Running, shrieking toddlers may as well have "Chew Toy" written on their baggy, aromatic diapers when in the presence of a young and active puppy. Older children might fare better, but may not always use stellar judgment when away from the watchful jurisdiction of a parent. Consider the following scenarios:
We adored Boots, but the moment our parents were out of the house, the games began. After placing a barricade between the kitchen and living room, one child would restrain him while the other two went flying over the top of the barricade, wildly flapping a blanket that served as a cape.
Boots, now worked into a tiger-like frenzy, would be released to hurdle the barricade and "attack" the child hidden beneath the flapping blanket on the floor. This game was (not surprisingly) dubbed, "Tigah!"
We also delighted in trying to race our beagle down a flight of fifteen stairs. Once it became apparent to us that an animal with four legs has a consistently unfair advantage, we shrewdly devised a plan to even the odds.
Upstairs, we would push him under a bed as far as we could reach, knowing that he could not get good traction on the linoleum floor. When we were able to gain a slight lead in this race, he would yodel and howl, as if chasing some obscure, ancestral prey. This noise delighted us more than I can tell you.
My siblings and I were fortunate in that we sailed through our dog days of childhood unscathed and unscarred. Another dog might not have been quite so tolerant. We really were not bad children; we were only doing things that children, quite innocently, do. But left unsupervised, dogs and children can unintentionally do damage to each other.
|
