Not horses! - Page 1

One of my pet peeves and another good way to lose your child's face not to mention injure the dog's back.

http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/gsd/classifieds/60588.html

 Dumb. Very dumb!

I feel so sorry for the poor dog. It's obvious that the current owners have zero respect for this dog.

Depends on the dog, and the child.

Either way he's not riding he's sitting.   I would tell you about Wiley Coyote but he has been dead for many years now and my son is now a man.    You had to be there.

My first GSD was 2 inches oversize for a female. When my nephew saw her for the first time, he said "Auntie Jane, can I rider her?" (He was about 2 1/2 or 3 years old at the time.)

Needless to say my answer was 'no', though I thought it was really cute that he'd ask!

I don't usually comment on these jump-on-em-fests, but really...you are making a mountain out of a molehill.  I am sure this child and dog are not entered in next weeks steepchase race.  The dog can stand a moment with the family child on his back.  My great dane had many such moments, he lived to 11 years old and died of a stroke.  He never ate a child's face, either.

Veronica

Honestly it is not something I would suggest for any dog ... but it happens everywhere.  It is not about respect or lack there of for the dog.  Some dogs just love kids and the kids love their dogs.

Occasionally that gets shown via some short yet cute "rides".   The body language of the dog in the photo does not suggest pain, irritation etc.  Seems to be quite fine with it.

The child is not huge and was probably off of the dog after the photo was snapped.  Trying to gather a lynch mob over something like this is not needed. 

If the child were sitting on a Chihuahua ... then maybe ....

My grandparents had a black lab named Lady. She was our babysitter when us grandchildren came to visit. She was roughly the size of a small pony due to the fact that she had a diet that consisted of porridge, toast, kibble, supper table scraps, free choice grazing in the garden (she loved the berries) and of course cookies from us kids (I think you get the idea - she was an oil barrel with legs, a head and a tail because she was really overweight). We rode her and she loved it. In fact, she loved it so much she would barrel between our legs and "kidnap us" for a ride ... running around the yard as we held onto her collar.  We didn't do it as older children but when we were little - say around 2-4 years old.

My grandfather's vet was even asked if this riding would harm lady and he confirmed that the weight being placed on her was not going to harm her as this was not done daily - continually - it was a few times per summer when the grandkids were up.

My grandfather loved Lady - they hunted together and owed his life to her.  She saved him from drowing in a whirlpool that his boat capsized in.  He would never have let any harm come to her.

Lady lived to be a ripe old age of 13 - having to be euthanized due to inoperable cancer. 

I disagree with some of you, for what it is worth. It IS teaching a child to not respect what a dog is. It is not an animal to ride. Children who are not taught how to behave around dogs are often bitten. In the US the statistics are staggering. The overwhelming majority of bites are in the home and to children who know the dog who bit them. Education is important and in my view, teaching a child that it is ok to sit on the dog, or climb all over it, regardless of the photo opportunity, is just irresponsible. You can be sure the child will think it ok to do it again and when unsupervised, trouble results.

No, this is not the most important issue in the world, but teaching children how to interact with dogs does, indeed, forestall additional cries for breed legislation because it can prevent bites.

hodie - I definitely agree that teaching children how to interact with dogs is essential.  Many parents do not do this (or they do not do this properly) and it is the driving force behind BSL (which is absolutely idiotic but that is another story!) and the cause of many unfortunate dog bites.

However, I have to disagree that this situation would result in a dog bite in all cases. The photo itself shown was one with an adult handler in the photo. An adult was present. We could safely assume that the child knew the dog and vice versa and that the dog/handler/child were in control of the situation.  

There are many children out there that are growing up in multiple dog households that know what is and what is not acceptable behavior around dogs. 

You really have to take this on a case by case situation.  Who are we to say that this is wrong for that dog, that child and that handler.  Only they know the backstory.  The handler/owner of the dog must have been confident in the dog's reaction for this to be allowed to happen.

As I said before, this is not an activity that I would suggest people do.  It is not something most dogs or children could do - without some negative incident.  However, there are many cases in which this has been done and safely done - these are those exceptions where the dog and child have a bond that allows for this.

I have had one of those bonds with a dog and there was no lack of respect on either end.  It was a mutually enjoyable pass time for Lady as well as us. 

However, if a child thought that all dogs were "horsies and to be ridden" that is an entirely different ball game.

There are many, many, many dogs out there that wouldn't tolerate this.  I know that none of mine would - then again they are much smaller than the dog photographed.  My dogs are from a breed that are known to not tolerate the fast,