fThat being said, almost NO rescue has room due to the season. Every rescue in my area, breed specific or not, is overflowing with daily calls from owners who "just can't cope" or from shelters who are literally flooding with dogs and puppies. Don't be surprised when a rescue says no- because a dog with behavioral issues isn't adoptable, and they're not going to waste time on it.I've had to turn down well over 40 dogs just in the past MONTH because we have no foster space or kennel room. The fate of those poor creatures were determined the moment their owners decided that training wasn't necessary. If you don't have the courage to take her to the shelter, take her to your vet and euthanize her. At least then she won't be alone and terrified when the euthanasia tech comes strolling down the shelter halls. At least then she'll see a familiar face before she goes.

I can't answer this better than chetco did.