SalemsMom
Posted : 5/23/2008 12:59:46 PM
One of my bad experiences was at the Farmers Market as well. I was there with DH and Salem (this was before Cheza) and out of nowhere this little girl runs up screaming "Doggie!" and grabs at his privates for a squeeze and then proceeds to pull his tail. I was absolutely shocked. Salem loves children so I didn't panic or anything, but he was uncomfortable justifiably so. I normally wouldn't allow anything like that to happen, but she totally caught me off guard. I grabbed her by the hand and went looking for her parent. Luckily one of the farmers market workers saw where the child came from. The mother had no clue her child was missing. I tried to tell her how dangerous it was for her child to approach a strange dog, and tried to explain to her the appropriate way to greet a dog after asking, but she didn't listen at all. her response was that no one would bring a mean dog out. I know plenty of very nice dogs that wouldn't put up with a child grabbing there privates. Salem is an exception.
Just a few weeks ago this guy had his kids in the dog park. They were totally out of control. One of them had a toy that he didn't want any of the dogs to touch, but he was throwing it all over the park. When a dog would try to take it he would throw gravel at them. Another was just running around, and this is a park with a lot of herders and a lot of puppies (mine included) so he was being chased which upset him and his father greatly. There was also a toddler that was knocked down by a group of dogs. Luckily she wasn't seriously injured. I don't mind kids in the dog park, but it's a DOG park, not a playground. It's not safe for them to be unsupervised and just like you need to have control of your dog, you need to have control of your child.