Idiot Parents - Caution - Rant

Geeze, is it something in the air?  Santa must not be watching all these little hellions! Kudos to your friend's dog for being as patient as caninely possible. I am always flabbergasted when I see kids mistreating animals like this and the parents do NOTHING at all--no reprimand, no swat on the fanny, no yanking the kids away--NOTHIG. Then the parent glares at YOU when you suggest that little Timmy or Susy stop pounding Fido on the head with a block, Frisbee, rock, stone, etc. (shakes head).

FWIW, there are a dozen great kids out there for every hellion.Also, some of these hellions actually grow up to be vets or (gasp!) trainers! LOL

Yeah, we had Jack at a friends house and not only did her 4 yr old try to RIDE him (he's a 4 month old lab) even after being repeatedly told not to but he tried to carry him around by his neck.  When DH yelled at him to stop and his mom looked to see what it was, the kid claimed he was "petting" him.

well that is the reason for about 60-65 percent of my case load each year....... A couple of options would be signs printed with words/graphics (children seated and an icon)  there are free pictures/icons at [linkhttp://www.do2learn.com]www.do2learn.com[/link] .  Make up another set of the same rules printed on index cards for the families.  Prior to the play group starting or the new arrivals entering, take the family or the group of all kids through the rules with you saying them, they say them again with you and then say them without you, and then singling out a couple kids to say a rule.  You can get it done in about 5 minutes. If you consider the cards disposable, the kids can take them home.  The rules could be location specific or include basic safety around dogs. The benefit beyond setting up a very clear expectation for the kids, the entire group knows the rules and can act as cues for the kids.

I really subscribe to the "takes a village" idea.  This could really make a difference for some of those kids once they walk out you door.  In may indirectly influence the parents as well.

I took Tasha to the vet Friday. There was one other dog waiting to be checked in for surgery. A woman and her child (about 8 or 9) brought their cat in for a spay. Mom sets the cat on the bench with child and goes to talk to the receptionist. Child is then opening the cat's carrier in front of two strange dogs.
 
Receptionist: "She needs to stay in the carrier until she's in the back room"
 
Mom "Oh she's just petting her".
 
Meanwhile child fully opens carrier and cat makes a mad dash for it and leaps onto the magazine rack. Child runs smack into the other dog to "rescue" kitty. Mom then realizes there's a problem so SHE TELLS THE CHILD TO GO OUTSIDE, thus giving kitty an opportunity to rush through an open door into traffic.
 
Fortunately kitty did not rush through the door. Fortunately neither dog hated children or cats. Child wasn't bit. Calm returned.
 
We had the misfortune of picking up Tasha at the same time they were waiting to pick up kitty. I was leading Tasha from the exam room and the child came rushing up to her. I asked her to not pet the dog because she'd just had surgery and wasn't feeling well. Mom shrilly said, "Stay away from that dog. Chows bite!" At that particular moment I was too busy with Tasha to say anything except, "Any dog that just had surgery could bite".
 
That child is a dog bite waiting to happen. Unfortunately some poor dog may well be put to sleep over the mother's actions.
 
And people like that are why my dogs never go to Petco or PetSmart.

I feel you on stupid parents Anne...even worse...are stupid adults in general!  You wouldn't believe how many ADULTS just walk up to Strauss and start petting him!  On the one hand "Whoopy! You're not afraid of my GSD!"  On the other hand "He's a GSD, they're wary of strangers, you should be more cautious."

Although as a refreshing story, Strauss and I spent a good two hours in Petsmart yesterday.  There was a woman there with her little boy (No more than a year and a half to two I'd wager, he couldn't talk, but he could walk), and she saw Strauss and said "Oh!   What a beautiful dog!  May we say hello?"  I said of course, and they had a nice time of petting him.

Shortly thereafter, they went to wander the store, and all of a sudden, as we're checking out the rats, here comes the little boy with mom trying to catch up.  Well, he ran straight for Strauss (who I watched, but was not overly concerned with).  When it appears the kid isn't going to stop, Strauss gets up....and runs to the kid and licks him in the face!  Of course, the kid honked his nose and grabbed him by the cheeks...didn't stop Mouse any, he just licked the boy more.

The mother apologized profusely and was trying to explain to the child that you can't do that (Though he was much too young to understand, I very much appreciated the show of an effort), and she patted Strauss on the head and complimented me on the fact that I Had such a lovely stable dog, and they left the store.

Now, had that been Ranger being rushed, we would have immediately turned and headed to another aisle.  Ranger is old, crotchety, and wasn't raised with young kids.  He came around at a year old and lived with teenagers.  He tries to be patient, but with his arthritis, you get little more than a growl before you get bit (and who can blame him...in this cold weather the arthritis must be hell on his old bones).  I don't muzzle him because he doesn't bite without provocation (and he really doesn't go out much anymore anyway).

