Just watching the eyes on one of the dogs and thinking this is a recipe for disaster.

One of my best friends daughters has a Pitty. One day my friend showed me a video of her (then) year old grandson crawling all over the dogs bed. Eventually the dog got up & left … My friend was absolutely beaming with delight, and she & her daughter just thought this was “the cutest darned thing ever” … I politely but carefully warned her that allowing the grandbaby to crawl all over the dogs bed was a really bad idea – as was allowing the child to play with the dog toys, or crawl over toward the dog food/water dishes, etc. That I didn’t want to sound the alarm bells – but what I saw in the video was a stressed-out pup. Well, she wasn’t pleased. She informed me that her daughter “was right there the entire time” and that the dog was as gentle as they come. I pointed her toward some YouTube videos of other peoples whose children were doing the same thing, and the devastating consequences that occurred as a result … that those parents were also “right there,” videoing the kids & the dog(s) when the incidents occurred. I also told her about the Corgi that killed a 7 yo boy a few years ago … After that, her daughter moved the dog outside. But, they don’t train or spend quality time with the dog, and are clueless about dog behavior – and apparently don’t believe it’s necessary to teach their child (now children) about respect for animals. They continually anthropomorphize their dogs behavior … so, I’ve had several careful conversations with my friend about this. Thankfully, she’s starting to really listen a little more carefully – but oy vey …

We have some people in our life group (from church) who have Australian Shepherds and allow their grandkids to get in the dogs faces, “ride” or rough-house with the dogs, etc. I tried to talk carefully to them about their dogs & grandkids and respect … and was told, “we’ve had Aussie’s for 25 years, I think we know what we’re doing.”

Well, that’s a pretty dangerous mindset to have, and I hear it all the time. But, at the beginning & ending of every single day, a dog is an animal. Respect their animalness.

Unfortunately, certain types people simply refuse to listen because they always know more than the trainer …