Your dog is not your babies 'brother'

They don’t have the complexity to be labelled an arsehole. Even the ones who kill are considered blameless.

I don’t see it as a dog bashing thread? It’s an XL bully and thick owner / bad parent bashing thread, sure.

Oh dear. I’ve only been home an hour and already I’ve said to DCat:

’Hello my sweet boy, did you have a nice nap?’

’What do you want, my child?’

’Would you like some dinner, my son?’

She is BU to have a Bully though.

At least if it's a small dog you can stamp it to death if it injures your child, and prevent it from doing any more damage. With and XL bully you've got no chance

I agree. For most people referring to pets as siblings is fine, but some of these dangerous dog owners seem to use this as a way to justify their irresponsible behaviour.

I don’t have an issue with calling the dog ‘big brother’. I jokingly refer to our lab as our DC’s big brother. However, in this context I voted yanbu.

Our dog is extremely meek and has never shown a hint of aggression even when attacked by other dogs. I still never leave the children and the dog unsupervised together and have taught my DC not to push, yell or provoke the dog in any way. At the end of the day, dogs can be unpredictable and it only takes one incident.

To allow a dangerous breed so close to a baby is irresponsible.

I had a video pop up of a small dog biting off a big chunk of a 12yo girl’s face. The girl going from calm shock to a blood curdling scream when she realised what happened was horrific. I wouldn’t even get a small dog after watching that.

I disagree with owning a pit pull with a child but it does not bother me in the slightest if you refer to your dogs as siblings to your child, it's just affectionate and a bit light hearted/ silly. People and children are aware there is a biological / social difference between the two in reality.

YANBU to be concerned about a baby in the same house as an XL Bully and an owner who doesn't seem to realise the risk.

YABU to focus on the fact that she referred to them as siblings. Many people regard dogs as part of the family - I had canine 'brothers' and 'sisters' growing up and it was lovely. If that's not for you, then fine, but I don't see the harm in it.

Nothing justifies having a 5 month old in close proximity to an XL Bully. Not how kind some dogs are, not how vile some humans are.

Having empathy with animals can be a positive trait in people but those who claim to care only for animals and not their friends/family/neighbours/wider society have a really serious problem and it certainly doesn’t make them better quality people.

Imagine not being able to understand the vulnerability of a 5 month old and the pain and confusion they would go through if bitten by a dog.

The dogs were seized. Hardly the owners choice to keep them in kennels.

Must be a Cat Thing
I have DS and DD ( human) and a brother/sister pair of cats .

They are "favourite brother/favourite sister"

Its outrageous that public money is being used to kennel and look after these dogs....FFS, we can barely look after actual human beings properly. The owners should pay.

My mum used to call her dog her son. She would often get his name mixed up with my brother's - her actual son. It didn't hurt anyone. And it has nothing to do with people keeping murder dogs.

XL Bullies are.

I do not think that anyone should keep dogs like this. However would you have started the thread if you heard someone referring to their pug/spaniel etc as their child's sibling?

Pets are a huge part of families, and there is nothing wrong with referring to them as such. (And yes I do have dogs, and I am their mum 😛)

🙈 my DSD calls the dog her big sis! Not an XL though to be fair, aging Labrador whose worst crime is stealing an unattended sandwich.

YANBU. I saw this news feature, and was also disgusted. Anyone with a child should NEVER be allowed an XL Bully. (And if they're caught with one the child(ren) should be taken off them and placed into care!)

And it grinds my gears too, when people call their dog their child's brother! (Or sister!) How daft.

Hahahahahahahah what? Yeah my toddler frequently mauls her sister to death 🙄 behave

A lot of dogs belong to people with partners and children.

This is a joke, right?

I can never tell…

Well to be fair the majority of dogs aren't arseholes like a lot of humans

Never known a sibling to maul another to death

I’m very wary of people with this mindset. Dogs don’t have the complexities of human beings and relationships and IME a certain type of person ‘prefers’ the company of something obedient that doesn’t answer back as opposed to a human relationship that might not go their way

I never understood why people got so soppy over dogs. Then I got my first dog, and dear God, the emotional connection and the sheer love still surprises and overwhelms me nearly every day, and surpasses anything I could ever have expected.

I still don't think I'm his parent though.

My nieces call their dog their brother, but nobody in the household (including the kids) believes this to be true, or thinks that the dog should have the same status or role in the family - let alone that he would understand any of this and take on the responsibilities, FFS. Also he's the size of a squirrel.