I CRINGE at situations like this.

[JacksonsMom]

And nobody else ever understands.

I never wanna be that insane dog lady, but I guess sometimes I have to be.

We had a 40th bday for my aunt tonight at my uncle's big house. It wasn't terribly huge, but enough people for it to seem crowded. Maybe 30-40 people.

My uncle's got his 6 month old Shepherd, Bailey, and she did great. Loved all the people, and was just really chill and laid back. He kept giving her breaks and putting her in the basement and keeping an eye on her the whole time she was out. Being a good dog owner!

Well, my other uncle (shepherd uncle's brother lol) had a girl over, who he's known for years, dated on and off. She did not want to drive home in the snow so brought her 30lb 8 month old French Bulldog. He seemed sooo big for a Frenchie but he was adorable -full of energy. Dogs wrestled all night.

There was a few kids there. My little sister is 4 and did great - I've taught her, for the most part, how to act around dogs. Other two kids were WAY too grabby and rough and parents don't do ANYTHING. I saw this little girl grabbing the Frenchie (named Capone) face and not letting him go. Hugging him tightly, and all this stuff. Nobody is seeing this - I am. Capone's owner is barely watching her dog. I did tell her and she thanked me and got him for a while. It happened a few more times - being wayyyy too rough. Even though he's a rough and tumble dog and all, kid was just being ridiculous.

So then later when the kid actually WAS petting the dog gently and normally, the dog was DONE with the child and jumped up to bite her in the face (didn't tho), kids mother did see this and grabbed her kid up real quick just in time.

Later in the evening, a few are like "oh that dog is turning aggressive" and my mom got home and was like "that dog was getting really mean!" And I was like... uhmm... dog had a right to be, did you see what that kid was doing? My mom is like "she wasn't doing anything when I saw and he just jumped up and tried to bite her!" and I explained that this is what always happens... if that dog bit a kid, parent would get all pissed, and that's how dogs end up being taken from owners or put down or whatever. My moms like "Oh, that's great, so your sticking up for a dog over a kid..." Psh, you're darn right I am. Mistakes were made on the owner of the dog AND the mother of the child.

I just don't understand why people are such idiots and then I suddenly am made out to be the PETA loving animal freak or something? OK, sorry if I just have common sense. (Btw, I am NOT a fan of PETA lol, but my step-dad kind of jokingly says one day I'm going to join them... ok, just because I care for the well fare of dogs, and other animals ). And I'm not even THAT crazy when it comes to animals - at least out in public, lol. But I will speak up if necessary.

It's why I did not bring Jackson over there. WAY too much going on. And if I had, and child treated my dog like that, I would've yelled at child and parent and given them the what for. lol. Basically, none of these people are bad people, in fact Capone's owner was really into her dog and treats him very well - she's always got him at the vet when he needs to be, gets him exercise, out and about, takes him to the dog park and all that. It's just tonight she was too distracted and not paying enough attention.

UGH. Vent over.

 

[sillysally]

I have a brother and sister in law that are awful this way. They let their kids drag around and man handle dogs and keep get getting "outside" dogs that they don't fence in and don't contain. They have had 4 dogs get hit by cars. The last one was a fantastic little yellow lab mix pup that I absolutely adored. I seriously considered trying to buy him from them. I found out last month that he too had been killed by a car several months ago, but mom hadn't told me because she knew how upset I would be. RIP Tex.

Of course if I say anything, it's just because I'm a crazy dog person. Thankfully, my mom and stepdad have started somewhat speaking up at this point-I'm just hoping to God they stop getting dogs!

 

[Barb04]

You did the right thing. The parents should be teaching the child right and wrong.

 

[JacksonsMom]

I have a brother and sister in law that are awful this way. They let their kids drag around and man handle dogs and keep get getting "outside" dogs that they don't fence in and don't contain. They have had 4 dogs get hit by cars. The last one was a fantastic little yellow lab mix pup that I absolutely adored. I seriously considered trying to buy him from them. I found out last month that he too had been killed by a car several months ago, but mom hadn't told me because she knew how upset I would be. RIP Tex.

Of course if I say anything, it's just because I'm a crazy dog person. Thankfully, my mom and stepdad have started somewhat speaking up at this point-I'm just hoping to God they stop getting dogs!

