To think if your granddaughter runs up to my puppy that he might try to jump on her?

[Taz1212]

We have a 16 week old puppy. He does the school run every morning and afternoon (carried much of the way still to his great disgust ). He's a lovely dog but he wants to meet everyone. Everyone is his best friend and he jumps up to greet them.

We are training him to not jump and after school we have about a dozen little girls eagerly helping. He's getting better but it's going to take a while. I keep him away from people who don't approach him and tell people to ignore him. However, he's little so lots of people think it's cute. Urgh. We'll get there.

Every morning and every afternoon we see a grandmother with her granddaughter. Every morning and every afternoon she tells her granddaughter, "Stay away from that dog." Fair enough- not everyone likes dogs. Yesterday morning her granddaughter ignored her and went running up to the puppy. He tried to jump on her but didn't touch her because I have him on a short lead and I pulled him back. She started screaming blue murder - "THAT DOG NEARLY GOT MEEEEEEEE!!!!!!" The grandmother glared at me and said, "Yes, I saw that. That dog needs muzzled."

Seriously? She's seen the puppy every day. She sees how excited he gets. She tells her granddaughter to stay away- what did she think would happen?

Woo don't get me wrong, he's hardly a vicious predator but he finds it overwhelming when kids run up to him squealing (he's a miniature and very cute so he gets a lot of attention!), and he tends to back up into my legs with his ears back. He's fine with all adults though, which is weird. He likes to sniff strangers' shoes when they stand at bus stops...

That frustrates me too cherrybombxo, and it happens a lot, how on earth do the parents who in some cases have never met me or my dog how she'll respond to an unknown child stoking her? She's soft as anything and likes being fussed but they're not to know that.

I saw the grandmother this afternoon and she again told her granddaughter to stay away from Noodle. She did stay away so no problems today.

YANBU - not in the slightest; and I'm not a dog owner. Mine are taught to check with the dog owner if they can approach / stroke the dog. Simple.

Silly woman. Unfortunately hearing comments like this is part of being a dog owner. When I got my first dog I used to take them personally and be quite upset. Then I went through a phase of trying to point out that they were making rude and incorrect assumptions. Now I just roll my eyes and walk on. It's the best way to deal with it, really.

Very cute puppy! What's with the astroturf? Do you have it in your garden?

YABU The school run is no place for an untrained puppy.

I hate dogs but that one's pretty darn cute.

Yanbu.

She should have control of her Gd. You had control of the dog. The woman's an idiot for instilling fear into the poor child. It's perfectly possible to tell a small child to not stroke every dog they see or to only stroke fogs where the owner says it's ok without being hysterical. My kids knew this from a very young age.

That is one incredibly cute dog.

........... (For Noodle)

YANBU. Stupid woman is going to make that child fear dogs.
For what it's worth, it's probably better to keep the dog away from hoards of excited children anyway.

Children (over excited, boisterous ones anyway) are the enemy of dog training. If you want a well behaved dog it needs to be calm, take orders from you and you alone. A bunch of kids all trying to stroke it, tell it to sit, wanting to hold it's lead are the absolute last thing you want.
You need to socialise it of course, but you need everyone around you to completely ignore the dog so that it fixes on you and doesn't go running to all and sundry as soon as you let it off the lead.

YANBU. I'm surprised at all the people who won't take their dogs to school. Our headteacher is a dog lover and positively encourages people to bring their dogs to school. There are always at least 20 or so dogs at the schoolgate.

YANBU!

The amount of parents that let their children run at my dog while screaming is unbelievable. He's old and soft as anything and has no teeth but I still would never want to risk anyone or my dog getting hurt.

Keep your children away from strange dogs and teach them to ask if they can stroke them! Then teach them to pet the dogs calmly and gently!

YANBU.

Why shouldn't you take your dog on the school run? It's the children approaching your dog in the wrong, not the poor puppy.

When I was growing up it was the norm to have all the parents waiting at the school gates with their dogs in the summer. No one was mauled unsurprisingly. Talk about cotton wool generation!

Yanbu but brace yourself for the usual anti-dog brigade. They'll be along soon enough.

My dd really annoys me by running up to random dogs, I have been trying for years to train her not to do it.
She is getting better ( she is 5)

I always apologise for DD behaviour.

I love dogs dearly, really do. But I do remember the excruciating whole school gate thing with an autistic child. Dog owners seemed to gather round the gate; you just could not get passed them. A screaming child just makes dogs all the more yappy and jumpy.

School gates are not the place for dogs or puppies, or even the rabbit I once saw on a lead or indeed the twat with a snake round his neck . Ten yards away from the actual gate, no problem. Standing at the gate, big problem.

People are idiotic. They need to train their children not to approach dogs without the owner's permission. Personally I don't see the issue with taking a dog on the school run.

School gates are not the place for dogs or puppies, or even the rabbit I once saw on a lead or indeed the twat with a snake round his neck. Ten yards away from the actual gate, no problem. Standing at the gate, big problem

Dds and I would love this

Unless the snake ate the rabbit.

sonjadog The AstroTurf is our back garden. It's hideous and I can't stand it. However, it has transformed our swamp and having it means the DC (and pup) can finally play outside.

Perhaps I should have called this thread, AIBU to Take My Dog on the School Run. No offence to anyone but the school run stays.

On the first week I did have the sweetest little P1 boy come up to me while we were going through the wood that runs alongside the path. He said, "I'm on my way to school. I'm not allowed to talk to strangers. Can I pet your puppy?"

YANBU. All children should be taught basic safety rules around dogs even if they don't like them and never actually want to approach them. The woman is doing her GD a huge disservice both frighteninging her unnecessarily about dogs and not correcting her inappropriate behaviour.

OP, I want your dog. Where do you live? I'm coming to dog nap him.

He's so gorgeous, grandmother can poke off... You sound like you're doing things right, if he's brought up on the school run, surely he can do anything!l

My dd really annoys me by running up to random dogs, I have been trying for years to train her not to do it.
She is getting better ( she is 5)

I always apologise for DD behaviour.

mine is 14 puppies cats and babies anything cute and she is all over them if i let her

Yabu, an over excitable untrained dog shouldn't be taken on a school run.

I gave dd a spoon when she was 6m old and I was starting to wean her. DH wanted me to take it away from her "until she knows how to use it properly". How was she going to do that?

I reckon there's not much difference between puppies and babies.

Yabu, an over excitable untrained dog shouldn't be taken on a school run

Idiotic comment in the light of the whole thread. People should train their children.