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Dog parks are designed for off-leash play, making infant floor time a uniquely risky choice.
Who bears responsibility when a curious puppy approaches a baby lying inside the designated small-dog area?
Instead of moving the infant, one mother repeatedly pushed the animal away and demanded its owner leave.
See how this stand-off concluded below.
AITA for suggesting a mom should not have brought her child to the dog park?
I have a puppy, who is about 6 months old.
She lives with me and I live alone. I also don’t have any really young family members/friends with babies so my puppy has not really had any experience around babies.
She loves kids but tends to jump up on them (she is a small breed) but I usually discourage kids from trying to pet her only because I know her little nails will scratch them.
Otherwise, she loves people and is the friendliest girl.
Dog parks are a great place for dogs to get out some energy.
Recently I was at the dog park to help get her energy out, and we were in the designated Under 25 lbs area.
This area is a bit hit or miss because sometimes the dogs in there are old and do nothing but sit in the grass, but the dogs in the regular area were quite big and rowdy that day, so I brought her in to throw her tennis ball and just let her run around.
Enter young mom with 5-6 month old infant in a stroller and her Jack Russell.
Cute, I thought. I love dogs and kids, and even said hi to her when she came in.
This sounds like a bad idea at a dog park.
Until she sets a blanket on the ground, takes her kid out of the stroller and lays him on it.
Of course none of the other old dogs were bothered, but my pup instantly ran up and was sniffing the baby, trying to lick him, and overall was just being curious.
HOWEVER, remember those nails and how they can scratch if she happened to step on an arm or hand or get to close to the face.
I was sitting on a chair across the field so immediately got up, grabbed her, tried to redirect her, and apologized.
That didn’t work.
But she went right back to explore the little human.
After many times of redirecting, and asking her to “leave it” (which she is still learning), the mom started to get aggressive with my dog, pushing her away, yelling at her, etc.
BUT NOT ONCE did she move her baby, pick him up, or put him back in the stroller.
This isn’t a regular park.
I tried everything I could do before I just picked her up and held her.
I considered leaving but….it’s an off leash DOG park.
The park is for dogs to enjoy and exercise in, not for someone to set up a blanket with their baby.
She refused to move.
She suggested maybe my “rowdy” dog should move to the big area.
And I said she would be fine if baby was back in the stroller.
Of course that was not okay, and she said the dog park was for everyone to enjoy, and I just needed to control my dog.
AITA for thinking she should have just picked up her baby and put him in his stroller? It’s been bothering me 🙁
It’s an off leash dog park.
The mom should’ve kept the baby in the stroller if she didn’t want the baby to be around the dogs.
Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.
This person thinks this is an example of bad parenting.
The mom should’ve picked up her baby.
Some dog parks don’t allow children.
This person thinks the baby belonged in the stroller.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a person who calls on dozens of whirlygigs to combat the neighbor’s complaints about the fence.
Another person calls the mom stupid.
The puppy’s owner repeatedly retrieved and redirected her dog before holding her, while the mother left her infant on a blanket inside the enclosure.
Controlling the puppy mattered, but returning the baby to the stroller was safer than expecting an off-leash park to function without dogs.
She scheduled tummy time inside a dog park and blamed the dogs for attending.