Would you take your young child to pick out a dog?

Saw this on CL...

When I foster dogs and a family wants to adopt my foster, I usually suggest to meet the parents (sans kids) and any dogs they have first. Once the parents okay it, and there are no doggy aggression issues, THEN we arrange a time for the kids to meet the dog.

I suppose it depends on the individual kid immensely, but with my first foster a little boy just ADORED the dog, and wanted so badly to take it home. He walked it, cuddled it, loved it...and then parents decided they weren't interested because he was too small of a dog, and the kid was heartbroken, sobbing on the way out of my house. The kid was going to latch onto any dog...the parents could have chosen one and then presented it to the kid.

It's different if the kid can understand and grasp the idea that meeting a dog doesn't mean taking it home--but I don't know if 5 is the right age for that. Am I off here?

Yes, I would and DID take my kids to look at dogs in the shelter......it's how we ended up with Phoebe as a matter of fact, LOL. If we hadn't taken the kids, I doubt Phoebe would have gotten a second glance from us because she could've care LESS about me and Kevin........she was solely interested in entertaining us for the kids' sake We did actually walk right by her kennel.........she barked and wagged, we went back, she sat pretty and calmly.........we started walking away, she barked and wagged again, we came back, she sat pretty, LOL, it was quite comical to see all she wanted was to play with the kids NAO!

I can understand where you are going/coming from with this, but IMO it's another life lesson. Kids need MANY MANY of those in all forms. That little boy who left your place crying, and the parents stuck to their decision? I say KUDOS! Examples:
1. We don't alway get our way
2. Sometimes hard decisions must be made
3. The right thing is sometimes painful, but it doesn't make it less right
4. No need to jump at the first choice that comes along in life, find the right fit

And there are probably MORE I'm not thinking of, LOL I am sure if/when that little boy got the dog he'd been waiting for he loved it with all his heart and it made it worth the wait!

No. I would not. I would be so distracted making sure the young child was not trying to touch any of the dogs, or being active or impatient. I like to talk with a dog for a long time before I make up my mind. I like to go out if possible and spend some one on one. I would not want a small child around a dog that I did not know. I woudlnt' even have a young child around the dog for some time after he/she were brought home. I made a mistake with that Casey Whiskey cat and look how that turned out. I thought the cat liked Hyia well enough and they seemed fine for two days. Now she still has bright red scars where he bit her in the face. SHould have used the same sense for a cat that i would have used for a dog. Hyia isn't even that little. WHat if it had been her eye!

Oh no, in that situation it was a good idea for the parents not to get the dog--if they didn't want it, they shouldn't have gotten it, regardless of what the boy wanted. Totally agree there. I wonder how often it goes the other way though as well? That the kid wants the dog, so the parents get it, even though it's not the right fit for the family?

I was always a part of picking out pets growing up, but we didn't get any animals until I was 9 or 10 or so--old enough to understand what was going on.

I haven't been around little kids in a long time, so I'm really not sure what a 5 year old is like--maybe that's an appropriate age to do something like this with.

I was 11 years old and picked out Lizzie. She was going to be my dog, and with my parents guidence, I looked through all the puppies the shelter/HS had and picked out Lizzie.

I think it depends on the situation, honestly. I could see where some instances it might be a bad idea to have a child there, but sometimes it won't hurt anything.

The shelter where I grew up had no holds... so you either bring the whole family now, or risk the pet being gone later.

I was 5 and 6 when we picked out our first two cats... my sister and I understood that we were going to look and may not leave with anything and that second it was my parents choice if we did take one home... we could point out cats we liked and voice our opinions about the cats they were looking at but in the end THEY were choosing the pet not us.

It worked fine.

I guess it depends on the parents and the kids.

I'd bring the kids, but they won't always get their way and sometimes they might have to go thru the unpleasant experience of disappointment, which is my job as a parent to see they learn from that. Or it could go perfectly and those hard lessons can be saved for another day.

I'm with Coop all the way. Especially at a shelter...maybe in a home/foster enviroment with only one dog it would be different, but I think going to the shelter is a good family experience, you can see how the dogs react towards the kids, and if they're older get their input.

If I had a very young child (under six or so) I would definately want someone else to come along, so while I spoke to the shelter workers and concentrated on picking the right dog, someone would keep an eye on the kid and prevent them from sticking their fingers where they shouldn't, etc.

i can see both sides of this...

however, my parents took me and we went to a few..didn't get to pick one i wanted at first either, was sad, but was fine and moved on , and then we found one who i fell in love with and it was mutual, so my parents picked it because of me and now it loves all of us equally.

Totally I would take my child.

I firmly agree with all those who said it's very important for children to learn the the final decision is their parents' and NOT theirs, to learn to handle disappointment, and that we don't always get everything we want.

OK, seeing that would have broken my heart too.

BUT ... it's entirely possible those parents knew their little boy, who seemed so caring to you, but maybe is too rambunctious at home and might accidently hurt a too-small dog at some point. If so, they made the responsible decision, even though it was heart-breaking for you to witness.

Also, you didn't mention his age range .... but literally sobbing on the way out of your home does seem to indicate that little boy needs some help in learning how to more appropriately handle disappointment. It is totally age-dependent though ... if he was only 5 or 6 that could be why his reaction was so extreme.

Yeah, he appeared about kindergarten age. The response didn't seem age inappropriate for him. If he were 10, I would have said it was a big issue!

I think sometimes it's more of a "maturity" issue, parenting issue, and even individual personality issue. I have seen 8-10 year olds have a crying jag over not getting something they wanted, and seen 3-4 year olds take the news, be sad but accept it and move forward without a big fit.

We have FIVE kids in this house, they've all been parented the same way (at least for the last 11 years, LOL) and EACH of them will handle disappointment in their own way at any given age. They aren't prone to crying fits because they know it won't work on either of us, but I have seen them stomp off, be grouchy, and sometimes even a tear will spill down a cheek uncontrolled...........but at least they learn to deal with it and move on.

I want the kids to meet the dog, because I want to make sure the dog reacts well to the kids. So Yes.. the kids come to meet the dog. Besides, I think that how they handle/parent their children, gives me MUCH needed information on how they will handle a dog. If their kid is out of control, I say BYE BYE!

Yes I would take my children. I couldn't bring home a dog without it ever seeing my children and seeing it's immediate reaction to seeing a child. How could I determine if it were a right fit for our family without it meeting the entire family?

I would most definitely bring my child

To be fair, the dogs I foster do meet the children before the adoption paperwork is finalized. That's obviously a huge step--the question is whether it's the first step.

And if the parents want to bring the kids the first time, that's fine, I leave it up to them--I just suggest that I'm happy to meet with them twice if they want to prevent the kids from being attached to the dog before they are comfortable with the specific animal.

well yeah I guess it depends on the circumstances. in a situation like that yeah I might go first and then bring hannah later but I was thinking more along the lines of a shelter where you kind of only get one chance or the dog is taken by another family.

People bring their children all the time to FOHA to pick out a pet. And happily, we rarely have a problem with stray kids or anything . I have seen some stupid things though, like a parent telling their four year old boy to "hug the doggie and see if he likes you." :yikes: Luckily this dog was a happy-go lucky hound dog that would sooner chew his own foot off than bite a human. (We are very selective in which dogs we will show to families with young children for this reason!)

You mean FOHA's never had anyone come in and say "We just had a new puppy and so we need you to re-home this kid." ??