Why aren't parents teaching their children to respect animals?
It never fails to amaze me as to how ignorant so many parents are when it comes to their children's safety.
As a responsible dog owner, I go out of my way to ensure that my dogs are at ease in their surroundings, and well behaved. Generally we don't meet many people as I live in a pretty isolated area, but I do like to take them to parkland occasionally and walk them individually around a village or small town just to socialise them. It is on these occasions that I meet families. The children usually run towards us screaming and yelling wanting to hug my dogs. The noise and boisterous behaviour of the children puts the dogs in stress-mode before they even reach us. And the parents? They are either so engrossed in their mobile phones, or too busy chatting and laughing and taking no notice whatsoever as to what their children are doing.
A couple of years ago while out with Luna in parkland, from behind some bushes came two small children screeching, arms windmilling running straight for us.
"ooh doggie.... Can we hug him can we, can we?"
Luna displayed all the signs of being totally out of her comfort zone....tight lips, ears set, then panting and lip-licking. She became skittery. I warned the children to stay away. They then ran round and round us in circles. I shouted to the parents to control their children. Were they bothered? Not at all. Now had Luna snapped at one of the children I would probably be reported to the police. This is precisely why so many children are bitten. They see dogs as fluffy toys, not living beings with emotions.
A while back as I was walking Lucius on our lane I came across a family with three young children who started running towards me.
"Look, a wolf, can we pet him and give him a rub?
I warned them not to come any closer - the parents obviously didn't have the sense to stop them (again, had a child been hurt, I would be blamed). Lucius is huge with huge paws. He is an F3 wolf hybrid. He stands 32"at the shoulder.
The father stepped forward
"Why, does it bite? If it does then it should have a muzzle on in public. Anyone should be able to pet a dog. They are pets and should be friendly. Anyone should be able to give it a rub." He became quite confrontational.
Now this was the first bunch of people I have come across on my lane apart from farmers.
Lucius had on a harness and choker. He began to jump up and down, but only in a silly play way.
So I explained that Lucius is friendly but jumps up, and obviously with his size and weight can knock people flat, especially children. I also told him that not all dogs want to be petted by strangers, or feel comfortable with strangers approaching to touch, and people should respect that.
"But he's a dog, an animal, it should be OK to be handled by anyone." The man replied.
I looked at the children and said with a deadpan face..
"Can I pet your children, can I give them a rub?"
The look on the guy's face was so funny....
" Erm no, that's weird. They're family!"
"Why?" say I nonchalantly "do they bite? Oh and my dog is family too." and walked on.
The look on their collective faces was priceless.
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I sooo love the way you'd answered this man !! Very good point here @katdvine !
Why the hell it should be OK for animal to be handled by anyone ?!?
I always teached my children not to run by a dog, telling them animals can be in a bad mood ~never know~ and always respect them like any other living being (which include no torture on insects or playful harm on any living being) and children understand that perfectly, unless they are so bad educated that it's too late to teach them respect of life ! (parent's guilt indeed)
Exactly. We build up trust with our animals. I can do anything with my dogs, they have no food, toy, possession aggression because they totally trust me and my family. And I trust them.
I don't like some random stranger grabbing me and touching me, why should they? There wouldn't be so many children and adults bitten if they just learned respect and empathy.
It is also the reason behind so much animal cruelty...children not respecting life.
exactly ! a child being teached the respect and love of the Life, any form of life, would never hurt a living being in purpose
GOOD FOR YOU! I can't tell you how many time's I've been out with clients dogs and met kids who want to pull ears and ride larger breeds like horses, and the parents think it's ADORABLE. Not ok. Glad you set that gentleman straight. Great read!
Thank you. Yes, animals have feelings. I wouldn't want any random stranger patting my head or hugging me, why should my dogs? To a lot of people animals are belongings, objects...no they are sentient beings.
Right, and when you don't speak english the way we do, you communicate the way you know how, by possibly snapping or growling, as a HEY! I'M NOT COOL WITH THIS! For so many more reasons than just this example we need EMPATHY taught to kids (and most adults)
Loool... nice man, Used to face the same issue when I used to breed dogs. You just have to get used to it, and meet them with smiles
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Meep meep.
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Such beautiful children, yours not theirs.
I say that because we have 5 children, 2 bipeds and 3 quadrupeds.
Non animal people are the worst.
So true. When a human says they don't like dogs, I'm suspicious. When a dog doesn't like a human, I know there's definitely something bad about that human.
I've heard that one, but can't seem to pin down who actually said it.
I'll give you the credit.
Unfortunately, our dogs love everyone and want to go see them, right now, come on, hurry, hurry, hurry, before they leave.
Yeah, I reworded it because I couldn't remember the original words. It was actually Bill Murray who quoted it. 😀
I looked it up and I think he has stated he didn't say it.
But he wished he had. ;-)
Well that's annoying...not knowing 😉, however I do totally trust my dogs instincts when it comes to humans.
The way Bill Murray said it, kind of leaves it open.
Let's go with him.
And our dogs have never been wrong.
Nice story. Lovely dogs also. Would have been great to see the guys face when you asked to pet his children.
Thanks...haha, his face was a picture, but he got the message.
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Thanks for the upvote. 😀
No problem
So true ive always,taught my kids,to respect animals thakes,for sharing this
Everyone just needs to remember that animals have feelings too. Isn't that part of why we love them?
You are so right thats,why i love every one of mine and so do my children thanks for posting this
You're welcome. 😀
No problem
people tend to ignore the fact that dogs have various personalities... Some of them a beyond friendly and (almost) harmless when some have more of an independent spirit and even with great care from an owner will never remind anyone of a big fluffy toy...
Certainly not fluffy toys. I am surprised they wanted to hug Lucius...he's a really big dog.
well... he's also extremely beautiful :) reminds me of GoT wolves
He is a sweetheart, stands taller than me on his hind legs, but a softie. Thanks.
"I looked at the children and said with a deadpan face..
"Can I pet your children, can I give them a rub?" That's a great response, priceless would love to have seen his face.
People these days are so out of touch with reality and nature. TV is the culprit, people are confusing TV with reality. This "but I saw it on (insert any trashy soap here)" culture is worrying. TV is fiction but unfortunately is regard as fact by many who are brainwashed by its flickering images. Throw away your television I say, best thing I ever did :)
All credit to you for being a responsible dog owner an protecting your dog from the naive :)
Thanks. My dogs are family.
This issue happened to me so many times, and I only have my dogs since last July.
It's really annoying, and you can't really do anything against it. I have tried everything from yellow bandana on the leash to 'DO NOT PET' sign, but people don't care, and most of the kids running towards the dog can't even read because they aren't old enough for school yet. Otherwise, none of my dogs have issues with children or anyone else, but Maya (the older one) is so playful, she wants to play with every, but she plays rough and jumps all the time. She can easily knock that kid to the ground just like Lucius could.
On a side note: I'm really interested about Czechoslovakian Wolfdogs and enjoy reading more about them! After this post, I'm going to check your past blog posts to see what it's really like to live them. It must be amazing.
I'm glad your son helped me find you!
And both your dogs look fantastic!