[poochie2]

OMG ! I was taking a walk today at the park and a nice lady and her 2 year old baby asked if they can pet the dog and I said okay well the baby looked like he was about to pet Vanilla but instead pulled her ear so hard. She gave a huge yelp and the mom was like "no, no pet doggie nicely", so she put her hand over his hand and he pulled her ear AGAIN :w00t: I am extremely upset and I'm worried he may have injured her ears. About 10 minutes ago she was on the carpet scratching the back of her ear and she yelped again. I looked but I do not see anything. Should I call the vet?

 

[princessre]

I'm sorry that happened to your baby. I would call the vet's office, and ask them what you should do? I don't think it's normal for a dog to yelp as a result of scratching her ears?

 

[k/c mom]

Next time if anyone asks to pet your Malt say no. It protect everyone. What if your Malt nipped the girl... what a mess that might be ... even a lawsuit. Your Malt likely doesn't get any enjoyment at all being petted by a stranger, much less a child.

If your Malt yelped, I would have the vet look her over to see why. Obviously something is bothering her.

 

[Nikki's Mom]

I never let a young child near Nikki. I hardly let any strangers pet her. I'm paranoid that way. I'm sorry your fluff got hurt. She might be feeling sensitive right now. See how she is in the morning.

 

[maltlovereileen]

I'm in agreement with Sher and Suzan... I just never let little kids near my dogs. One time of a bad experience (as you learned) is all it takes to make you proactive. Better they think you're a snob then get your dog hurt (little kids pulling like that is more common than not and the parents Never seem to care, they just want their kid entertained ) or turn your dog into a kid hater.

I hope she's feeling better now. Poor baby...

 

[kissmyhorse]

:new_shocked:OMG thats aweful! I would have never been able to show that much restraint with the mother, I very likely would have ripped her a huge new one!!! :yucky: Stupid people infuriate me!!!:Bad day: My guess would be that the ligaments are slightly stretched and sore, she could have a bruise as well. Couldnt hurt to call your vet. But this is the most important... now she needs lots of super positive experiences around children. If you have a friend who has a young child that is good with dogs, ask her if you can bring your dog over and their child can feed her treats and gently pet her all over. It would be so tragic if she took this aweful experience with her throughout her life.:crying:

 

[LJSquishy]

Poor Vanilla, I hope her ear is okay by tomorrow. If not, I would definitely take Vanilla in somewhere to get it checked out. I would doubt that the child actually injured her ear more than just making it sore, but you should keep a close eye on her just in case.

 

[Matilda's mommy]

I very seldom let little kids touch my girls, I use a stroller alot. I know you were being friendly but some people just don't get it. I hope she will be ok.

 

[Ladysmom]

Next time if anyone asks to pet your Malt say no. It protect everyone. What if your Malt nipped the girl... what a mess that might be ... even a lawsuit. Your Malt likely doesn't get any enjoyment at all being petted by a stranger, much less a child.

If your Malt yelped, I would have the vet look her over to see why. Obviously something is bothering her.

OMG! I agree 100% with Sher! Vanilla just bit your own daughter last week yet you allow a strange two year old pet her????

Poor Vanilla was cornered and teased by your own children and now was hurt by another small child. Next time she may just bite first to protect herself rather than waiting to be hurt.

 

[CeeCee's Mom]

Goodness.......I am so sorry! I hope the child did not hurt your malt's ears. Don't let a child near your baby from now on........children mean well but they can be rough...

 

[CloudClan]

This is so sad and frustrating. I hope this bad experience will not lead to Vanilla creating a negative association with children.

This has happened to me a couple of times. When Cloud was little he loved children. Well one of the neighbor children picked him up one time and squeezed him until he yelped (she was old enough we would have thought she would have known better) after that he was never the same with kids.

Cadeau was playing with my friend's kids and they were running. He was chasing them and barking. It seemed like a harmless game for them all until the 6 year old turned around and kicked him. When we asked him why he kicked Cadeau he said because his barking annoyed him. His mother then told him to try to pet my little boy as an apology. I don't think it is surprising that my little reactive boy air-snapped at him in response.

It is discouraging how quickly these things can go wrong. Most of us love children and we all love these dogs. It SEEMS like it should all work out ok, but sadly too often it does not.

I hope your Vanilla is OK now, both physically and emotionally.

 

[bellaratamaltese]

This is so sad and frustrating. I hope this bad experience will not lead to Vanilla creating a negative association with children.

This has happened to me a couple of times. When Cloud was little he loved children. Well one of the neighbor children picked him up one time and squeezed him until he yelped (she was old enough we would have thought she would have known better) after that he was never the same with kids.

Cadeau was playing with my friend's kids and they were running. He was chasing them and barking. It seemed like a harmless game for them all until the 6 year old turned around and kicked him. When we asked him why he kicked Cadeau he said because his barking annoyed him. His mother then told him to try to pet my little boy as an apology. I don't think it is surprising that my little reactive boy air-snapped at him in response.

It is discouraging how quickly these things can go wrong. Most of us love children and we all love these dogs. It SEEMS like it should all work out ok, but sadly too often it does not.

I hope your Vanilla is OK now, both physically and emotionally.

Oh UGH, dont' you hate it when stuff like that happens? Poor Dodo. I bet you wanted to airsnap at that kid too. At age 6, they knew better.

 

[Canada]

I'm in agreement with Sher and Suzan... I just never let little kids near my dogs. One time of a bad experience (as you learned) is all it takes to make you proactive. Better they think you're a snob then get your dog hurt (little kids pulling like that is more common than not and the parents Never seem to care, they just want their kid entertained ) or turn your dog into a kid hater.

