Mother priorities her dogs over everything.

I have a lot of sympathy with your last point, but the 'seen and not heard' principle could usefully be applied to dogs too.

All of the threads on this site, whichever you read, are from the point of view of the originator. They are unlikely to be unbiased and they believe themselves to be "not unreasonable" before they post. All they are really looking for is confirmation.

This whole thing has just become a competition between the pro and anti dog groups.

Some people will just demonise the dogs without knowing their backgrounds. At the end of the day the dogs are members of that household, albeit furry ones, and the children are the visitors. Why not train the kids to behave in other people's homes? I suspect that if they sat still the dogs wouldn't be interested in them after the initial sniff. If you get hysterical and snatch the child away it is no wonder the dogs behave as they do.

The caveat is, never leave dogs and children together, however well behaved you believe either to be. Things can go wrong very quickly, but properly supervised encounters should be encouraged as healthy.

🧟‍♀️

YANBU

Some people are absolutely batshit when it comes to their dogs.

Dogs growl to let you know they are unhappy about a situation, kids get bitten because they torment the dog, the adults do nothing when dog growls i.e. remove child.

They are rescue dogs and you don't know what happened to them before they were taken into care, so don't judge them. Why should a member of the family be put in another room, garden or shed to accommodate visitors. It is their home. We don't know how old the dogs are, if quite elderly they may be difficult to train to accept young children. If you are only going round every 6-8 weeks and the dogs are being put outside they are likely to feel a bit put out.

Are the children trained to behave in other people's houses and around the animals in those houses? Anyone who is used to a quiet home (human or animal) and that home is invaded by noisy strangers, is going to be aggrieved.

A dog baring its teeth and growling is a warning to leave them alone. Dogs and small children are never a good mix. Why can't the kids go and play in the garden and leave the dogs alone. Maybe grandma isn't as enamoured by the grandchildren as their mother thinks she should be.

Obviously the "children are our future and most important thing in the world" brigade will be horrified, but the sooner we get back to the idea that children should be seen and not heard, and in some cases not seen either, the better.

Why do you assume that everyone should love and accept other peoples kids, equally barmy. Animals give unconditional love, not love based on what pressies they get when visiting.

A well reared, adjusted, healthy dog can be left for more than an hour fgs! But if you want to live your life as a martyr that's up to you

Martyr syndrome is something many women suffer from enjoy

Not read the full thread but my mum has a friend like this. Her dog was unwell and she put off her family who were coming from overseas for Christmas! So they landed in the UK with nowhere to go. Completely ridiculous in my view. It's one thing asking local family not to come over (although even then I'd think it was ludicrous for an animal) but not when people are coming a distance.

The dog wasn't throwing up everywhere or anything like that.

@Hoglet70 Well it’s understandable in many ways, as most dogs are loyal and affectionate, and they can’t talk back! If you’re kind to them, they’ll love you.

Humans are far more complex and interesting.

I’m have a dog and a cat and barely any hairs and most certainly no smells . You are so weird !

Don't go there again - simple.

Sounds like these dogs will isolate your mum which is a real shame for her too.

I think you should have asked her to contain the dog one way or another rather than decide that for yourself. I wouldn’t appreciate someone moving my old boy but I also feel for you here. It must be upsetting to feel you & your children are not a priority.

Unless you and @BogRollBOGOF know one another, she wasn’t talking about you.

@BogRollBOGOF My dogs have all been very well trained, I just happen to prefer them to kids, people in general etc etc

It is hurtful when "close" family uses pets or allows their pets behaviour to be a wall to exclude seeing family whether intentionally or not. Family is supposed to be life long, and you can't expect them to ping back with a healthy relationship after 15-20 years when the pet has died (if there's not a rolling chain of them).

It's generally not a healthy situation for the pets involved anyway.

In my case it's been about cats, and the current generation of cats is treated very differently to the generations of cats I grew up with and they are not happier and healthier for being babied than treated as cats. The house is an unpleasant cat toilet because they're barely allowed out. DM won't leave them for a few hours to manage meeting away from the house. Phone calls are terminated because it's the cats' dinner time/ bedtime etc. There's no real interest in my life or the DCs'

I notice with the unfortunately high number of inept dog owners that I encounter when out, that they have no concept of acceptable boundaries around other humans or reading human behaviour, so it's not actually surprising that they're fucking useless at managing the needs and behaviour of a different species and oblivious to the stress (and sometimes harm) that their untrained, feral animals inflict on the rest of society.

I get sent sooooooo many boring pics of peoples kids so I send back pics of my dog. You bore me, I bore you right back!

You don't clearly. If you're happy living in a smelly home etc good for you. Animals are boring 😴 people who pander to them are even worse. Dog mums 🤣 have a word. It's a pet you own.

All the parents I know blast 100+photos of their kid all the time. Birthdays, start of term photos (in front of their front door), xmas photos (in front of a pile of presents) etc. I don't like kids, so it is insufferable.
My house might be full of dog hair, but it is also full of my hair. Who gives a shit?

It's not the fact they own a dog. Most don't class themselves as owners, but parents- that grinds my gears. They act entitled like their pets are equal to humans and can do no wrong. It baffles me. Their houses when you visit are full of hairs, you leave covered, it's not nice. Blasting 20 pics of "aww look at Bruno in his santa hat" 🙄🙄🙄 no ta. Bore off

YANBU. It’s insanity to put her grandchildren at risk for her dog. It’s also unfair of your mother to not put the dog in another room, rather than risk it biting someone.
i would not go there again. I love dogs and I have kids, but to protect both in this scenario your mother was being ridiculous.

That is just bizarre. It is irrational to hate someone on the basis they have a dog, and nothing else.

I also hate them. Alot. More so their awful owners!!!

Very odd. Maybe seek help for that.

Thé whole dog thing in Britain now is just weird. Every other household seems to have at least one dog, lots have more than one and as far as I can tell ( live on a major dog walking lane) many of the same household dogs don’t even like each other, let alone other household’s dogs. At least half don’t seem to pay much attention to what the human half of the relationship says or suggests the dog does.

Dog rules house seems to be the norm, I can’t / won’t visit a very good friend since her dog bit me ( and no, I was just sitting quietly in the guest chair, not in the Holy Dog chair). I wasn’t even looking at it.

I think they are the first wave of the Alien invasion, they are softening lots of people up so that when they take over completely, their devotees will just be saying ‘ he’s really friendly’ ‘ he’s only playing’ , as they don their harness to go to work (walkies).

Snuffly panty barky things , thé neighbour's cat calls them.

I agree..some of these are nut jobs