DD is nearly 8 and her friend has invited her and another girl for a celebratory sleepover at the friend's house. Trouble is the friend has a large boisterous young dog, Labrador-cross, just 12-13 months old, which is completely untrained and undisciplined and I am concerned about something happening.
On the plus side of the column, DD is very used to dogs as we have a Jack Russell ourselves and she is pretty responsible in how she behaves around them.
On the negative side, this dog thinks it's the pack-leader, goes crazy barking when the doorbell goes and has growled at visitors. The parents do what they can to correct the dog but to no great effect, and with the best will in the world, they will not have "eyes on" what the dog and the kids are doing all the time. I don't think they see the risk in the same way, on the last playdate there, the kids were unexpectedly left in the care of small, frail MIL.
I just have visions of DD squealing and wrestling with her friend, the dog thinking he needs to "defend" his pack and my next phone-call coming from the A&E.
My gut is that DD should not go to this friend's house whilst the dog is there. But I'm massively conflict-averse and can't think of how to communicate this to the friend's parents without them taking offence, or talking me out of it. To give some context, I live outside the UK and this friend is part of a small group of international families that we hang out with from school so there will be ripple effects to contend with.
Argh! I know I'm right but I just need a script...