To think crying over a puppy snapping at your heels is a bit pathetic?

[outofthefryingpan]

We have a 7 month old pup. A small breed which will never grow higher that knee height. A friend came round unexpectedly with her 9 yo boy and because husband thought it was our daughter he let the pup down to greet her when he opened the door.

Pup ran outside and started snapping at ankles of the 9yo boy. Pup chased him a bit until husband managed to pick him up. Boy crying hysterically in floods of tears. Mother (friend) then storms off in a huff and apparently then arrives home herself in tears. Friend’s husband then demands we “do something about that dog”.
I’ve apologised profusely but they’re still all really upset about it. AIBU to think they’re being a bit pathetic about it? They’re good friends and I really value our relationship as I’ve always thought of them as really sensible people. Can’t believe the drama over this 5 second incident! I could understand it if it was a big dog but honestly- it’s tiny!

I suppose if you’re not used to dogs you don’t know how to deal with them but am I really BU to think it’s a daft drama over nothing?

*Not suggesting that training the dog is the other mother's responsibility btw. Just wondering if the situation could have been prevented from escalating quite so much...

I'm not sure you're ready to have a dog tbh, you're clearly not responsible enough.

You need to train your dog and learn how to handle him properly. He's 7 months, not 7 weeks so stop picking him up and train him to do as he's told.

People like you give responsible dog owners like me a bad name.

Sure, if you're an adult. Not if you're a nine year old child.

Control the dog.

7 months isn't a puppy. Train your dog.

I hope she teaches her son to kick animals that try to attack him in future!

Maybe then you'll have a reason to call a scared child pathetic.

Train your mutt!

YABVU!

I suppose if you’re not used to dogs you don’t know how to deal with them

Whilst I suspect that this is meant as a disparaging comment aimed at your friend, it sums you up extremely well. If you think that any dog, whatever size it is, snapping at visitors is acceptable, then you have a lot to learn.

To the poster who asked what your friends expected you to do - I should imagine that they expect you to learn how to train it and control it properly. If you don't know how to do that yourselves, please go and get professional dog training advice.

YANBU

YABBOOO - you are being bang out of order.

Control your dog and realise the world doesn't revolve around you and it.

YABVU train your dog. A 7 month old is not a tiny puppy!

Your 7 month old dog with adult teeth (not puppy) has been snapping at a little child and you think that's OK?

Please rehome your dog to someone who will train it.

I was bitten on my face by my grandma's dog. You are being exceptionally unreasonable.

Yabu.

For starters “small” from the perspective of an adult is not quite so small for a child generally speaking.

You sound immature and a bit mean, to be completely honest.

If your dog was biting my child, I'd have kicked the fucking dog into the road and hoped a car hit it. If you don't control that dog it will end up being put down. It is not acceptable to allow an animal to attack a child and then sneer at the child for being upset.

I've love dogs hence the user name and no way would I let my dog snap at anyone's heels, he's 7 months so not far off full height and should be much better behaved by now.

After all the responses I'm expecting op either won't return or will play down the incident.

As others have said you give us responsible owners a bad name.

I love dogs. Absolutely adore them.

A 7 month old small breed isn't a puppy anymore. It will have adult teeth and should have been trained out of biting. I have a nearly 5 month old large breed and have worked on greeting people from day one.

While I can see that the parents have overreacted (not the child) it will always be your responsibility to make sure no one feels threatened by your dog because your dog could be the one being put to sleep.

Just reread the OP's post and realised the husband was present the whole time - I thought it was just boy and his mum until hubby came along. So scratch what I said about mum stepping in!!!

Some training is needed here. For starters the dog shouldn't be just bursting out the front door uncontrolled.

YABVVVU. I detest dogs, all of them, and if yours had started snapping around my 8 yr old who is terrified of dogs I would have controlled your mutt in anyway I needed to in order to protect my child.

I have a Deerhound shall I let him run up to you and let him jump up and nip at you trained to do neither? I have a 7 month old pup too he hasn't jumped up from 12 weeks of age it took two days to train him not to jump! I've never had a dog nip past 14 weeks and I've trained 20+ pups! Train your dog because it's teenage years will be horrendous and it'll never "mellow down" like you probably think!

My retrievers are not knee high and are certainly not small dog, my six month old “pup” has a full set of adult teeth and could inflict serious injury on someone if she wasn’t trained and controlled.

You cant allow your dog to “greet” visitors this way, it’s incredibly damaging to his training and I’m afraid you’re making a rod for your own back here.

A seven month old dog snapping cannot be passed off as a puppy nipping.

Did you train him?

Puppy teeth are really bloody sharp. I adore dogs, but it really hurts when they nip you. They can't help it when pups, but you need to train it out if them.

Was just coming back to say if it had been my child I would have drawn back my boot and punted it into the middle of next week, but SGB beat me to it. Honestly, I find it hard to believe there are people out there who think a vicious dog around a child is no biggie

Yabvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvu. I'd be livid with you