Your dog is not your babies 'brother'

[Thisandthatandthensome]

Watching ITV news tonight about XL bullies. The amount of money it's costing to Kennel prior to pts, £1000 per dog per month! Huge amount.

Anyway, this delusional owner has one with her 5 month old baby girl. She reckons she knows the dog so well that she knows he wouldn't hurt his 'sister' and that he knows he's her babies big brother.

I mean I like some dogs but aibu to think you're a big delusional if you call them brothers or sisters to your actual children.

Aibu? ynbu no they are like brother and sister

Yanbu these folk are out of touch they are dogs

I love pretty much all dogs, but this breed and those sharing similar genes, I’d be happy to see completely euthanized. This owner is a total screw loose. To have one of these unpredictable vicious beasts around your baby!! And when an attack happens she’ll be wailing “but this is so out of character, so not my dog”. Or worst still try saying the baby must have antagonised the dog.

If my dogs aren't my babies and not my children's siblings then how do I have these scan photos?

Woman and dog are bloody dangerous!!!

Culling isn’t free.
Humans created the problem in the first place and we will do it again. I believe we’ve started on the Cane Corso now.
You honestly think culling dogs will bring an end to hunger and poverty.. also caused by humans.

I do not for one moment believe you are "intrigued" by anything relating to the relationship between man and dog. You have no understanding of what it means.

But yes, you can tell what your dogs opinion is of people that it knows. They have preferences for certain people or dogs (or cats) in their life, just as we do. If you know your own dog you can read its body language pretty well.

At the end of the day even those of us with well behaved dogs who have been well trained, where we recognise stress signals in our dogs and think we know them very well…. They’re still animals and should never ever be left alone with small children and babies.

That should be the case with any dog, but there is no way I’d allow an XL or any of the other bigger dangerous dogs anywhere near a baby or child (including older children).

You're talking about two different issues. Of course XL bullies shouldn't be allowed near children. Or anyone.

But dogs are part of the family. They have the same mummy so they're siblings. I'm only half joking. I lost one of my dogs three weeks ago today and the grief I felt was like nothing I've felt before.

You can't compare XL bullies to any other pets or even any other dogs. They should all be put down.

No harm in calling cats and regular dogs brothers/sisters- it's a bit of fun and no one really believes if. But these beasts? No way.

That's a silly argument. Dogs have been living alongside humans for thousands of years and have evolved with our help to become human companions. Their mothers wouldn't remain in a caring role if they were left to their own devices and we take on the role of carer. It is still difficult to understand all their behaviours but when you spend 24 hours a day with a dog, you do become quite attuned to what they want and how they're going to react to other dogs/humans.

In most cases one can more or less predict actions of person one deals with every day. One can't predict behaviour of animal so well. In my opinion you are not being unreasonable.

Will we ever be free of this freaking menace😱

Yeah but if you get it wrong with a baby they cry and you figure it out. You get it wrong with a dog and they don't cry. They have a whole range of behaviours that can be anywhere from flight to fight.

People say they know their dogs, especially XL bullies that can do harm, and then getting it wrong and get their arms ripped off or their babies faces ripped to shreds so it's not really comparable to having a baby at all.

YANBU OP. It's ridiculous and in fact a sign of stupidity to refer to a dangerous dog ( or any dog) as a sibling to a human. Or maybe mental illness health.

Ill health

It's not dog bashing. I love dogs. It's bashing people who anthropomorphise them. And that sentimentally spans mildly irritating to downright dangerous

I have been a dog owner, but I didn’t pretend to have a mother-child bond with my dogs. I treated them like the pets they are. They had rules that separated them from human rules. They also varied in intelligence but none of them had the capability to judge anyone and let me know what their judgement is 🤣 no dog can. One of them used to be scared of what we thought was men in dark trousers. They don’t look at people and think “Wow you’re a really right wing person I judge you” 😂

People’s mistakes are thinking human brains and dog brains are similar. They’re not, and that’s fine, but this modern day craze of thinking dogs have some sort of understanding of human relationships is dangerous, and I do think it harms others as we’ve seen time and again with people dying because they think their beast is a “big softie who loves the kids!”

I also can’t bear dog people who think they’re a cut above other human morally because they “understand” dogs.

Same! I had Lhasa’s and my last died when DD was a baby. My Lhasa was 13, blind and quite dim. I still wouldn’t let her near the baby, their paths never crossed! Haven’t had one since and the temptation is enormous but I couldn’t give a dog the time and attention it would need and deserve so I will give it a few more years I reckon.

But getting to know your dog’s temperament isn’t the same as having some psychic bond when you can tell exactly the judgements a dog is making of a human.

And with respect its humans who take puppies of their mothers to dole out to the nearest human with £2000. Is there research to say mothers would always abandon their puppies in the wild? My neighbours dog had puppies recently and we went to visit (poodles, so bloody cute) and the mother/puppy bond was so very strong and protective I felt sorry that she would have them taken off her in a couple of weeks and thought surely she won’t get to 2 weeks time and think ‘yeah it’s fine I’m bored of them’

The issue is people still having x bullies at all, but you’re focussing on someone referencing that the dog is a brother to their child? That aspect wouldn’t bother me at all. Doesn’t affect my life. Entirely their choice as to how they refer to the relationship between dog and child. And it’s not being ‘delusional’ because I’m pretty sure they’re not so dim as to actually think the dog is related to their child.

Can dogs shed tears?? A dog whimpering or barking to let you know it’s needs is not the same a a mother/baby human bond

I agree having a dog is not comparable to having a baby and it will continue to baffle me that some think it is

If you're referring to me, I don't "understand" dogs at all, I don't even like dogs. And no I don't think I'm a cut above anybody, I'm just a simple minded mentally ill person with a therapy dog that I love.

And it affects your life how? I’m of the opinion that what people do in their own home, unless it’s abusive, is entirely upto them. None of my business, and none of yours either….