Ugh, so sad. I know people like this. People who claim to be dog lovers, and then just keep getting new dogs and getting rid of old ones, or not even taking care of ones they have... it's just so sad.

And yep, of course, we are just the crazy dog people.

 

[sassafras]

You did the right thing. I've taken to, close to the beginning of the evening but after I realize what's going on, saying something like "Who wants to bet me $10 that those kids are gonna wear out that poor puppy and get snapped at by the end of the night? Anyone? ANYONE?"

Pre-emptive strike seems to work at least part of the time, at least some of the people sorta pay attention to what's going on because now they're curious. And if anything DOES happen people are more sympathetic to the dog when I can dangle an "Well what did you expect? I TOLD YOU SO!" over their heads.

 

[Miakoda]

I was just discussing with my mom last night how I don't even let my kids put their faces in our own dogs' faces. I work with my kids on how to properly interact with their doggies. They know how to pet them. They know when to pet and when to leave them be.

Of course, my kids are just 5, 3, & almost 2, so they still do things that are "no-nos". That's why it's MY job as their mother to supervise and make corrections as needed.

(Of course, my job is made that much more difficult since one of my APBTs is an absolute attention-***** with the kids and always puts himself right in the middle of them...or squirms underneath them...in an effort to love on them and get them to play with him. )

 

[Snark]

Ugh, poor dog... My sister's kids love dogs but she watches them with an eagle eye and makes sure I'm around before they're allowed to approach Riley. They're good kids and are willing to sit back and ask questions about dogs in general, and Riley, in particular, so they know what he's comfortable with.

 

[Moth]

It always amazes me how most people seem to expect dogs to accept anything a kid dishes out with saintly patience *sigh*

Folks need to learn that all dogs have a threshold!

I often have to control myself so I do not end up saying something like "Control your offspring."

 

[ThoseWordsAtBest]

You were right. You are much more patient than I as well. My tolerance level for messing with dogs, especially my dogs, runs very low. It completely stops when there is a child involved with a parent not paying attention, and a dog involved with an owner not paying attention. A kid is gonna get a bite they're not going to understand, and a dog is going to reap the consequences by adults who don't understand.

I have two bomb proof dogs that I stop by a daycare in our neighborhood to let the kids pet them. They like the attention, the kids like the dogs. The ONLY reason I stop because it doesn't all fall on me. The owner of the daycare is awesome and half the time when a kid does something even slightly inappropriate she's on it as I'm opening my mouth. She explains to them very simply why what they're doing is not OK and if they do it again they don't get to pet the dog anymore.

 

[Sweet72947]

I tend to cringe a little inside when I see dogs at parties in general. The people don't pay attention to what their dogs are doing most of the time. I went to a halloween party once and there were three dogs there dressed in costumes. Two of them seemed to do ok but there was a black lab throwing off calming signals left and right and looking pretty stressed about all the people and noise. The lab kept coming over to me for comfort, poor guy. The other dogs eventually started looking tired too and if they were mine I would have put them up for the night until the party was over. People don't realize that a lot of dogs get tired and stressed out a lot faster than humans from lots of activity and noise. Heck even I get tired after a couple of hours at a large gathering, but I can leave when I want to. Dogs can't.

I remember one other time I was with a group of friends and we went to this one friend's house to see her horses and they also had like six dogs (golden retriever and a bunch of aussies). There was one dog who was kinda skittish, and my friend's kid, who I think was 6 at the time, started staring the dog in the eyes and following her around like that, and the dog ran back and forth around my friend getting more and more nervous as this kid at eye-level stared her in the eyes. To the kid it was just a game, but to the dog it was a threatening gesture. This continued several minutes with noone but me paying attention, until the dog let out a fearful bark+snarlish noise. That of course got people's attention. I spoke up and said it was because the kid was staring the dog in the eyes which he shouldn't ever do. Nobody really said anything, but I hope my friend listened and taught her kid not to do that anymore. Nobody was bitten, but it wouldn't have been surprising if it had happened (well, at least not to me).

Sometimes, I'm surprised dogs don't bite people more!

 

[JacksonsMom]

I was just discussing with my mom last night how I don't even let my kids put their faces in our own dogs' faces. I work with my kids on how to properly interact with their doggies. They know how to pet them. They know when to pet and when to leave them be.

