Would you let your small dog curl up beside your newborn on a playmat?

[Amidoingitcorrectly]

I love dogs, had them as a child and hope to have one again one day when we have appropriate space for one. But for ages I've hated photos on social media of small children posing with (usually big) dogs, often the dogs don't look particularly happy or relaxed, and people seem to think it's cute.

Was shocked today to see an influencer's (who I generally really like) very tiny premature baby, not long home from hospital, with a chihuahua curled up beside it on the floor - the dog is tiny but still about the same size as the baby or a big bigger. And definitely stronger. It seems really risky and I can't get my head round it, the nicest softest dog can have an off day, or a moment where they snap by mistake?

AIBU and daft though? Is this something seen as ok and not risky if the dog is very little?

YANBU. It's asking for trouble & no matter how much you trust your dog, they're still an animal which can be stressed, startled and act in an instinctive way, which could easily harm or kill a child

I completely agree - I hate all the social media posts of dogs and babies, it just takes 2 seconds for something to go wrong

No way. Especially a chihuahua - snappy things.

My children were never let near my mother's dog unless it was tied up and adult present, until they grew up.

Absolutely not. I love my dogs, but they are still animals who can be startled into a snap

No.
My last dog was gentle, soppy, had never bitten anything in her life, everybody’s friend but you never know how a baby’s cry, or a sudden noise or smell will affect the dog. We can never wholly understand a dog’s instinct.
My dog was never left alone with baby gc.

I know exactly which influencer you are talking about, and I was very uncomfortable seeing that set up. Unfortunately, there is a lot of criticism of them for various decisions, over on Reddit.

Definitely not. We had a lovely soppy dog as a child..... until he got a brain tumour.
No animal can be 100% trusted and you might not even know if your animal is sick and could have a sudden behavioural change.

I am a real sucker for animal videos on YouTube, but I hate to see babies and dogs together unsupervised, or sleeping together.
All it would take is for the dog to be startled, have a bad dream, be in pain or ill without anyone realising and it could go badly wrong

I'm about as dog daft as people come, and even I'm not OK with that.

No. Not fair on the baby who can't choose to behave in a manner appropriate to being with an animal, not fair to the dog who can't make judgements about the situation and could react to something and end up having to be destroyed.

I think I know who you are referring to (?WR), and I wasn’t happy seeing those photos. Also, I wish they would put more layers on the baby. She often looks cold 🙁

No. I wouldn't do that.

I have a chi cross, and her chi side is her snappy side. She's 97% super sweet, and oh so loyal and affectionate, but she's small and used to needing to use her mouth/snappiness as her defence mechanism, as she doesn't have size on her side. If you startle/scare her, her instinct is to snap first, think second. In her case it's usually air snap/bravado as opposed to actually snapping a person, but I wouldn't put a defenceless and unpredictable baby next to her. Not fair on her or the baby, and ultimately cause both her and/or the babies death if things went wrong.

Not on a play mat no and not propped up on a sleeping dog- if there’s a noise they could scramble to get to it, jump, have a nightmare, have an itch- and scratch the child, however placid and accidents happen.

It’s not fair on the dog.

YANBU, people’s total stupidity when it comes to their dogs is astounding.

Go on tell us who you mean!

Absolutely not and I would judge the shit out of any idiot who did.

There's no need to be coy about who it is.

We took pics of our prem dc asleep next to our large ddog.
Staged only for pics and dc was removed post snap!
Isn't all sm just staged?

Was it because you thought it would make a cute photo?

Did it just never cross your mind that there could be any risk?

Yes, it is Wheelchair Rapunzel.

Really - is the bullying bullshit of WR going to start on here too. Let me guess, the baby looks cold too. Smfh. It genuinely disgusts me the amount of bullshit that she gets on her comments.

It’s one staged photo. I would hope….
“She said the dog has now warmed to the child”. That’s more worrying imo!

It's really not bullying to be taken aback by someone putting their premature baby down on a playmat right beside a dog.

I only follow her on Facebook where I have enjoyed seeing her realise a dream and become a mum. Skimming comments they're generally all supportive.

I don't have Insta or Tiktok and believe she is more active on those platforms -does she get a lot of critical comments there?

If the dog is the same size as the baby, surely there's also a risk of smothering etc? A baby that young can't push a dog off etc- it would only need the parent to be distracted very briefly for something nasty to happen.

I agree, it seems very risky, and not something I would do. I also don't like to see cats allowed near sleeping babies for the same reason.

ABSOLUTELY NOT A CHANCE IN HELL