Parental control.

I will admit that I'm one of those annoying people who does not have children, but likes to think she knows a few things about raising them. Now, to clarify, I realize that what you think you would do in a certain situation can go completely out the window when you actually have children. Because you just don't know what the particular circumstances will be or what the temperament of your child will be and the best way to handle them. BUT, I am nearly 32 years old. I have watched other people's parenting (or lack thereof) for quite some time. When you don't have kids of your own, what else can you do but be judmental of everyone else?

Recently, my husband and mother-in-law and I went to an outdoor concert. We took our two Dachshunds. One of them, Jake, is generally very well-behaved. His biggest problem is that he loves EVERYONE and wants to kiss them on the mouth. Brody is also generally pretty good, but he sometimes has an issue with barking. He's pretty loud for such a small guy and he doesn't just bark, he howls. We think it's pretty cute, but I can see how it would be annoying to someone else, particularly to someone who's not a dog person.

Anyway, so we were at this concert and the boys were behaving pretty well. Brody would start barking if he saw another dog (or sometimes some other object, but it mostly seemed to be dogs). But I was able to get him to be quiet pretty quickly (we had food with us...the great silencer). Some kids had come by or had been looking at the dogs, but nothing to get them terribly upset. But then several kids were there at one time. All boys, I think. They were all pretty young. Young enough that their parents or whoever was in charge of them should have had more control over them. At first they were just trying to pet the dogs. I think Brody was already barking some at this point. But then this one little boy, who was maybe two or three, started squealing at Brody, which made him bark more. He did this several times before someone came over and made him stop. I was trying to have a friendly look on my face, all the while wishing someone would come get these kids so my dog would stop freaking out. (I'm just glad he didn't pee on me, as he sometimes does when he's excited.)

I certainly don't mind if a kid wants to pet my dogs. In fact, I get a bit offended at those parents who, when their child sees our dogs and wants to come over, won't let them. But it bothers me when parents are on the other end of the spectrum and basically let their kids harrass my animals. If the dog is upset and barking, then doesn't it occur to them that maybe they need to get their kid out of the dog's face? Not because the dog's going to hurt them, but because it's frustrating to me, the owner. Not to mention we were out in a public place...so between the screaming and yelling little boys and the barking dog...it was kind of embarrassing.

I don't claim to know everything about being a parent or know how I'll handle every situation. But I think it's safe to say that if those had been my kids, they would NOT have been allowed to act like that.