Grandparents Dog

[KBHH]

AIBU? My parents dog is a lovely dog most of the time however she has a tendency to snap at my children when they are a little rough with her by rough I'm talking rough hugs or accidentally sitting on her or leaning on her. She has bitten and marked my DS1 three times and my DS2 only once and I've decided not to go round anymore. Neither child has been bothered by the dog and still aren't bothered. Also all bites have been more warning and haven't broken the skin as yet! My mom is obviously upset by this as she loves the kids. however I don't know what to do! We have dogs ourself who never do anything to either of my children and my children never really bother with them. The parents dog came along after our eldest boy so she should be used to children. My parents just won't understand why I won't take my children round anymore and don't seem to want to do anything to Change the situation! Help! Please no negative comments I know this post may get mixed responses but I feel sensitive about it all already.... the dog is only a JRT but I just don't want to risk anything worse happening!

[KBHH]

Hence wolfiefan why I'm suggesting abstaining from visits? Unfortunately this also displeases my parents? Not exactly my first choice either but I basically don't think I'm being unreasonable but staying away.

[Wolfiefan]

Well you could have stopped the problem occurring in the first place.

[KBHH]

Of course!

[Doggydoggydoggy]

I’m with you OP.

I definately would never ever take my children round there and I am shocked and disgusted but not surprised at comments here.

There is a world of difference between genuinely rough behaviour which of course should be corrected and normal child behaviour which is somewhat louder and more erratic but not at all ‘abusive’.

A family dog should be robust enough to tolerate usual child behaviour and if they aren’t they need to be kept separate from children.

The fact this dog has gone for children unprovoked not interacting with it before aswell and on adults before speaks volumes to me.

The dog is dangerous and unpredictable and I would never set foot in the house again.

[anniehm]

My dog would growl or nip if a kid was rough too! The answer is the kids are respectful to the dog, gentle and are supervised - and the biggest thing is the dog can retreat to their bed and the kids know they mustn't pester him. We shut ddog upstairs if little kids come who keep wanting to pester him as we know he doesn't like it (he just wants to play ball not be patted)

[Doggydoggydoggy]

Ah but annie the OP said the dog on one occasion went for her son playing away from him not interacting at all and on another occasion sat next to her toddler then went for him when the toddler stood up and placed his hand on it.
Both of those things I don’t think would really class as rough?

Plus she said the dog has bitten adults and gives no warning at all

[tabulahrasa]

Well realistically your options are to either keep taking the DC round but make sure they’re nowhere near the dog... if it tries to sit beside them, send it away, if they approach it stop them.

Or not go round until your parents are willing to keep the dog away from them.

There isn’t really another magical option that’s going to appear given that it’s not your dog and not something you can really resolve.

[luckylavender]

OP - I have no idea what to believe as you've completely changed your tune in this post. You started off by saying they were giving the dog rough hugs or lying on it, but when you got feedback you didn't like, the children were minding their own business. Quite simply the dig & your children have to be separated as none can be trusted.

[PCohle]

Your kids are sitting on the dog??

You need to teach your children to behave sensibly around dogs and until then keep them separated from the dog, for the poor dog's own good.

If I was your mother I'd be really pissed off that you are blaming the dog for this state of affairs.

[Jaggypinecone]

You say your parents haven't seemed to have done anything to change the situation. Have you actually asked them to put the dog in another room? It surely isn't unreasonable to get why you won't go round with your kids until they do? And re the kids, I've never had dogs, nor grown up with them but I always had it drummed into me from an early age, not to approach a dog or pat it without checking first.
In my experience folk can get very precious about their dogs but then wonder why no-one visits. Are your parents like this? A friend of mine once asked if I would look after her dog whilst she was away. I told her no way coz it's a pain in the arse who snarls, bites and chews your socks and shags your leg all evening. She was shocked I didn't love the little darling as much as she did. It too was a JRT.

[3dogs2cats]

You sound so lovely. Don’t think you or your children deserve this abuse. Ask them if they will crate the dog. This dog has actually bitten, you could be asking them to have the dog euthanised.
I know some dogs will just howl if put in a separate room, and if he hasn’t been crate trained they may need help with that..
you have to protect the children
Best of luck