DS is very afraid of dogs after a couple close calls with our dog when he was about a year old. He is fascinated by them but up until recently screamed bloody murder when one came even remotely close to him. We are now to the point where, if I hold him and someone else holds the dog, he'll pet the dog. So...I wouldn't be ok with that on a personal level, and as a former dog owner, I'd be uncomfortable in general with that.
This thread is giving me anxiety! I feel like old sleeping dogs are even more of a risk because they're more likely to be startled by little asshole kids. Even if they leave the kids alone, that doesn't mean the kids can be trusted to leave the dogs alone.
Either that or I have really asshole dogs AND a really asshole baby. None of them can be trusted. lol
I do agree, my golden is the most easygoing dog you will ever meet and the general consensus among everyone who has ever met him is that he is perfect. I'm not really exaggerating. Ha. He's laid back, he doesnt bark, he doesn't need exercise because he's lazy, he doesnt eat food he's not supposed to, he doesnt beg from the table, he gets on the furniture but really only when we're not around or we beg him to come up (dont judge) and he loves to be petted, even from little kids.
But he can be an asshole when he is startled, which is not unusual in my opinion and if he is sleeping or resting we don't let kids go near him. This isn't a big deal though bc when he wants to be left alone, he just goes into his crate and sleeps. so for a playgroup type of thing, it would be fine because he would go into his crate automatically. He's 7.
I cannot put away my lab though because he would just bark. so whenever we have parties, he goes to doggie daycare to protect the food, because he would eat it all, ha. i've never hosted a large playgroup but I think if more than one or two other kids were coming over, I would probably send him to doggie daycare just to make things easier for ME. If there is only one other kid over though, it's pretty easy to control him and he ignores babies/toddlers anyway.
Post by redheadbaker on Jul 22, 2014 7:46:10 GMT -5
I've hosted one playdate, and the dogs were shut in the bedroom the whole time. I would expect anyone else with pets hosting to do same. That is just a recipe for disaster.