To take this further with the school? Mistreatment of dog on playground

[VitaminX]

Something I witnessed yesterday when I was picking up my son from the after-school club. There was a little dog tied up at the edge of the playground - which is perhaps not wise and I wouldn't leave a dog there alone if I had one, but it's not against any rules.

I saw three boys in my son's year (meaning they were 5 or 6 years old) tormenting the dog. They were running right up to him in an aggressive way, bending down and shouting right in his face and spitting on him. It was horrible to see and the poor dog was obviously highly stressed. There was a staff member outside but she was playing football with some other kids and hadn't noticed what they were doing. I told the boys to stop it and informed the most senior staff member who called them inside and told them 'the dog doesn't like that'.

Obviously not all children have experience of dogs so I can understand that running and shouting around them is sometimes not meant in a bad way and they just need educating. But they were shouting rude things at the dog (not that the dog cares about that, but I think it indicates that they didn't mean to be friendly to him) and I don't think there can be any reasonable explanation for the spitting.

I described what I'd seen in the parents' group chat, not naming the children of course but just saying can everyone make sure their kids know that this isn't acceptable behaviour and can be dangerous because frightened dogs are much more likely to bite.

I feel it was a very disturbing and serious incident. WIBU to send a follow up email to the school, which is separate from the after-school, about this? Maybe suggesting it could be made against the rules to leave dogs unattended on the playground, for everyone's safety? And that someone speak to the children about the importance of being kind to animals (which you would think that they should have learned at home but obviously not).

Or should I just trust that it has been dealt with appropriately?

I would think that the staff member handled it, but keep an eye out so it doesn't happen again - if anything similar happens then go to the school. Also, if you see the dog's owner, I would mention it to them. Personally, I wouldn't leave my dog tied up by itself ever.

I think your suggested email sounds a good idea. It wouldn't be much effort for the school to put out a notice to parents saying do not leave dogs tied up unattended (this has safety implications for both the dog and children as you say!), and also ask them to remind the students on basic kindness attitudes towards animals. Sounds awful for the poor dog, and they are lucky it didn't result in the dog snapping at one of the children - i think i'd have snapped if they'd have been running up to me and shouting rude things in my face!

They'll just ban dogs on the playground. If that's your aim, send the Email. It only takes one child of that age in a group to start it and the silliness gets bigger and bigger.

Dogs should be banned on the playground anyway.

Dogs definitely shouldn't be allowed in the playground, they aren't at most schools.

I would send the email, their behaviour is concerning. When I see the local school children engage with dogs it is generally them asking can they pet them/throw a ball etc.

Send the email. And if you see the same dog at school again, tell the owner what happened (or if left unattended again, wait with it until the owner comes back and then tell them). I would want to know.

Well, I like dogs but I don't have one myself so it wouldn't affect me one way or the other. Personally I don't mind at all and my children know very well not to approach any dog without asking permission from the owner. It is easy to stay away from a tied up dog, but I do think it might be wise not to allow unattended dogs at any rate because it just removes the possibility for such an incident to occur, at least on school grounds.

It was disgraceful behaviour on the part of the children, though, and being unkind to animals is not a good sign so I do think someone should be coming down hard on that aspect as well. I suppose I just have to hope that the parents were informed and have addressed it but there's no way for me to know.

childhood cruelty to animals can indicate anti social personality traits.

Thank you for your concern OP. I think that the school needs to be seen to be doing something. PP are quite right in that every potential psychopath starts with animal cruelty. It would take the school office very little time to draw up a notice, print it out and laminate it, then cable tie it to the fences. Proper behaviours should always be reiterated. I put everything in writing when contacting any organisation as useful to have proof subsequently

I'd email about the dog being left unsupervised in the playground, who does that? Very foolish and dangerous behaviour from the owner, a child could easily get hurt.

I wouldn't complain again about the naughty children, it was dealt with at the time by the staff member and you have informed parents.

I know ultimately the owner should not have left the dog in such a vulnerable position. There are obvious risks.

I just can't get that poor dog's face and body language out of my head, though. It was genuinely so shocking to see. He was cringing in terror, so distressed.

Even though the children are young, I don't think the words 'naughty' or 'silliness' are quite appropriate. They knew full well that 'the dog doesn't like that'. They were mobbing that animal. It was horrible.

Good idea to email exactly what you saw

They were lucky. I know of someone who had a cavalier king charles spaniel left tied outside the school gates that out of fear bit a little boy in the face when he bent down to pet it. Those boys were very lucky as a dogs first response is to run, if that can’t they can resort to biting.
That spaniel had shown no other previous signs of aggression either apparently. It was just scared.

I think since it’s on school grounds, in order to avoid any liability school would do well to follow the suggestions in your email.

God I'd have read those kids the riot act! Poor dog!
It's irresponsible of the owner to have left it unattended and I don't think the school run is the right time to walk the dog. But it would have been the poor dog who paid the price if it had reacted at the kids.

Naughty and silliness are always appropriate for five year olds, unless there is sexual/extreme behaviour shown then you are dealing with a abused child.

That's very sad and another great reason why dogs should not be left unattended. Even behaviour that children intend as friendly can be frightening to animals.

I've seen children being too forward with dogs plenty of times, simple cases of lack of understanding/education and over-excitement which unfortunately have the potential to end very badly. I've also seen plenty of out of control dogs jumping around near children, which is also a recipe for disaster.

I've never seen children being deliberately unkind to an animal before, which is what really shocked me yesterday.

Maybe I'm just very sheltered, but I think that being aggressive to an animal is quite extreme, which is why I described it as a disturbing and serious incident. Most children are naturally affectionate to animals, even when they don't know how to behave appropriately around them.

Obviously it's not the worst thing imaginable, especially as they hadn't actually physically harmed the animal.

@Ponoka7 I would hope that most children would know not to spit at an animal, no matter what age they were.

Most schools do ban dogs from playgrounds, and rightly so (and I say that as a dog owner)

I’d follow it up OP. The parents might want to know so they can hopefully teach their kids to be better behaved and the owner might want to be more careful about leaving her dog tied up alone.

That's awful poor dog and after that terrifying experience you'd not be surprised if next time child wanders over trying to pet it while dog can't escape it would be more likely to bite, especially as the owner wasn't around to be aware the event occurred if you'd not intervened.
I think people put their dogs into far too risky situations as don't consider how they may feel and are oblivious to what the dogs trying to communicate as they just expect them to cope and fit in with whatevers convenient for them.

I remember reading a news section when lived in a city that a deer had got trapped in primary school playground rather than being fascinated by this rare interaction, they stoned the poor creature and the RSPCA had to come dispatch it after it injured itself on the fence trying to escape the kids

At this point I'd assume the school will handle it how they choose too without needing your guidance on what to do.

If it happens again, I'd be messaging the parents and telling them it's darling angels that did it

Young children are deliberately unkind all the time. Maybe not all of them, and maybe not all the time, but I doubt there is a person alive who was never deliberately unkind as a child.
Children hurt younger ones, push each other over, call mean names, chase birds, scare animals, throw stones etc. It's naughty, it's unkind, but it's also normal as they are still learning and developing empathy.

A 5 year old isn't going to recognise and understand a dog's body language the same way you are with decades more experience.
Of course it was right to stop them and tell them off, but shouting at a dog doesn't mean they are psychopaths.

Horrible little cunts.

Spitting on a dog?? Fuck that. I have an almost 6yo (who is globally delayed and functions more at pre school age) and she'd know this was unacceptable.

Stop making excuses for kids that should know better.