This is a very strange situation. One question I have is were you sitting right there when your son was bit. Do you know for a fact that your son did not provoke, scare or hurt the dog in anyway. Asking that question has no reflection on my feelings regarding the mother in law. It sounds as though your son was bitten severely so it is difficult to understand why there was no sympathy shown toward your son. Even if there was no apology, why were you the only one concerned about your son. Personally I would not have put the dog down either. That is one reason for my question above. Obviously no one else has reported bites because the judge only called for a muzzle! I am sorry, but I do not understand why you are upset if your husband is at his moms and around the dog? Why should'nt he be around the dog? And even if he agreed with you about his mom, do you expect him to stay away from his mom? And now you are asking that he remove his dog from your home? When an animal is in the home and has always received love and then is ignored because of a new baby they often are jealous. I do not think I would want my dog gone because of an incident with another animal. I am not saying they should lay together, but asking your husband to get rid of his pet is not something I could do. Seriously I am not trying to be mean but are you going to stay away from all dogs because of a bad experience. I would also hate for your son to be paranoid of dogs. Caution of dogs yes but encouraging fear is not a good thing.
Yes I think the mom should show concern even if she did not apologize. But I think it is strange that she did not.apologize. I do not think I would refuse to visit. I think I may ask if they would please keep the dog outside because you are afraid. That should be understandable! Pursuing the legal thing does not seem like a good idea when family is involved because of the hard feelings caused by it. I really hope you do not think I am not feeling your side. And maybe that is why no one else has replied to your post. I do not want you to think I am not sympathetic because I am. But again, this is family and your husbands mother. All men love their moms and I do not think that means he does not love you too! Can you really expect him take sides, even if he agreed with you. That is a difficult place to put him into. I hope this makes sense. And gee this was a long post too! Good luck to you and I am sorry you will probably have to be the one to forget no matter who is right or wrong.