How trusting are you of your dog with kids? (kind of a rant)

[Amber]

My neighborhood is pretty kid friendly, I guess, because kids are always everywhere. lol But on my street, especially, people seem to be REALLY sure of their kids safety, especially if the kid has a dog with them. One family specifically. IDK how many kids they have..maybe 3, all under the age of 6 i assume. They also have like a bazillion dogs, which is not exactly allowed, since in this county you're only allowed to have 3 dogs. But anyway, on almost every walk I go on, one or two of their kids are out, alone, with at least one of the dogs.

The day before yesterday it was a little old shih tzu. The little girl was so excited to come and pet Junior that she dropped the leash and ran at him. (which scared the bejeezus out of him /: ) Luckily her little brother kinda looked around and picked up the leash. (the dog was just sitting there which I guess was a good thing)

Yesterday it was a big black chow mix, but the kids were alone in their unfenced tiny yard with the dog, and it just strolled away. I was just like um WTF? There goes your dog..? I couldn't go get him, either, because it was just me and Junior and he would try to eat the dog if he got within 100 feet of it.

Today, the little girl was standing across the street with a scared little ACD hiding behind her. THANK GOD she waited across the street until I passed.

But OMG. Really? Would you ever let your young kids out with your dogs like this? Or am I over-reacting? Ughhh.

 

[colliewog]

I was out in a secure fenced yard with the dogs at that age, but not running loose in a neighborhood!! Geez!

 

[Paige]

Depends on the kid and the dog. I know a girl that is 11 that has a yorkie that goes everywhere with her but the dog is really well behaved and is leashed. The girl is also really responsible. As for kids being that young, no. Would not be allowed.

 

[Whisper]

In general, I'm more afraid of kids hurting my dogs than I am of my dogs hurting kids.

More specifically to the topic, it really depends on the kids. I walked my dogs and family dogs from a young age and I was pretty responsible with them.
Most kids are not mature enough for that though IMHO.

 

[mrose_s]

I used to have to take atleast one dog with me when I went out when I was younger. That was about age 11 onwards though. Sophie didn't pull, she respected what me and my sister told her, etc and she kept us safe. But if they were really young and not likely to be keeping an eye on the dog than no.

 

[Xandra]

When I was 9 I was taking our boxer out offleash, but she was literally the most bomb proof animal in existence. I'm pretty sure <6 is a bit young, not because I don't trust the dog-kid relationship but because they can't control the dog if it were to get in a fight or like you said, leave the yard.

 

[Romy]

I trust my dogs with kids more than I trust most human beings with kids. Heck, I trust Aurelia with Strider more than I trust her with the inlaws.

The only thing I would worry about Charlie doing is knocking one down out of exuberance, and Kaia might try to "pet" one (she's kind of weird) and accidentally scratch someone. She's probably the one I trust least just because she is still a puppy, and pretty large.

 

[Fran101]

Depends on the kid and the dog.

Regardless, as a kid I wasn't allowed to run around the neighborhood/front yard without an adult present. but that had nothing to do with dogs and more to do with crazy people lol

but at that age, I was left alone with the family dogs plenty at home, in the backyard.. to my parents at the time, the dogs were basically around as playmates for me lol

Letting your kids that young run around in the neighborhood with dogs IMO is a bad idea with most situations. Kid could let go of the leash (like what happened), dog could drag kid into the street trying to get at something, etc..etc..

As for me as a kid, I only got "injured" by the dogs once a twice ( a scratch or something when playing) and it was always a case of
"what did you do to the dog?"
the dog was never blamed. they were always well mannered and friendly

 

[Jules]

What scares me are children with big dogs. There are a couple kids in my neighborhood walking a Rottie, a huge Lab and German Shepherd by themselves. And when I say by themselves, I mean completely by themselves. All have choke collars on, of course

I would never allow a child to take T-Bone out by him/herself. Even though she is now very well behaved on leash, you never know. While a 10 year old can hold back a Yorkie just fine, it can't hold back a dog weighing in the same or more than themselves. And you always, always, always , always have to account for the unexpected. But maybe that's just my bully-mix owner state of mind, always trying to be one step ahead of the game. For me and my dog I have one rule that counts: to rather be proactive than reactive.

 

[mjb]

I would be worried about a child 6 and under outside close to a road without supervision under most any circumstance. I don't think a child that age can look out for himself, not to mention a dog.

