I have been reading this with fasination! I cant believe people think like that!

My OH has children from his previous relationship who come and stay with us every other weekend and I have to admit when I first introduced them to my border collie I was very careful as she is 12 and never had much experience of children but she has taken to them amazingly well.
Now when they are here they spend most of their time playing with both of the dogs or cuddling up on the sofa with them. We dont leave them unsupervised and the kids have spent lots of time with me learning about the right way to play and handle the dogs and this was all repeated with the new puppy.
Im shocked that people cant see that making kids scared of dogs causes the problems in the first place

Im really hoping that my OH's ex doesnt go on these Mums forums and use the dogs as another reason to gripe at us tho...that would be a nightmare!

sorry but i havent read the whole thread but i'm going to presume that we all think the same on this subject that dogs are a great asset to kids.

unfortunatley on these mums forums you do come across the Anti Dog Brigades.
these are people who believe the tabloids are gospel and have never had any 'real' contact with responsible dog owners who have the sloppiest dogs ever, as that has been shown on here

lol soppy dogs are the way forward

Good on her!! If I knew her, I would shake her hand for this!

I would really like to know when the trend for not having a dog as a family pet started. My grandparents and parents had dogs when they were growing up and so did we.
A lot of the kids in my area are scared of dogs because of what their parents project.
I feel really bead when I see some of nephew scared when interacting with my parents' dog as they are not use to being around them so they always get a refresher on how to behave. It also drives me mad when my sister comes to London and we meet in a park for lunch with her kids and she objects to the dog being around because god knows what will happen with her children (if your kids know how to behave around my dog and listen to me when I tell then he needs to be left alone we won't have a problem)

I know of people who have bought a pup for their kids, but now pygmy hedgehogs are all the rage the pup has been rehomed with grandma (because it pulled on the lead!) and been replaced by the more fashionable pet.

Some parents should not be allowed near their kids, never mind a dog

I don't beleive how you all think that dogs are suitable to be companions for children do you not know that things like this can happen when dogs are allowed near children??





Disclaimer, muzzles in the next pics are not because the dogs are child eaters, but because at the time the farmer wanted them to wear them to walk on his land.









Dangerous aren't they.

Seriously though I think that a good dog, which has been well socalised can enrich a childs life in a way that no other thing can, and its a shame that some people can't see it.

wow is the forum really that bad!? can someone send me a link to the thread??

my perfect pack consists of 5 dogs, one of them being a staff, and i plan to bring my children up around them (when i have them)

I hate all the ads for preloved because a babys on the way

I love this thread - the pictures of children and their dogs are gorgeous. I HAD to add mine!!

[IMG][/IMG]

When I was a child we had a huge GSD and a pretty ferocious little terrier (who was my baby, and was only ferocious to non-family members.... ) We lived in South Africa, somewhat in the middle of nowhere... our GSD saved my life on quite a few occasions by gently dragging me away from dangerous snakes I had not seen.... this was all between the ages of 3 and 9.... the dogs were my best friends and as long as both the dogs and the children are trained as to how to deal with each other, and as long as there is good supervision when the children are too small to understand the dog.... children and dogs are wonderful together and teach each other a lot.