This is all over the internet, but I still don't think it's talked about enough, so I decided to write about it. And I have been meaning to for a while but I guess the topic found it's way into the depths of my subconscious until a little girl, with outstretched arms, and all the love in the world to offer, came charging toward Kahlua yesterday bellowing "Puppppyyyyyyyy". Hmm.. familiar much ?
Kahlua believes, that the solution to all things scary is to hide behind Mom. This makes me one of the more fortunate fur parents. Do you have a dog that would react differently ? How do you deal with such situations?
Children maybe God's gift to mankind, or God in disguise, or little angels or whatever..but the truth is they move unpredictably, at high speeds, emit loud sounds and are often found zooming around on these loud, strangely shaped monsters with wheels. Heck, they scare me, why wouldn't they scare a dog ?
If you are a parent (the non fur kind), I request you, please, teach your children to respect a dog's space. I know some parents who do a wonderful job of this. Their kids come up to me and say "May I pet the puppy?" first. We take it from there and these kids never, ever, enter his personal space. They even understand that shelter puppies often have fears that we as humans cannot comprehend. I've met kids who time and again have tried to befriend my baby but they do it in baby steps. They accept when he chooses to hide under a table when he sees them. They even feel a little bad, but they still understand. They understand because either they have dogs of their own, or their parents explained to them to approach with caution, if they must indeed approach and always ask the human first.
On the other hand, I've encountered kids who notice that their bike or the little scooter that they so confidently whizz by on, is scaring my pup, and they choose to come closer and at higher speeds, to gain some sort of silly thrill out of a poor creature's fear. This is when I need to step in and request the child to please wait while we leave the scene and go the opposite way. Who is raising these kids like this ? And why ? (The problem in this situation, in my opinion, is bigger than 'just' thriving on the 'pleasure' of scaring an already scared puppy.)
My point is that an animal's space needs to be respected as much as a human's. Just because we are human does not mean we have some sort of natural right of way. Infact, we have the more complex emotions in place to actually 'yield' right of way to those more in need. Unfortunately, not many people actually think like this and then accidents happen. What would you do if I sat by you, for an hour, and kept jabbing you with a pencil. You'd go Hulk on me, correct ? What would you do if some unfamiliar person came charging at you screaming unintelligible words? That's exactly how a dog feels when his/her personal space is invaded. Let's break the notion that all dogs are natural nannies. We need to recognize that it is not true and children and dogs need to be introduced to each other in a positive environment. The dog needs to associate the child with happiness, and not fear. We respect that there are humans who are scared of dogs. Why can't it be accepted that it can be the other way round too ?
I don't mean to blame anyone or sound like some self righteous animal freak. These are things that I did not know before I adopted Kahlua. So I understand that some people and some kids don't know that they are scaring the dog. And if they did, they would check their actions. Hence the post. I want to talk about this more. I want this to be spoken about more. I want to spread this message as far and as wide as I can. So please help me.. please use the share buttons below this post.. you might just be preventing yet another puppy of the human kind from being hurt, and a puppy of the puppy kind from suffering the consequences.
Kahlua believes, that the solution to all things scary is to hide behind Mom. This makes me one of the more fortunate fur parents. Do you have a dog that would react differently ? How do you deal with such situations?
Children maybe God's gift to mankind, or God in disguise, or little angels or whatever..but the truth is they move unpredictably, at high speeds, emit loud sounds and are often found zooming around on these loud, strangely shaped monsters with wheels. Heck, they scare me, why wouldn't they scare a dog ?
If you are a parent (the non fur kind), I request you, please, teach your children to respect a dog's space. I know some parents who do a wonderful job of this. Their kids come up to me and say "May I pet the puppy?" first. We take it from there and these kids never, ever, enter his personal space. They even understand that shelter puppies often have fears that we as humans cannot comprehend. I've met kids who time and again have tried to befriend my baby but they do it in baby steps. They accept when he chooses to hide under a table when he sees them. They even feel a little bad, but they still understand. They understand because either they have dogs of their own, or their parents explained to them to approach with caution, if they must indeed approach and always ask the human first.
On the other hand, I've encountered kids who notice that their bike or the little scooter that they so confidently whizz by on, is scaring my pup, and they choose to come closer and at higher speeds, to gain some sort of silly thrill out of a poor creature's fear. This is when I need to step in and request the child to please wait while we leave the scene and go the opposite way. Who is raising these kids like this ? And why ? (The problem in this situation, in my opinion, is bigger than 'just' thriving on the 'pleasure' of scaring an already scared puppy.)
My point is that an animal's space needs to be respected as much as a human's. Just because we are human does not mean we have some sort of natural right of way. Infact, we have the more complex emotions in place to actually 'yield' right of way to those more in need. Unfortunately, not many people actually think like this and then accidents happen. What would you do if I sat by you, for an hour, and kept jabbing you with a pencil. You'd go Hulk on me, correct ? What would you do if some unfamiliar person came charging at you screaming unintelligible words? That's exactly how a dog feels when his/her personal space is invaded. Let's break the notion that all dogs are natural nannies. We need to recognize that it is not true and children and dogs need to be introduced to each other in a positive environment. The dog needs to associate the child with happiness, and not fear. We respect that there are humans who are scared of dogs. Why can't it be accepted that it can be the other way round too ?
I don't mean to blame anyone or sound like some self righteous animal freak. These are things that I did not know before I adopted Kahlua. So I understand that some people and some kids don't know that they are scaring the dog. And if they did, they would check their actions. Hence the post. I want to talk about this more. I want this to be spoken about more. I want to spread this message as far and as wide as I can. So please help me.. please use the share buttons below this post.. you might just be preventing yet another puppy of the human kind from being hurt, and a puppy of the puppy kind from suffering the consequences.
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| Image Credit: http://sassystickers.com/images/yin-yang-pawprint-handprint.jpg |
Goodness, yes! Two examples of this spring to my mind immediately.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I were walking the dogs very late at night one day (after midnight). A family parked their minivan, and the mom picked up her toddler from inside. She then looked me right in the face, set her toddler down, and leaned back into the car, letting go of her toddler. Naturally, her toddler screams "PUPPY! PUPPY!" and runs straight at my stranger-reactive dog. Diocese freaks out, and I'm struggling to hold a lunging, barking dog, with a toddler running at me. Thank goodness, Kevin was there. He grabbed the little boy and pulled him by the arm back over to his mother, who had the gall to look angry at US. Since we were the ones letting our baby run into the street after midnight, chasing after a strange dog.
The other incident was similar to what you mentioned with kids who purposely scare Kahlua with bikes or scooters. These preteen boys would ride their 4-wheeler as close to the pasture as possible when I was riding my horse, trying (and succeeding!) to spook her. The worst though, was when they drove by and SHOT BB guns into the round pen where I was riding her. As you might imagine, she spooked very badly at that, and the little brats are lucky it took me so long to calm her down. I never did find them, which is probably a good thing.
See this is exactly what upsets me - someone letting their kid run wild at midnight, and then giving dirty looks to the guy who rescued the child and brought her back to the mother. Even if Diocese weren't part of the equation, this was wrong!
DeleteI just re-read your comment.. SHOT BB GUNS?? That is plain disgusting!! I am glad you were not injured.. a spooked horse is easy to fall off of!
DeleteAnd why would you mess with a 1000lbs creature who can mess up up but chooses not to?
Love the yin-yang picture! Also like what you said about yielding because we have more complex emotions. Very wise, miss :)
ReplyDeleteThank You! :)
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