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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU To wonder when people say they never leave their dogs....

52 replies

Fargesia · 23/10/2016 09:45

unattended with their DC, how this is even possible when said dog lives in the family home? Surely it is impossible to guarantee that you are always closely supervising. I can't imagine that people take the dog or child with them every time they go to another part of the house to do something. I assume that it is something dog owners just say without it really being true.

OP posts:
alloutofnameideas · 23/10/2016 09:47

I do leave my dog unattended with the children but only if she's fast asleep. If she's awake she is like my shadow and follows me everywhere, even waiting outside the bathroom door for me.
Actually saying that the children are exactly the same. I tend to get followed by all 5 children AND the dog!!

JustCallMeKate · 23/10/2016 09:53

DDogs went to work with DH every day, when he came in at night there was alsways one of us with the children. At bedtime they went in the kitchen unlike now as they sleep on our bed

RayofFuckingSunshine · 23/10/2016 09:53

I have only recently started leaving our dog unattended with my oldest (who is 7 and sensible), for short periods. It was a case of simply taking the dog with me if I left the room - not difficult with a well trained dog. The dogs bed (crate where the children are not allowed to go) is in the kitchen so if she was sleeping it was there mostly at which point I just closed the door if I left. I genuinely don't see what is so difficult about keeping dogs and children separate.

idontlikealdi · 23/10/2016 09:54

When the kids were little I would pop the dog in the kitchen with a babygate if I needed to go upstairs or in the garden to hang washing etc.

Mishegoss · 23/10/2016 09:55

No I really never leave them unattended. If I go to the toilet my kids tend to stalk me there or I pop the dog in her crate or in the garden.. they're never alone for any length of time at all. I don't trust children and dogs unsupervised together for any length of time and it's worth a bit of faffing to make sure they aren't.

NoIsAnAnswer · 23/10/2016 09:58

What's the point of this thread?

DoubleCarrick · 23/10/2016 09:59

I'm reading this with interest. Baby due soon and wouldn't want to leave my dog unattended with baby. His got arthritis which sometimes makes him grumpy. The dog will be easy, he'll just follow me when I tell him to Grin training the baby will be another matter entirely

BigGreenOlives · 23/10/2016 10:00

The dog we had when the children were little was a Velcro dog & never left my side. If he fell asleep and I wasn't there when he woke up he'd bark. not very well trained to be honest

NoCapes · 23/10/2016 10:03

I never leave her unsupervised with the baby, but obviously I wouldn't leave the baby alone anyway so if I was going to a different part of the house I just take him with me
I do leave her alone with the 5 & 7 year olds though, it would be madness to carry her everywhere with me just because the kids were playing with toys in the adjoining room

Babblehag · 23/10/2016 10:04

I have canine followers, my puppy goes where I or dp go. And recently been looking after friends dog who sticks to my heel like glue, my youngest dc is 8 and much harder to train if i'm honest.

HoleyMoley2016 · 23/10/2016 10:06

I do leave the dog unsupervised with the kids but not when they are crawling or toddlers. The dog, who is a rescue, is in his eighth baby without incident. He's 60kg of wonderful and he's a guarding breed. But I've been training dogs since I was a child and our kids am confident in my ability to judge a dog.

dontpokethebear · 23/10/2016 10:10

This is refreshing to read. My FB feed is full of 'I'd trust my dog with my babies life' type comments Hmm

PinkyOfPie · 23/10/2016 10:10

I knew a couple who had a dog that wasn't denagerous, but when they had their first child they were worried about germs etc so the poor dog spent the next 11 years in the utility room with food, was taken out twice a day for a walk and never let in the main house. The 3 Kids weren't allowed in the utility room, they barely clapped eyes on the poor creature. Dog died aged 13.

So I guess it's possible. They apparently loved the dog too much to get rid of him Hmm I understand completely being cautious with kids, and not letting the dog upstairs or where there's carpets etc, but to refine a dog to a 7ft x 7ft space it's entire life is fucking cruel if you ask me!

yesterdaysunshine · 23/10/2016 10:13

I get followed by dogs and kids too!

Our dog is only little and is more of a trip risk.

It isn't something I worry about. We've always had very gentle placid breeds.

2legit2knit · 23/10/2016 10:18

Dog goes in a separate room when Im not there, not that difficult! Not sure why you think it would be?

Dionysuss · 23/10/2016 10:19

When DC were small we had baby gates to keep the dog separate, but we rarely had to use them. She spends most quiet times asleep upstairs or people watching out the window in the office where DC are now allowed to go. If we were in the kitchen the dog would be there like a shadow waiting for us to drop food. We mostly would just have called the dog to come with if we didn't want to disrupt DC from something they were engrossed with. Even now she still follows me to the loo unasked.

yesterdaysunshine · 23/10/2016 10:19

It's not difficult but I know what OP means. I wander regularly from kitchen to lounge to dining area to garden to bedroom to the toilet to the bedroom to DDs bedroom and I don't always shut my dog away or take DD with me!

SuperManStoleMyPants · 23/10/2016 10:24

Always used a puppy pen, crate, baby gates and dpup came upstairs/to the toilet with me. He was a velcro pup so it was easier to have him tail me than convince a child.

WaitrosePigeon · 23/10/2016 10:25

The point of the thread is cause an argument, is my guess.

SpringerS · 23/10/2016 10:28

I leave my dogs in the kitchen during the day and close the door. If I'm not in the kitchen, DS isn't in the kitchen. Tbh, I have zero worries about DS and my dogs, they are exceptionally chilled out and tolerant of him. My parents' dog is a different matter. He's a lovely dog but very nervous due to a bad start in life and he never, ever relaxes around my DS. Last week we were getting ready to leave my parents' house and DS tripped and fell on him. I'm so glad I was standing there and could whip DS straight off him as he fell in a way that he couldn't get up and the dog was clearly panicking. If I hadn't been with them, I believe it's a possibility that the dog would have bitten him in the confusion.

gettingtherequickly · 23/10/2016 10:29

Not had an issue with our kids, but they were 13 & 15 when we got our first dog. I would never leave them alone with a small child, and muzzle them if we have friends with small children to stay even if there are adults in the room, (they are greys so used to muzzles).

yesterdaysunshine · 23/10/2016 10:32

Blimey getting, really? Why? Have they bitten in the past?

tabulahrasa · 23/10/2016 10:35

It's dead easy, you just call the dog when you leave the room and they run after you...if they weren't following you already that is.

6demandingchildren · 23/10/2016 10:44

We have 3 dogs in a small house. I leave the dogs with the kids but I have always told the children not to treat the dogs as toys. And when our granddaughter visits the dogs go in the garden for a short time then when they are calmer they come back in and the only reason we wouldn't leave her with the dogs is because she is tiny and can be knocked over and that our German shepard wants to groom her like he does to the cats!

Hidingtonothing · 23/10/2016 10:48

Nope, where I go dogs follow, stair gates in most doorways if needed so it really isn't something I 'just say', they genuinely are never alone with DD. My dogs are well trained but so is DD, she's 8 and very sensible, knows what to watch for with their body language etc but I still wouldn't risk them being alone.