One of my nieces won't meet Harley as she is petrified of dogs, but she wants to be a vet!!!! She will look at Harley through the window, but won't be anywhere near even if she is on lead - her mum (my SIL) grew up with a dog (golden retriever) but is really wary of Harley and won't come near either......my OHs mum is just as bad!! I am lucky that Harley comes to work with me quite often and I work with kids of all ages. Today she came to one of my playschemes - the one where my daughter works - in the lunch break to let her say hi to everyone. She spent over half hour playing with 2 6 years olds, 1 8 year old, 2 12 year olds and a 17 year old (12 & 17 year olds are volunteering for 4 weeks). They loved playing with Harley and getting her to give them paw and kisses. When we left the building there were about 25 kids waiting to go in, several asked if they could say hello and they were really good following instructions, as was Harley. Most parents were really happy to say hi to her too as they know me. One parent commented that she would like to see more people take their dogs places where kids are as it is such a wonderful thing to see them play and to teach children respect for animals
I live in rural Hampshire and have been lucky with children as Hattie was a School gate dog with mostly sensible parents. I am regularly asked by parents can their child stroke Hattie which I am more than happy to do, she sits whilst I ask the child to be gentle and if they like they can give her a treat. If children run up to her I explain that they shouldn't run up to a dog they don't know and should ask their Mum or Dad's permission. On one of my Hospice visits there was a gorgeous little girl about a year old toddling around with her Dad, he asked could she stroke Hattie, I got Hattie to sit and this tiny little girl was so gentle smiling, giggling and enjoyed her time with Hattie, her Dad even took a photo of them together to give his daughter a positive experience. Of course Hattie was more than happy to assist There should be a mutual respect between children and dogs, nobody should think a dog will always take what a child throws at it because you never know what could tip a dog over the edge no matter how well behaved it is. Also not everyone likes dogs, unbelievable I know xx
When I was on holiday in India (Rajastan and Goa) a few years ago, I was impressed with how dogs and people got on. There were tons of what looked to me like strays, no visible owners. Dogs lay around, people walked past them, didn't pay any attention to them. No abuse from what I could see. Of course this was just a holiday, a few weeks, so I can't talk for all of India. But it was so different to home (Cape Town) where some children would run screaming from my boisterous puppy, which made me feel very uncomfortable. Now that Snowie is older and well behaved, I do not feel bad for having him around. A lot of people are terrified of dogs so if I see they are terrified or they tell me, I simply keep him away from them. It isn't so bad now cos he's not that interested in strangers anymore. When he was a puppy, he wanted to say hallo to absolutely everyone, and kids were his favourite. We'd often pass a parent with a toddler who'd ask if their child could pat Snowie. The child would be obviously frightened but clearly the parent saw this as a learning opportunity and insisted. Snowie would wait patiently while the child would scream in his face. Thankfully he did nothing -- and perhaps this was good learning for him to not react to a screaming child -- but when I eventually came to my senses I realised that my gentle, good natured boy didn't have to suffer screaming children just so that the parents could feel better that they had tried. If a child now shows discomfort, I take Snowie away immediately -- why should he have them scream in his face? I must say that it is such a pleasure being around children who are used to big dogs. They are so natural in their interaction and I've noticed the dogs don't get over-excited. When my niece and nephew were younger and would visit us, Snowie would go crazy for my nephew because he would run away screaming (why, I don't know -- they have a Standard Poodle that he wrestles with), while Snowie did nothing to my niece who couldn't care less and simply naturally turned away from him if he raced to her. Thankfully my brother and his wife tell their children to behave themselves and not overreact to the dog! In our local park, there were two old ladies who looked after small dogs and they would berate anyone who made so much as a comment about a dog biting a child (why do people instil such fear????) -- they kept everyone honest in our park!
A grown-up child - I took Coco to the vets last week, and there was a young girl in, observing for her "work experience" - she must have been 14 or 15. Coco was squirming about, and after the examination the vet turned to the girl and said "do you want to say hello, pat him? He's a big softie" She looked terrified and declined as she pressed herself up against the wall behind the table. Me thinks she's chosen the wrong profession for her work experience..
I tend to agree. We got a letter from school saying that dogs tied up outside school need to be far away from the gates as some children are scared walking past them. It annoys me as I have rarely seen a badly behaved dog there (I wouldn't take Jessie as she WOULD leap around and be scary) But the ones I see generally sit there nicely. On the otherside of this, however, the are plenty of owners who do let their dogs run amok. My daughter when a toddler was knocker over twice by dogs jumping up at her. Both times she hadn't approached them and was minding her own business. Both times the owners brushed it off as 'oh he's being friendly'. This made her really quite scared of dogs until we got one.
We pass a park with a good children's play area on our walks so we meet lots of young children with their parents on the way. Ever since Homer was a young puppy we've stopped to let children pet him. If young children point to him and show an interest I often initiate the interaction with "he's friendly, would he/she like to meet him" sometimes added with "he might lick you" or "he's a bit wet" if he's been swimming. I find if I initiate the interaction then the parents are involved and we have a friendly chat, usually along the lines of its good for children to learn how to interact with dogs and not be scared but respectful. Homer has learnt to wait patiently. Homer has come in to school with me on a few occasion. He is very popular and they all want to stroke him, give him cuddles and play ball with him. Out of 100 children there are a small handful who are a bit cautious and two or three were scared although want to be brave and come closer.Then ask when he's coming back so they can meet him again.
I took Shadow into town this morning to do some LAT with dogs. Failed miserably because there were none! Anyhow, as we were leaving the park area, a child of about 6 years growled and barked at him. He didn't respond, good boy. I felt like properly growling at her, but I just glowered instead.
Very mature Ella used to be a bit of a nutter around kids, feeling the need to bounce around them . I'm not sure if she's grown up a bit now or maybe she's decided kids aren't that interesting now that she lives with one but she's definitely calmed down and stopped bouncing (well, most of the time). Ella wanted to tell Willow and Shadow that kids do have their benefits. Poo, spew and food scraps from the high chair provide endless snacking opportunities
As I read through the posts, I believe I've come to realize my real issue is with the adults more so than children. Kids are kids. The way adults react, behave and the things they say will in most cases determine how children learn to behave, feel or respond. I also know there are loads of ignorant or negligent dog owners who aren't trying to train good canine citizens which creates issues on the other end of the spectrum. And lastly, I have only confirmed that I truly do like my Lab better than most people!
My friend has a saying screwed up dog screwed up human we think it applies to human adults and their babies too.
it is the humans holly loves everyone when we got her back we had been told she snapped at the other ladies child...on further investigation said child poked stood on pulled tale flicked her lips regularly (he was 1) my son is 4 and now after a few weeks i see a change in her accepting him she used to literally avoid him not make eye contact and disappear in her crate if he was about but now she is so gentle and she will lie over with her leg up for a tummy scratch and if he takes her tuggy she plays very gentle whereas with us she rips ur arm out the socket big change in her huge and the wee girls in our street are 'scared' of big dogs holly was in the garden one day and they came over hesitantly and i said she wont hurt u shes a big puppy gently stroke her and she will give u a paw....turns out the dad hates dogs and so the girls thought that was the way to be !! defo the humans fault !
