Idiot Parents - Caution - Rant

For some reason these stories reminded me of the poodles and my Grandma always had when I was a child. They were adorable and fluffy, but spent most of their day with senior citizens. Both my sister and myself were very dog savvy as children, because we had been taught from a early age how to behave around dogs. Grandma's poodles were used to us and loved us, but I knew better then to scoop them up, or lunge at them. In general I left them alone, unless they approached me for attention. They never ever snapped at me.
 
Sadly some of my cousins were total idiots around dogs. Poor Grandma and poodles, those visits must have been total nightmares for them. My idiot cousins would stick their faces next to the dogs when they were on grandma's lap, drag them off the backs of chairs, bug the dogs while they were eating, take their toys, and as a result were snapped at more then once. One of my Grandma's very shy females was labled "the mean old lady dog" by my cousins and had to be shut in the bedroom while my cousins visited because she had bitten them before. She was fine with my sister and I, but if the cousins came over, we always put her away.
 
I stopped to visit my grandma and her very elderly poodle a few days ago. He is her last one, and is almost sixteen with poor eyesight. Mikey  has not been around be for months, but still remembers and loves me. He had to sit next to me on the couch and kept giving me little kisses.

ORIGINAL: spiritdogs

 Thankfully, a fourth instructor saw the incident, so no one will be blamed for intimidating little Lord Fauntleroy, hopefully.

[]  I cracked up when I read that.
You handled that really well. I think I woulda had a meltdown! Way to go for keeping that dog in your play group...no thanks to Lord Fauntleroy( =) )

Actually, the dog in question belongs to one of our instructors, and she is extremely well behaved, and has several agility titles.  But, I am not the supervisor of that particular group (I was there with my little speckled monster just to play). Plus, we don't own the place and don't make the rules. We do have good rules, they just don't get followed, and we are always having to walk the line between keeping everyone safe, including the dogs (after all, the play time is for them), and not offending anyone to the point where they badmouth us to their friends - the owner really frowns on that.
But, in the general scheme of things, I would certainly rather be fired than have a good dog (especially a regular well-behaved attendee) abused by some little twirp who will come there maybe three times, if that.
The thing that makes me mad is that their dog will have to suffer through life with these kids while the parents just let it happen.  And, if the dog someday decides he's had enough, he could end up on death row.[:@]

so, was this playgroup for her kids or her dog? why would she take kids to a dog playgroup to begin with, i know darn well from experience you cannot possibly keep an eye on your dog and 2 kids at the same time. that poor dog...

This is a play group for dogs - the owners must stay and police their own dog's activities, and we are there for safety and to break up any tiffs that might occur before they get serious.  In the four plus years that I've been there, I have managed to avoid having any major incidents - mostly just the occasional sharp puppy tooth scraping an ear, etc.  I'd like to keep it that way.  I think the reason people bring their kids is that they don't think this is an important enough activity to warrant hiring a sitter to watch their kids for an hour, or maybe the hubby won't do it for wifey to go off to the doggy social.  And, if the kids are over age 10, it's usually fine.  But, the little ones cannot sit still in a chair for an hour.  And, even though the boss leaves coloring books, etc., they are dusty as he&& and I would be embarrassed to tell a mom to stick her kid at that filthy table (dust, dog hair, slobber, blechhh!) to color.  Unfortunately, preschoolers aren't really good at following directions sometimes, either.  They do right for a while, then they forget and are back to sitting on the floor.  It's one reason I take my hound to any therapy visits with kids that age - he's bombproof.

Oh crud I feel for the dog who is living with these kids. It's obvious mom hasn't taught respect.

Some people are so stupid they shouldn't be allowed to breed.  Many more are so stupid they shouldn't be allowed to vote.

ORIGINAL: probe1957

Some people are so stupid they shouldn't be allowed to breed. 

 
Unfortunately, there's no mandatory spay/neuter programs for these people.[]

I swear, times have really changed. When I was younger, we were told not to mess with the dog. Leave the dog alone when it's eating, sleeping or playing with it's favorite toy. Don't pull the dogs tail, don't yank on its' ears, don't try to ride it like a horse, don't tease the dog and don't follow it if it's trying to hide. If we got bit, no one got all offended and huffy because the "big bad dog bit my precious child". No, we got our arses kicked for messing with the dog and were told we deserved to get bitten and now we learned a lesson as to why we're supposed to leave the dog alone.

"Stay away from that dog. Chows bite!"

 
My husband told me the day he met Willow tied to the tree there were little kids running up and petting her and feeding her and she was fine.
 
And, she was fine with kids even when she first came to us.  That was until the 3-year-old little girl next door suddenly decided to slap her (and I do mean slap, hard) in the face while she was petting her.  She never forgot that and now will not even look at a child without growling.  And, no, the mom, my lovely neighbor did nothing. 

There is seriously some sort of horrible child epidemic. Today at the dog beach I noticed a little kid running around and Louise was a saint for ignoring him. Another owner told me that the family with the kid had just gotten their dog a few weeks ago and all they do at the dog beach is let the child terrorize the poor dog by chasing him.

"She never forgot that and now will not even look at a child without growling."
 
This may be generalizing but I think Chows have long memories. Tasha had a couple of pre-teen boys on skateboards torment her at the fence and although we've done a lot to re-socialize her with nice pre-teen boys, then added skateboards etc., I don't fully trust her in that situation. The monsters have since moved but I really, really wouldn't trust her around them.
 
She's never had a problem with girls and normally, I'd trust her, but she tolerates rather than loves kids. Right after surgery IMO NO dog is trustworthy and I didn't want her to have to tolerate any more than she already had been through.

 Thankfully, a fourth instructor saw the incident, so no one will be blamed for intimidating little Lord Fauntleroy, hopefully

 
 
I couldn't help but laugh at that name.  I don't know if it's because I work with the public, I'm getting older or just less patience in general but I have days that when the gate holding the stupid people finally breaks - I find that I need meds lol   
 

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......

 
All I can say is AMEN! lol  Good boy Thor []

ORIGINAL: meilani

I swear, times have really changed. When I was younger, we were told not to mess with the dog. Leave the dog alone when it's eating, sleeping or playing with it's favorite toy. Don't pull the dogs tail, don't yank on its' ears, don't try to ride it like a horse, don't tease the dog and don't follow it if it's trying to hide. If we got bit, no one got all offended and huffy because the "big bad dog bit my precious child". No, we got our arses kicked for messing with the dog and were told we deserved to get bitten and now we learned a lesson as to why we're supposed to leave the dog alone.

 
times have not changed so much in my house, that is our general rule regarding our 3 yo and the dog, and it will be the same for the newbie too. my mom has commented to me before that my dog was going to bite ally (although she is good to him and he does not bite!) and i always tell her if he does she will have deserved it.

I'm really worried that my friend's 4 yr old is going to get it one of these days.  They have an 8 month old St. Bernard who the kid hits in the face.  He has swung his hands at Sally's face before (thankfully she just squinted her eyes ducked her head, and waited for rescue) and recently picked Jack up by the neck and dragged him across the floor (the first time I've ever heard DH be that stern with a kid before).  Luckily he has been around dogs who patiently live with it, but I worry that may not always be the case.....