Matt,
Our thoughts are with you. I know how difficult it is to put a pet down. I had to put a dog down once to prevent months of suffering. That was years ago and it still gets me choked up thinking about it. They really are family. But in your case, no way you could chance a repeat. I hope your little one heals quickly.
Merry Christmas Friend,
Scott

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. I would have done the same. I know a pet is part of the family, but your offspring take priority. Glad your daughter is ok. Hope the rest of your family's holiday goes better.

Word of advise. If you do get another pet. Teach the children that a pets kennel or "cubby hole" is their "territory" or "safehaven" and they should not intrude on their space. Even tough they mean no harm, the animal may feel threatened and this can provoke it to bite.

Sarge  

Sorry to hear of your run of bad doo-doo, Matt. I know how hard it is to put down a family pet, but family has to come first. Little ones don't realize that sometimes their friends can get cranky, and lash out at them.
I hope your daughter(& the rest of the family) recover from this ordeal quickly. Hang in there, bud.

A very tough decision to make, but we support you on this one.  You just can't take the chance.  Try and think of the family today and time will heal the thoughts of losing your best friend.

Mark

Tough thing to do I had to do the same thing 3 weeks ago with our 11 year old Bulldog, she was starting to snap at the grand baby. But I know in my heart it was the best thing to do. The dog would have never gotten along with anyone else and it was just a matter of time befor she bit.

I hope your daughter has a speedy recovery, and that Christmas helped to overshadow her trama from the dog. It is unfortunite that this happened. Then again I'm sure there may be worse case senario's that might have occured.
Time has a way of healing things both physically and spritually. My hope for you is that this time is minimal and that your family will return to "normal" as soon as possible.

Thanks for all the thoughts and support.

Morgan is doing well, she had a good christmas. The little sweetheart forgave Shelby right away and was wanting hugs the next day. I know I did what I had to do, but it was the hardest thing I've ever done.

Hope you had a Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year,

Matt 

sorry for the loss Matt, I lost 2 dogs in less than a year, my 5 year old shepherd last November and and an 8 year old golden retriever in August.Got 2 more shepherds to fill the void. Tuff guy on the right 15 months old and contessa 6 months old ,got them both at 6 weeks old.I hope your daughter is OK, but you can't have a bitter around the little ones, even an accident can not be tolerated, it's hard but you have to do whats right.

Mike;

Sorry to hear about the little ones run in with the pet, and the inevitible action taken.  Had the same thing happen with my youngest daughtewr with our Alaskan Malamute. I put her down, and 3 months later got a Newfoundland, as I did not want my daughters last interaction with a family pet to be negative.  The Newfie, though quite large, and somewhat goofy, is as good with children as they come.