 

[Southpaw]

In the situations you're describing, no I wouldn't leave the kid alone... not because I don't trust the dog/kid together but I don't really think kids that age should be wandering around anyway, especially not while they're responsible for the dog as well.

Otherwise in a normal situation, I trust my dogs around most kids but it depends on the kid. Any kid that's been around my dogs has been really good and gentle but I know some kids that can be quite abusive to their own dogs, so I certainly wouldn't want them around mine.

 

[HayleyMarie]

I trust Teagan very much around kids. She knows how to act and she never bites.

I was allowed to roam the country side when I was about 6-7 years old with my brother and my two dogs. Shadow who is a bouve made it her sole purpose in life to keep us protect and we never had an issue with us being so young and being left alone with the dogs. My parents trusted the dogs with their whole heart

 

[milos_mommy]

Well, I would pretty much never allow Milo around a kid in the first place, and unsupervised it would be out of the question.

When I was probably about 9 or so I started walking my american eskimo alone around the neighborhood, and even though he was well trained and I was responsible and we live in a good neighborhood, I don't think I'd let a kid under 12 or 13, maybe even older, walk a dog alone.

 

[MPP]

Can you absolutely guarantee that there are no nut cases in the offing who find small children desirable? Very few family pets would or could do anything effective if a smiling stranger coaxed a child into his car and took off.

OK, so I'm paranoid. So convince me that this doesn't happen all too often, with or without dogs.

 

[Dog Connections]

I would not let young kids without supervision take my dogs for a walk. They are big dgs and you never know.
On the other hand, sometimes dogs and kids can have a totally different relationship. May be we just stress too much! It was a time when dogs when dogs where kids best friends..... and protector

 

[SizzleDog]

The corgis - fine with kids.
Ronin - tolerates them but thinks they're majorly uncool.
Kaylee - No way. She has no patience for kids. But then again, she doesn't have much patience for adults either.

 

[Laurelin]

My two...

Mia is okay with kids. Depends on the kid. She will sit there and play ball with a kid all day. Drop it on command and all that. As soon as kids start making grabby hands towards her she's gone though. She won't growl or bite but she will sometimes bark and then run off.

Summer... Summer is bombproof with any human.

When I was a kid I was outside ALL the time, often with my dogs or my neighbors' dogs and some of the other kids. I mean, we practically lived on our street, playing. Our parents were all usually inside and would check on us on occasion.

I do think the world has changed since then, though.

 

[Whisper]

As for how my dogs are with kids. . .

Millie's okay with them. She doesn't particularly like them, but she tolerates them. She's wary of all new people, though- not aggressive, just wary.

Lucy LOVES most kids. And they love her. She's too energetic and high strung to work with the elderly, but I think if it were *just* kids, she'd be a fab therapy dog. They think she's hilarious and she loves the attention.

Neither of them are ever left alone with children.

I do think the world has changed since then, though.

I agree. I'm still young, but in the last 10 years or so since I was a young kid, things have definitely changed. I used to be outside all the time in our rural area running around with my Rottweilers, and they never even *owned* leashes, let alone wore them. They followed me to the bus stop and then went home. Once Rosie actually *got on* to the school bus with me. That was an interesting morning.
It's just different. I got Millie only a couple years after that and things had already changed a lot. Like leash laws, etc. We still don't have leash laws where I live now, though.

 

[ihartgonzo]

I don't know... the kids you describe seem very young and the dogs don't sound like they are under control at all. I don't think anyone that isn't in control should be out in public with a dog, whether they're 7 or 70. :/

Honestly, my parents sucked. I was literally the only family member who walked the dogs from age 5 and on. I was never told to walk them, I just did. I used to walk my Bichon Frise to the park every day with my friend and her ACD when I was 8. Never had a problem, just lots of fun! I was a very strange kid, though. At age 4 I used to literally return all of the lost dogs in my neighborhood. There were these people down the street who had an unfenced yard and their two yellow Labs would always run to my house. I would walk them home and ring the doorbell and the people would roll their eyes at me. Even when I was 4, I was like, WOW you are douchebag dog owners! The world was so different 15 years ago... at least it seemed a lot safer than it is now.

 

[Blue_Dog]

It seems a bit young but every kid is different. But still under 6.... :/

I was walking Blue who was a 120lb+ dog when I was ten. I started walking him when I was nine but he didn't reach his full size until I was 10 or 11.