I hope she's feeling better now. Poor baby...

I agree with your post, our dogs are not for the "amusement" of young kids! It irks me too that some parents think that about animals, that their purpose is to entertain kids.

I tend to hurry the other way when I am walking a pup and a kid approachs. And I could care less if that seem unfriendly. The safety of my pups is more important to me.

Our dogs weigh less than a human newborn! We don't let toddlers handle newborns...so why a dog?

This isn't directed to anyone here! I am just commenting in general about the young kid/toy dog issue.

I hope Vanilla is feeling better soon, her poor ear.
I'm sure you're taking extra special care of her and her injury. Please post how she's mending.

 

[poochie2]

See the thing is my malt adores kids. She's with them every single day. She is 19 months and has been around kids since she was 6 weeks old. We always have kids in the back yard and Vanilla is awesome. Sometimes she just sits on the patio and watches them play ball. So when this lady asked if her child can pet Vanilla I said yes cause she's used to daily petting from kids. Now I was very upset this child pulled my malts ears pretty darn hard. :angry: I do not want her to associate a small child with her getting her ears pulled so tonight when the neighbours were over I'm glad she was okay around them and not afraid. She's also 11 pounds and is pretty tough.
Im always afraid I'll hurt people's feelings by saying "NO". But that's just me in general. I'm definitely going to have to start saying NO to having her being pet by people in the neighbourhood cause I agree you have to watch out at all times.

 

[MalteseJane]

OMG! I agree 100% with Sher! Vanilla just bit your own daughter last week yet you allow a strange two year old pet her????

Poor Vanilla was cornered and teased by your own children and now was hurt by another small child. Next time she may just bite first to protect herself rather than waiting to be hurt.

I forgot about this one. You will be lucky if Vanilla does not develop a fear for children now and will not tolerate them anymore.

 

[MalteseJane]

Next time if anyone asks to pet your Malt say no. It protect everyone. What if your Malt nipped the girl... what a mess that might be ... even a lawsuit. Your Malt likely doesn't get any enjoyment at all being petted by a stranger, much less a child.

If your Malt yelped, I would have the vet look her over to see why. Obviously something is bothering her.

Ditto.

 

[Canada]

See the thing is my malt adores kids. She's with them every single day. She is 19 months and has been around kids since she was 6 weeks old. We always have kids in the back yard and Vanilla is awesome. Sometimes she just sits on the patio and watches them play ball. So when this lady asked if her child can pet Vanilla I said yes cause she's used to daily petting from kids. Now I was very upset this child pulled my malts ears pretty darn hard. :angry: I do not want her to associate a small child with her getting her ears pulled so tonight when the neighbours were over I'm glad she was okay around them and not afraid. She's also 11 pounds and is pretty tough.
Im always afraid I'll hurt people's feelings by saying "NO". But that's just me in general. I'm definitely going to have to start saying NO to having her being pet by people in the neighbourhood cause I agree you have to watch out at all times.

That is sweet of you to be concerned of other's feelings.
But don't feel bad, you're just protecting Vanilla from the unknown.
And children and even some adults are unknown factors.
We can't predict young children's behaviour, that is why it is risky.
It's not unfriendly of you to say "Sorry, No!"

I tend to cross the street or just head in the opposite direction.
It's not like the strangers know why I did that.

 

[Miss_Annie]

You should have pulled that little 2 year olds ear right back!! and then ran to avoid the lawsuit! That's just my 2 cents...

I'm so protective of my babies.. When I had my chickens (bantam chicks) still in my apartment with me, my boyfriend's 13 year old brother wanted to hold one, so I let him... He then thought that holding Reese, the chicken, meant letting it stand in his palm and then dropping his hand really fast so it had to flap it's little wings and get scared. I FLIPPED!! I took Reese back and chewed him out up and down and shamed him!! He didn't understand though and at the end of my chewing, yelling, and angry noises he just looked at me and said, "it's just a chicken." Some people just don't get it! I glared at him and wouldn't let anyone speak until he apologized to both me and Reese!

I guess you could call me "one of those crazy animal people", but baby animals need someone to stand up for them and get a little crazy sometimes!

 

[MalteseJane]

See the thing is my malt adores kids. She's with them every single day. She is 19 months and has been around kids since she was 6 weeks old. We always have kids in the back yard and Vanilla is awesome. Sometimes she just sits on the patio and watches them play ball. So when this lady asked if her child can pet Vanilla I said yes cause she's used to daily petting from kids. Now I was very upset this child pulled my malts ears pretty darn hard. :angry: I do not want her to associate a small child with her getting her ears pulled so tonight when the neighbours were over I'm glad she was okay around them and not afraid. She's also 11 pounds and is pretty tough.
Im always afraid I'll hurt people's feelings by saying "NO". But that's just me in general. I'm definitely going to have to start saying NO to having her being pet by people in the neighbourhood cause I agree you have to watch out at all times.

That's the point. All dogs love children UNTIL they get hurt one time to many. Don't be afraid to say NO. K/C is right. If your dog would have bitten that little kid in retaliation you can be sure that her mom would have taken her to the emergency room and you would have animal control on your back if not a law suit.

 

[michellerobison]

I get very cautious about small ones touching my dogs,I usually hold their hand to keep them from pulling an ear or poking an eye. My fluffs love,love,love kids.
I think if the little girl pulled my dog's ear,I wouldn't have let her go back for "seconds".... In my experience toddlers get a reaction and they will repeat it,not understanding that it's wrong....