Children and dogs

Earlier on while walking Vegas,i came across a group of about 15 kids-all maximum of 12 years old with a Yorshire Terrier and 2 King Charles Spaniels.

Soon as the dogs saw Vegas,they immediately stated barking at him,but he never took any notice.All the kids however started screaming at their dogs telling them to "shut up,shut up,shut up"-which kinda annoyed me a bit.One of the Spaniels looked terrified what with being screamed at and this kinda annoyed me as they were also standing over him/her in a crowd-then yanking it about on the lead.I politely told them not to scream at their dogs because they cannot understand full sentences and their barking is only natural behaviour.

What im trying to say is-surely these children shouldnt be allowed to walk the dogs at such a young age.Granted,they are not big dogs and the chances of them being pulled over are very slim,but did think they shouldnt be trusted with the trio.

I agree Steve - kids should not be out with dogs! It's not only cruel to their own dogs (because a lot of the time the dogs are not cared for properly when out) but not fair on other people who's dogs might be effected by the lack of care on thier part too

Im glad you agree Azz because these kids peed me off a bit with how they were behaving with the dogs.I felt so sorry for the one which was being crowded-it was terrified and a few of the kids appeared to take great pleasure in this.I know kids can be cruel,but (in my opinion) the parents who allowed their children to walk them are stupid.

If i saw an adult behaving like this towards their dog,i'd step in,but since they were kids-i didnt want anyone thinking i was a weirdo who chats to children (if you know what i mean).

Hi steve

Really glad that you explained why they shouldn't yell at dogs - that is very good parenting skills - the amount of people who just tell their kids off without explaining why is too common and it doesn't benefit the kids. Sorry it's totally off subject but was suitable impressed you took the time.

I agree that kids shouldn't be allowed to walk dogs on their own, they should be supervised by an adult at the very least - the amount of dogs I've seen pulled harshly on their leads, screamed at and hit all because a kid has little to no skills to care for a dog. I think it's said somewhere that dogs are owned and cared for by adults and shared with kids - definitely not the other way around.

Your Vegas is turning out to be a great lad - patience of a saint

i totally agree with you both where i live there are kids who take there dogs or friends dogs out and they got no idea at all there pulling them all the time shouting at them and what annoys me is there all under the age of 11 which i think is way to young have the owners of these dogs go no consideration or care about there dogs

yep - couldnt agree more Steve and well done you for correcting them..

I dont like to see young kids walking dogs and I think there should be an age limit where only kids of a certain age should be allowed to walk their dog. However I also get quite scared when I see some adults walking their dogs with no regard to anybody else's kids/dogs or animals so what hope is there for the kids huh !!

well done Vegas for being so good and calm though too
dani

I started walking my dog from the age of 11. Not all children are the same, some are more mature than others. Surely it should be up to the individual parent to decide?


Don't tar all kids with the same brush, lets face it I've seen some adult owners behaving in the way you described Steve.

I totally agree here, I too think it's the parents who show irresposability for not teaching their children the right way to handle a dog

Vivian x

Thing is,if there were not so many of them-i guess they wouldnt have behaved in this way,but they did and i was not happy with the situation.

Absolutely Ripsnorter, one shouldn't tar all kids with the same brush, but a kid such as yourself would have fallen into the slim majority of those taught how to look after a pet properly.

But it is also worth mentioning how is a young kid able to handle a situation where there is a possibility things could go terribly wrong? We've read loads of stories on Dogweb when an owners dog is attacked by another dog, and these incidences are dealt with by experienced handlers/owner - I just feel it is a big ask to have a child undertake such a responsibility - just my opinion. I certainly didn't want you to take offence, not my intention to tar all kids for sure

And totally agree there are some adults out there who aren't fit to be parents of dogs...and in some cases kids for that matter