Of course, my kids are just 5, 3, & almost 2, so they still do things that are "no-nos". That's why it's MY job as their mother to supervise and make corrections as needed.

(Of course, my job is made that much more difficult since one of my APBTs is an absolute attention-***** with the kids and always puts himself right in the middle of them...or squirms underneath them...in an effort to love on them and get them to play with him. )

Exactly! I live with my 4 year old sister and I brought Jackson in when she was not even a year old yet.

I know Jackson's limits... I know when he's ready for her to leave him alone, or when he WANTS to play, or is enjoying her lovin'. So of course I don't set him up to fail. He has given her a warning growl one time and my back was turned. And he is the most tolerant dog EVER when it comes to her especially. But even he has his limits, just like ANY dog, and that was completely my fault for not paying enough attention.

And, LOL, in my experiences, every pittie I've met is a complete attention wh*re, haha. Love it.

 

[JacksonsMom]

You were right. You are much more patient than I as well. My tolerance level for messing with dogs, especially my dogs, runs very low. It completely stops when there is a child involved with a parent not paying attention, and a dog involved with an owner not paying attention. A kid is gonna get a bite they're not going to understand, and a dog is going to reap the consequences by adults who don't understand.

I have two bomb proof dogs that I stop by a daycare in our neighborhood to let the kids pet them. They like the attention, the kids like the dogs. The ONLY reason I stop because it doesn't all fall on me. The owner of the daycare is awesome and half the time when a kid does something even slightly inappropriate she's on it as I'm opening my mouth. She explains to them very simply why what they're doing is not OK and if they do it again they don't get to pet the dog anymore.

Oh, yeah, if it had been Jackson - I would have FLIPPED at that kid. LOL. I kept thinking it wasn't my job or my place to referee the situation. It's why I did not bring my dog because I wanted to relax and NOT have to worry. Nobody messes with my dog, that's for sure.

 

[sassafras]

God I never let my dogs out of my (or my husband's) sight if we are visiting someone else's home with them and manners are strictly enforced on both sides (my dogs and any people who are there). I'm not sure I would bring them to a party, but I have brought 1-2 of them at a time to family gatherings (which is maybe what this part was more like?).

 

[JacksonsMom]

God I never let my dogs out of my (or my husband's) sight if we are visiting someone else's home with them and manners are strictly enforced on both sides (my dogs and any people who are there). I'm not sure I would bring them to a party, but I have brought 1-2 of them at a time to family gatherings (which is maybe what this part was more like?).

No, this was more of a party.... I typically bring Jackson with me when we go to family gatherings, and have no issue, as our family knows how to act around him, and I know his limits, etc, but this included lots of my aunts old friends from HS and a bunch of people who I had no idea who they were lol.

 

[ThoseWordsAtBest]

Oh, yeah, if it had been Jackson - I would have FLIPPED at that kid. LOL. I kept thinking it wasn't my job or my place to referee the situation. It's why I did not bring my dog because I wanted to relax and NOT have to worry. Nobody messes with my dog, that's for sure.

LOL People should see how bad I hulk out at people at work over the dogs there. For some reason people think it's a really good idea to bring kids with no manners around dogs into the kennel and let them run around sticking their hands in kennels and yelling "SHUT UP" at barking dogs. It's my job to look out for them, so I'm on people like flies on stink. I'd be a good referee for any dog related venue.

 

[AliciaD]

Next time you should just randomly start hugging people, touching their faces, pulling their ears, yelling and screaming in their face about how cute they are. That'll show 'em.

 

[WackyJacki]

Unfortunately, many people expect dogs to understand the "human" world and act accordingly. They take any "incident" as the dog's fault, not the humans lack of training/understanding/managing. It really is sad and frustrating because of a lot of people, kids in particular, get unnecessarily hurt.

My two have never, ever shown aggression towards people and my little one actually *loves* having a ton of people around. However, after they get to greet and say "hi" to everyone, I put them in their crates with a Kong and keep them there. I may let them out again for more supervised visits with the dog people who want to love on them, but that's it.

 

[*blackrose]

This is one good thing I can say about my family - even those that aren't "animal people" completely understand that if a kid is pestering a dog, that child deserves to get bit. I don't understand how people can put their dogs in those kind of situations and not step in when the dog starts to get stressed out.