New family member

Congratulations on the new addition. You must post pictures...

Congratulations...we need pictures OF COURSE  Gosh thats a horrible thing with the breakins....TAke care and keep the whole family safe -SMO

Ok update on the new family memebr. He's a sweet dog. But he has shown some agression towards my daughter, and our two cats. My wife and I both are very tense when the dog and my daughter are together in the living room. It all just might be everyone getting adjusted to each other, but there is a lot of tension there. Also now my wife isn't sure if she's a dog person. (I've had dogs all my life, but I've never had one since I've been married and so never had to raise a dog and a child) We are in a debate about 1) waiting it out and taking him to obediance school to see if it is just a matter of adjustment or 2) taking him back to the breeder and acknowledging that maybe he was the wrong dog for our life style.

Any suggestions. I'd feel bad taking him back because when he's with me he's very loving and a big baby. He's just very rough with my daughter, and I'm uncertain whether it's aggression or just puppy playing. It's a mistake I don't want to blow, for obvious reasons.

We had this problem with our first dog, Boomer, a large chocolate Lab.  I had no problem asserting my dominance by rolling him over, but he could push my wife around with no problem.  So, for a while, I had to correct him when he would act up against my wife.

If I understand what your dog is doing correctly, he just trying to figure out his place in his new "pack."  He's acting out against your daughter to try and show her who's boss...or at least figure out where he fits.  That's what he would do in the wild.  So, you need to make sure that you are around to help your daughers assert their dominance by rolling the dog over on it's back.  It may snap and nip and whine and yelp a bit, but eventually it will learn who's the boss.

Likewise, get to obedience school ASAP, but I think it's just a dominance issue right now.

Please know, this is just my opinion and I'm by no means a professional.  This just worked for me.

Thanks for the advice. But sad to say the dog went back to the breeder today. I think he was a good dog and would have been a wonderful pet if given the time, however, my wife was anxious about him being around my daughter. After spending some more time with him, and watching him interact with my daughter I don't think he would have intentionally hurt her. He was just SOOOO big. He had about 12 pounds on my daughter, and my daughter is a pretty rambunctious 2 year old. I think he will make a great pet, but if my wife wasn't comfortable it was probably best that we don't have him.

The breeder was nice enough to give us all of our money back, we of course induced her to do so by agreeing to give her the brand new crate we bought and all of the dog goodies.

While I'm a little disappointed I guess it's for the best. Perhaps this wasn't the right size dog for us to begin with. No harm done, the dog is going back to the breeder, where he will be reunited with his mother, and two litter mates.

(Plus my wife wasn't going to let me train after work because she wanted me home immediately to be watch the dog.)

Anyway, thanks for the advice Hawkeye, it was sound advice, but in the end if my wife was uncomfortable there was nothing that would probably have cured that.