Inspired by Nancy's thread...
My aunt (my mom's younger sister) has never really been a "dog person" but she's always tolerated my dogs when she and her family have came over to my house or to my dad's house.
She likes Flicka and Pepe for the most part...they're nice, well-behaved, and have very good manners around new people. She doesn't like all the hair, but she lets it go. She also trusts Flicka and Pepe around her children (ages 14, 8, 3, 2).
Now, personally, I do not "trust" my dogs around any child of any age - they do not live with children and they will never live with children. Flicka is extremely tolerant of them, and likes the older two fairly well. Pepe is a different story...he spends most of their visiting time attached to my leg, my dad's leg, or Matt's leg, because he's scared of the three younger children. Which has been explained to my aunt, but because he's small and fluffy, he must like children, right? Wrong.
Now, this last visit, I had Flicka, Pepe, and Jackson (APBT foster). My aunt chose this time to reveal her utter hatred of pits. She says that they make her nervous, and that having them around children makes her nervous.
Now, Jackson gets kinda nervous with really young children if they are screaming, but, generally, her kids are fairly quiet. He was perfect with the older two, and would just slowly move away from the younger ones. But my aunt freaked if she saw any of her children near him at all. She asked me multiple times if I could put him away or put him outside (BTW - there was six inches of snow at the time of her visit), because he made her nervous and she didn't trust him around the kids. I asked her to please put her children away because they made me nervous (and they do) and I don't trust them around my dogs and my cat (and I don't). That shut her up real quick.
Then over dinner (her, her husband, her kids, me, Matt, and Dad), somehow the subject of dogs got brought up (imagine that! lol), and she said something to Matt about his "pretty black and brown dogs", and maybe he should "bring them over tomorrow", because the kids apparently thought that they were "very pretty in the christmas card" (Matt and I sent out our Christmas card this year with the two of us and the four dogs). Matt kind of stared at her for a while, and told her that his dogs are not particularly fond of kids, and that they won't like all the commotion. She took personal offense at that, as if we were suggesting that her kids were nothing but "commotion".
The next night we had dinner at my dad's. He put the boxers in the bedroom in their crates, and gave them each a hard chewy to keep them occupied. The Boxer Boyz are pretty good with older children, but he was afraid they were going to knock over the younger ones. He left his Setter out, free to roam the house. After dinner, the two little ones were getting tired, so her husband took them into the spare bedroom so they could get some sleep. My dad let the two boxers out (they're both brindle, as is Jackson). They were quiet, calm, and civilized, after the initial "NEW PEOPLE!!!" excitement was over. My aunt was terrified of them, because they "looked scary", and when they played, they looked like "they were fighting!" Now, the Boyz have their "house playing" and their "outside playing" - their "house playing" is nothing more then a few good boxes and a couple air snaps.
A couple more things...
She thought it was disgusting that my dogs were allowed on the furniture. They get off when asked, so I don't see what the problem is there...IT'S MY HOUSE.
And then she made quite a few comments about "what my mother would think if she could see me now". My mother (her older sister) is a favorite topic of hers...comparing me to my mother is another favorite. She's 45 and my mom would have been 56, so there was quite an age difference between them - and my aunt worshipped the ground my mother walked on. According to her, my mother would have been ashamed that I had animals in my house, and on my furniture, and that I was spending all my time doing rescue and training dogs and doing agility and obedience. My mother was not as "into" showing and training as much as my dad and I were, but there were a couple dogs that she trained and showed through their championships.
To sum up...very stressful for everyone.
My aunt (my mom's younger sister) has never really been a "dog person" but she's always tolerated my dogs when she and her family have came over to my house or to my dad's house.
She likes Flicka and Pepe for the most part...they're nice, well-behaved, and have very good manners around new people. She doesn't like all the hair, but she lets it go. She also trusts Flicka and Pepe around her children (ages 14, 8, 3, 2).
Now, personally, I do not "trust" my dogs around any child of any age - they do not live with children and they will never live with children. Flicka is extremely tolerant of them, and likes the older two fairly well. Pepe is a different story...he spends most of their visiting time attached to my leg, my dad's leg, or Matt's leg, because he's scared of the three younger children. Which has been explained to my aunt, but because he's small and fluffy, he must like children, right? Wrong.
Now, this last visit, I had Flicka, Pepe, and Jackson (APBT foster). My aunt chose this time to reveal her utter hatred of pits. She says that they make her nervous, and that having them around children makes her nervous.
Now, Jackson gets kinda nervous with really young children if they are screaming, but, generally, her kids are fairly quiet. He was perfect with the older two, and would just slowly move away from the younger ones. But my aunt freaked if she saw any of her children near him at all. She asked me multiple times if I could put him away or put him outside (BTW - there was six inches of snow at the time of her visit), because he made her nervous and she didn't trust him around the kids. I asked her to please put her children away because they made me nervous (and they do) and I don't trust them around my dogs and my cat (and I don't). That shut her up real quick.
Then over dinner (her, her husband, her kids, me, Matt, and Dad), somehow the subject of dogs got brought up (imagine that! lol), and she said something to Matt about his "pretty black and brown dogs", and maybe he should "bring them over tomorrow", because the kids apparently thought that they were "very pretty in the christmas card" (Matt and I sent out our Christmas card this year with the two of us and the four dogs). Matt kind of stared at her for a while, and told her that his dogs are not particularly fond of kids, and that they won't like all the commotion. She took personal offense at that, as if we were suggesting that her kids were nothing but "commotion".
The next night we had dinner at my dad's. He put the boxers in the bedroom in their crates, and gave them each a hard chewy to keep them occupied. The Boxer Boyz are pretty good with older children, but he was afraid they were going to knock over the younger ones. He left his Setter out, free to roam the house. After dinner, the two little ones were getting tired, so her husband took them into the spare bedroom so they could get some sleep. My dad let the two boxers out (they're both brindle, as is Jackson). They were quiet, calm, and civilized, after the initial "NEW PEOPLE!!!" excitement was over. My aunt was terrified of them, because they "looked scary", and when they played, they looked like "they were fighting!" Now, the Boyz have their "house playing" and their "outside playing" - their "house playing" is nothing more then a few good boxes and a couple air snaps.
A couple more things...
She thought it was disgusting that my dogs were allowed on the furniture. They get off when asked, so I don't see what the problem is there...IT'S MY HOUSE.
And then she made quite a few comments about "what my mother would think if she could see me now". My mother (her older sister) is a favorite topic of hers...comparing me to my mother is another favorite. She's 45 and my mom would have been 56, so there was quite an age difference between them - and my aunt worshipped the ground my mother walked on. According to her, my mother would have been ashamed that I had animals in my house, and on my furniture, and that I was spending all my time doing rescue and training dogs and doing agility and obedience. My mother was not as "into" showing and training as much as my dad and I were, but there were a couple dogs that she trained and showed through their championships.
To sum up...very stressful for everyone.