I'm very happy that I have such a good dog in Strauss (Range is good too, but you know what I mean), that understands that little children aren't a threat, they just want to say hi.  While I DO stop it (usually i'm good at preventing, but everybody misses sometimes), Strauss is very tolerant of nose honking, cheek grabbing, tail pulling, being crawled on, having his tootsies accidentally stepped on, having his ears played with...one kid even accidentally poked him in the eye.  He never growls, he just looks to me for direction and allows me to take care of it.

That went on longer than I intended.  Either way, I DO feel for you Anne, and there are more idiots than goodun's, but just wait a few days and I'm sure a good one will cross your path.  Honestly, I meet so many dipsticks it just makes me appreciate the good parents more!  

I probably would have gone all alpha on them and "asked" them to leave after the third problem. It's an odd dichotomy that she will expend some effort to take her dogs to training class but won't train her kids.
 
Maybe the kids can be rewarded for good behavior. Give them a treat if they will sit and behave. Let them discover, through operant conditioning, the joys of obedience by equalling to something good. All organisms seek something good. Lead the kids down to a sit with a treat. Get them to hush, with a treat or a chance to play later. Turn and ignore if they won't quit jumping about.
 
Of course, any of that would require an active interest of the parent wanting to train and shape the behavior of the kids and that desire may be absent.
 

Holy Crap Anne, you handled that much better than I would have.  First good thing about my two is that they won't let just anyone touch them.  They're much to "squirrely" for that.  And they've got the "stay out of range and bark until master comes to save me" behavior down pat.  But if cornered, I don't want to know what would happen. 

I live out in the sticks, but that didn't stop kids from screaming at my dogs when riding by on their bikes, or when the parents would drive by while kids hanging out the car windows doing it. Those LOVELY kids are teenagers now, and God only knows what they get into now.
 
I wanted to strangle the little monsters, but realized, had the parents been responsible that would have never happened.

I understand your anger, having a new puppy is like having a walking child magnet. I am lucky that I can borrow 4 different aged kids from 5 to 10, different personalities and the like to work with Kord. I also have a neighbor who has 2 older females and a girlfriend with 2 younger dogs that Kord can play with in my own backyard. They have fun and the setting is completely under control as we all know the boy is learning and the other dogs are dogs I personally know.
 
Since I work in a Psychologists office, I shudder to think of what some of them could do to a pet.
 
Dawn

The worst I've ever had is the heathenistic kid who I got stuck with in my home for several hours.  This little monster decided to beat Thor on the head with his sandles....after I caught the holy terror and put him in time out, Thor promptly ate the little brats sandles......

Perhaps the playgroup needs a new rule that no kids are allowed until they take a class on how to behave around dogs?

This used to happen with my Mom's shih tzu all the time.  She was great with most kids, but wasn't very tolerant of the ones who would approach her suddenly and scoop her up.  Yes she's small, yes she loves to be held, but NOOO she doesn't like to be picked up without warning and squeezed tightly. 

I also see it with my Aunts dog (a boston terrier, and something else mix that she adopted).  He's got a wonderful temperment (and lives with a young kid), but the kids that visit just beat on him.  When I was over on Turkey day, Patches (his name) kept running to me for protection (despite what he was going through he'd just run away and/or find an adult he knew to help him out....if I were him I would have just bitten the brats who were pounding his head with toys).  The parents did nothing except occasionally say "oooh dont do that dear".  I really wanted to take the toy and bang it over both the parents and the kids heads and ask how they liked it!  Needless to say me and Patches spent a lot of time together that night...poor guy.  He really loves kids, but the kids that were visiting that day (and their parents) really just had no sense what-so-ever on how to properly play and treat a dog.

I'd second Jen's idea...If that had been my playgroup I likely would've covered the rules once and on the second event w/ no response from the mom, she would've been told politely to please leave since, while her dog is under control, her kids are not and I'm afraid for their safety. Alternately they could be put in kennels.[]

Maggie is a therapy dog and we visit a special ed classroom each week; none of those kids, several with impulse control issues, would *ever* grab Maggie like that. Of course she's never unsupervised with them, but still if children who have difficulty communicating with others can leanr proper behavior around dogs, so can children with none of the hurdles to overcome.

That does bring up a question - how did the kid ever get so far as to drag the dog around? As much as the kid was the one at fault and should've been better controlled, I would've thought that the instructor would've at least been keeping one eye on her dog, especially with such a brat around.

What is it with these idiots and their kids?!?!?!?  OMG!  Are they coming out of the wood works because of the holidays! 
Yesterday I had a kid screaming bloody murder at the dog park because playing dogs ran past her! 
I'm at a toatl loss for words.  I'm just glad that she left and the dog won't be labeled.  I think I'll be getting a report from the ranger that was called by the female dog I encountered at the dog park!
What really gets me is some people STILL wonder why I prefer dogs to most people.  Geeze!!