I dont care how damn cute it is Kids Dogs
I Need To Rant... Do you think this is cute?
I make no apologies here, I have stolen these images off the net, and if it makes ONE dog owner or parent see sense and behave more responsibly, Ill do it again.Children and dogs CAN have a fine old time, they really can. I adored dogs from an early age and, though we didnt have one, I was taught how to behave around dogs, just as I was taught how to behave with other children, how to cross the road, not to touch the fire ...
And until I was of an age where I could be trusted to follow those rules and that education on my own, I was not allowed to cross the road alone, be around dogs unsupervised, was not given access to the fire or the kettle or the sharp knives.
So why is it these days I am seeing endless frigging photos of children with dogs, being allowed and often ENCOURAGED to do things to dogs that dogs DONT like, should NOT have to tolerate and that can and sadly does, tend to result in a child being bitten!
I hear really really frequently Oh, the dog lets him climb all over, he rides the dog like a pony, the dog lets him pull his ears and tail, he wanders round with food and if the dog approaches he bops him on the nose and says No!...
"my dog would never hurt our child"...
Really?
Well, thats what Blakes parents thought - heres Blake, hes so cute, that huge wound on his face is pretty cute too dont you think?
You dont? But Blake was just hanging out with a pair of dogs who were eating a bone, in fact, the dogs owners and Blakes parents dont actually know WHICH of the two dogs bit him - do we think this suggests that a/ they were not supervising him and b/ he was too close to the dogs and maybe c/ the dogs should have been left alone to eat their bones?
Ill quote from their own article on this incident, Blake was bitten by a dog:
"is a dog my son is used to walking around with food.. especially hotdogs.. and the dog will try to sniff his food and Blake will tell him no and pop his nose and the dog NORMALLY jumps away as if he is scared. My son rides this dog like a horse.. pulls his tail and ears.. anything you could imagine like that."
Most owners do NOT see the warning signs that a dog is not happy, they do NOT read the body language of a dog avoiding a child, they dont know how to read (or even look for!) tension in the dogs body or mouth. They dont seem to realise that a dog is a sentient being with his own feelings, likes, dislikes, and he or she should NOT ever be considered a childs plaything.
If you want your dog to tolerate your child, you have to teach him how, you have to make him feel that it is rewarding to stay calm and relaxed around the kid... and... you have to prevent the kid doing anything the dog wont like.
Heres a heads up folks - dogs do NOT want to be climbed on, bounced on, hit in the face, have their tails pulled, ears pulled, eyes poked, be sat on, be ridden like a pony, be taunted with food, have their toys snatched from them, have kids climb on them when they are in their beds....
In fact, a lot of dogs find babies and toddlers outright FRIGHTENING. They are unpredictable, they are grabby, they fall down a lot,they make sudden high pitched noises, they smell strange ... and if you think that is weird it is worth remembering, a lot of adult dogs actually freak out at first at puppies. If they find it hard to cope with a juvenile of their OWN species, can you see how a baby of a totally different species could be pretty damn scary?
Dogs do NOT automatically know how to behave around kids, nor should you expect them to. They are not bad dogs if they are fearful, or boisterous or outright aggressive even - they are DOGS and unless you teach them how to be around children or manage them so that they CANNOT get near to children, then accidents like Blakes will happen.
Of course Blake is pretty lucky, hes just got some facial disfigurement. He seems like a pretty happy chap considering what a fright and what pain he has suffered.
None of it was necessary of course, if Blakes parents (and all the other parents who put their children AND their dogs at risk) had just taken some common sense management precautions.
So next time you see a picture like the one at the start of this blog, and you think aww, cute - stop, and remember that it can end up like the picture in the middle and if it does, the chances are the dog ends up like this one:
And thats definitely NOT cute.
