Had a weird incident this weekend, maybe it was a non-issue, but I’m still thinking about it a day later.
Went to a BBQ, brought our dog, “Gordo”. Gordo could be better trained, but is friendly. He is motivated by affection and food, not always in that order, and is really excited about both. There were other dogs there and numerous kids. Everyone there has dogs even if their own dogs weren’t present at the BBQ. These are “dog people.”
I took my eyes off Gordo for a bit - he’d been getting along with everyone, the trouble he could get into seemed pretty limited - and was enjoying my meal when I heard a commotion. I look over and see an acquaintance, “Harry”, literally on top of Gordo. Like, he has Gordo in a headlock and his body is perpendicular across my 45lb dog’s shoulders/back. Also “Cooper”, Harry’s 5 year old child, is shrieking.
My blood pressure goes through the roof and I run over, assuming the worst - as unlikely as it seems given Gordo’s sweet nature, he must have bitten Harry’s child. That’s the only thing I can think of that would elicit this kind of response.
Harry quickly jumps off my dog as I’m coming over. I worriedly ask “what happened, is everything ok?”
Harry is casual and says “oh no big deal, Gordo grabbed some food off Cooper’s plate. I gave him a little bump on the nose.”
As I’m processing this, my wife comes over. She saw even less of the incident than I did, did not see Harry on top of Gordo, but when she hears Harry’s explanation and “bump on the nose” she quickly says “that’s fine.”
I look down at Gordo, who has already forgotten about the whole thing and is already buzzing around looking for his next adventure. He seems over it, my wife is over it, and I don’t feel like starting A Thing. I kind of nod, I kneel down to Cooper’s eye level and apologize to him for Gordo grabbing his food. Cooper just stares at me cause he’s 5; Harry interjects and says ‘all good, we have dogs too’ etc.
About 30 minutes later, Harry’s 3 year old daughter, “Melanie”, dropped a cookie on the floor, and Gordo got to it before anyone else. Harry suggests I leash Gordo. I don’t feel like arguing, Gordo is 0-2 at this point, so I oblige until Harry and his family leave.
And that’s pretty much it. Feels like a non-issue. But it’s been bothering me as I keep turning the whole thing over in my head:
It is highly unlikely I’ll say/do anything, especially the more time passes. I feel like the only real outcome to this is the next time Harry and his kids are around and Gordo is present I’ll have to be extra attentive. As much as I love and trust my dog, I think it’s always good practice to be aware of what they’re doing when kids are involved, especially strange kids, and clearly I failed on that front yesterday, even if I feel like the punishment didn’t fit the crime.
Went to a BBQ, brought our dog, “Gordo”. Gordo could be better trained, but is friendly. He is motivated by affection and food, not always in that order, and is really excited about both. There were other dogs there and numerous kids. Everyone there has dogs even if their own dogs weren’t present at the BBQ. These are “dog people.”
I took my eyes off Gordo for a bit - he’d been getting along with everyone, the trouble he could get into seemed pretty limited - and was enjoying my meal when I heard a commotion. I look over and see an acquaintance, “Harry”, literally on top of Gordo. Like, he has Gordo in a headlock and his body is perpendicular across my 45lb dog’s shoulders/back. Also “Cooper”, Harry’s 5 year old child, is shrieking.
My blood pressure goes through the roof and I run over, assuming the worst - as unlikely as it seems given Gordo’s sweet nature, he must have bitten Harry’s child. That’s the only thing I can think of that would elicit this kind of response.
Harry quickly jumps off my dog as I’m coming over. I worriedly ask “what happened, is everything ok?”
Harry is casual and says “oh no big deal, Gordo grabbed some food off Cooper’s plate. I gave him a little bump on the nose.”
As I’m processing this, my wife comes over. She saw even less of the incident than I did, did not see Harry on top of Gordo, but when she hears Harry’s explanation and “bump on the nose” she quickly says “that’s fine.”
I look down at Gordo, who has already forgotten about the whole thing and is already buzzing around looking for his next adventure. He seems over it, my wife is over it, and I don’t feel like starting A Thing. I kind of nod, I kneel down to Cooper’s eye level and apologize to him for Gordo grabbing his food. Cooper just stares at me cause he’s 5; Harry interjects and says ‘all good, we have dogs too’ etc.
About 30 minutes later, Harry’s 3 year old daughter, “Melanie”, dropped a cookie on the floor, and Gordo got to it before anyone else. Harry suggests I leash Gordo. I don’t feel like arguing, Gordo is 0-2 at this point, so I oblige until Harry and his family leave.
And that’s pretty much it. Feels like a non-issue. But it’s been bothering me as I keep turning the whole thing over in my head:
- Gordo should NOT have grabbed food of a kid’s plate. Full stop. I’m not going to try to defend that. But… the reprimand for that should be verbal, right? Like, “Gordo, NO!” or something. What was Harry trying to accomplish by leaping on my dog and hitting him? Was he going to wrestle the food out of Gordo’s mouth and then fed it to his child?
- Re: the cookie on the flood thing, I’m equally flummoxed… Gordo didn’t have anything to do with Melanie dropping the cookie. She did that all on her own. And now it’s on the floor… Gordo shouldn’t have eaten it (it had some chocolate chips in it) but… was Harry going to allow his kid to eat a floor cookie? Like, the cookie’s gone, man. Once it hit the floor, it was either going in Gordo’s mouth, or some other dog’s mouth, or into the trash. There were plenty of other cookies there for your child that had not been on the floor.
It is highly unlikely I’ll say/do anything, especially the more time passes. I feel like the only real outcome to this is the next time Harry and his kids are around and Gordo is present I’ll have to be extra attentive. As much as I love and trust my dog, I think it’s always good practice to be aware of what they’re doing when kids are involved, especially strange kids, and clearly I failed on that front yesterday, even if I feel like the punishment didn’t fit the crime.