Another example of over protective parenting…..
We went to a family day/BBQ at the pub on the weekend. It was great they had arts and crafts, face-painting and free food for the kids. My mate came and she brought her dog. He’s a border collie with a lovely disposition, 100% safe around kids, fully vaccinated and better than any toy you can bring along to entertain the kids.
However, a little rubber ball went rolling passed and he loves a good game of fetch and is amazing at it, the ball never has a chance to hit the ground. So, naturally he nicked the ball and had a whale of a time with it. My mate realised that it was someone else’s ball so she politely walked over to return it and to apologize.
Instead, of saying no problem and thank you, the woman, who had two small children, said ‘you can keep the ball now, as it has dog slobber on it and I can’t possibly give it back to my kids’. WTF? Could she not just give it a rinse? I would have happily washed it for her. She’d be horrified if she knew what I’ve had to ferret out of my daughter’s mouth in the past.
My mate came away feeling slightly scolded and embarrassed, but I assured her that the woman was a complete ass. Yes, dogs lick their wounds, sniff each others backsides and on occasion get into the bins, but you’re more likely to catch a serious illness from another human before a dog!
Is this is myth? Do you agree? What would you have done?
haha, well now thats got me thinking!
If I’m absolutely honest I would not give my kids a ball after a dog had had its mouth around it was my first response!
But I would never have told your friend that, I would simply have taken the ball and thanked her!
And then I reflected that yes, I would wash the ball and give it back to my kids so I suppose you are right and my initial reaction was straight from my mothers mouth, lol!
I would have said keep the ball (cos they cost bugger all anyway) and would have bought another, I wouldn’t have been off with your friend and nor would I have given it back to the kids…………….. just as I wouldn’t eat off a plate that a dog had licked.
Fair point!
Tbh I think this all depends if you are a “dog person” or not rather than the hygiene issue! Personally I am not keen on dogs, if I am totally honest they scare me, I don’t like their smell, the way they poo in the street or their slobber, so I wouldn’t have wanted the ball back. BUT, I would have probably just taken it and said thanks!
Too be honest, I’m scared of dogs as well! :-)
I would not have been rude about it, I’d probably have just given it a bit of a rinse, after all balls go all over the ground and fall into who knows what anyway!
How ridiculous – I’d have just taken the ball and said thanks for getting it back, knowing mine they’d have already tried to snog the dog in question…
And aren’t a certain amount of germs actually a good thing?