Children and Dogs

We live in a suburban area with busy streets, densely populated and several terrific parks. We went to the closest one late afternoon the other day. There in the ball field was a slightly built child, perhaps 7 or 8 years old. He was playing fetch with an off leash adult male Rottweiler.

The park is bordered by houses so I would imagine a parent might have told him to take the dog out to play. Or perhaps his parents weren't home from work yet and he decided to take the dog out. In any case he had no adult supervision.

The dog seemed well mannered enough but must have topped a hundred pounds. The boy decided to move to the gated basketball court. My daughter went to play with him and he called out asking if me and Callie wanted to join them. I didn't feel comfortable with the situation.

Callie is easygoing but a very powerful dog even when he's happy. I choose his dog playmates very carefully and the other dog was far too big to fool around with. We walked the trail where we could stay away but still keep an eye on my daughter.

When we got back someone else was walking a poodle type dog who was barking at the rottie who was barking back at the poodle and it was time to get my daughter out of there. It just bothered me afterwards. My daughter is thirteen and almost my size.

But even with that I would never THINK of having her take Callie out on her own. Any dog is unpredictable in public. Letting a small child out with a dog as powerful as a rottie could turn out incredibly tragic. Even if your dog is well trained that doesn't mean someone else's dog might not start something.

And what could that child do in such a case? Scream for help, stand by and cry? I've broken up fights. I've seen men much more muscular than me try to break up fights. That isn't a position a child should be in. Even a child with a toy breed is in danger. Same thing, if another dog caused a problem the child would have difficulty grabbing their dog and making a run for it.

Bottom line-young kids and dogs shouldn't be out unsupervised.

Totally agree with you,especially at that age and with a dog that size Sure the Rottie is lovely,but you can't predict how a dog would react in every situation.Dangerous to presume that they'll both be fine IMO Think 7 or 8 is years too young to be out unsupervised,no matter what size the dog is

I couldn't agree with you more. When Chloe my tiny 9 pound Tibbie was young she had two 10 year old girls who'd come and play with her. I was quite happy for them to walk her on her lead round the garden but wouldn't allow them to walk her along the road, not because she was badly behaved but because some of the village dogs were and I wasn't prepared to take the risk of either the girls or Chloe getting hurt.