I’m so sick of dogs everywhere

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP they are not forced but the sight of one indoors even for a day or week is enough to make students not want to go to school. those dogs have both effects on students.

Oh, stop. If this is your kid, please get them some stress tolerance training, or therapy, if the aversion is due to past trauma.

Otherwise, please kindly stfu with this nonsense. You're a mess.

Yuck you got out on the wrong side of bed today

Not really. I'm just fed up with people acting like their slightest discomfort should require formal accommodations.

"the sight of one indoors even for a day or week is enough to make students not want to go to school." Really, though? Is it? Because if the mere sight of something you dislike simply existing where you can easily avoid it is enough to make you want to quit your obligations entirely, well, you need some stress tolerance training, or maybe therapy, if the aversion is due to past trauma.

It's nonsense, and it's messy. I guess I could've not asked someone, mock-politely, to STFU with their messy nonsense, but, you know, I don't owe people being crazy demanding a gentle audience for their madness.

I think you need to remember you're talking about young children, and that kids' fears about dogs are actually pretty rational -- dogs are larger or similar in size to many kids,but they are animals and if not trained and socialized, can be very dangerous.

My daughter was afraid of dogs from about 5 to 8. To teach her not to be afraid, we couldn't just say "dogs are fine! They can't hurt you." Because a dog could hurt her. Instead we taught her to pay attention to the behavior of dogs and their owners. To notice the difference between a reactive dog and an non-reactive dog. To pay attention to whether the dog was leashed or not and how short or controlled the leash was. And with time she learned to relax around safe digs, the well behaved ones whose owners took care with them. But we also had to teach her strategies for dealing with dogs who aren't well behaved, whose owners don't train them or restrain them. To pay attention when a dog like this is coming and make choices to avoid them and keep herself safe. Unfortunately, here are more and more dogs like this, and their owners are often oblivious, so they would work against us ("He's friendly!" As their dog bounds up to our clearly terrified kid and tries to pick her face, not getting that the dog's personality is totally beside the point in that situation). So yeah, it took 3 years and now she's ok.

But what were you saying? Something about 1st graders sucking it up and dealing with having dogs in their school, and not being such snowflakes? I can't remember what your point was.

I never said any of that mess.

It's sad, because your paragraph about teaching your kid for how to handle her fear is exactly what i was actually talking about. Your kid had a phobia, for whatever reasons, and you taught her how to negotiate a world that wasn't going to be trigger-free for her.

But then you got all reactionary and weird, so I'm not quite sure you're the best example. I'll try again: the point is, if your kid has an issue, it's your job to help your kid learn to navigate the issue, not to demand that the world bubble-wrap itself so your kid never encounters something that might trigger their issues.

If you didn't agree, you wouldn't have done what you did for your kid, so I'm not sure why you're getting ugly with me about it...

No, I don't agree with you. Schools should be dog-free because it can take as much as three years to help a young kid through their fear of dogs, a my kid deserves to feel safe at school when she was a kindergartener, 1st, and 2nd grader. And gave dogs hanging out at school would not have made her feel safe during that time.

Your argument that parents "just" teach their kids not to fear dogs ignores the fact that you can't do that overnight. You assume if a kid is freaking out about a dog at school, it's because their parents gave done nothing. No, it's because this is a small child and a lot of small children are afraid of dogs and it's much more important to accommodate kids in schools than dogs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They bring service dogs into schools on certain weeks for "mental health" and many students enjoy and use the service. But there's probably an equal number of students who are afraid of dogs even if those particular dogs are meant to be trained therapeutic dogs. Schools should consider having the dogss far far away from areas all students use such as the front lobby and keep them in one room of the school for students needing the service can go get them in that room or meet dogs outside. Just as there's an increase in dogs, there seems to be an increase in people who are allergic to dogs. Allergies to cats and dogs should be the reason businesses should not allow dogs into establishments such as grocery stores, healthcare settings, stores, schools, etc.

Those aren't service dogs - they're "therapy dogs" which are basically mellow pet dogs. And the school should stop doing this for a number of reasons

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They bring service dogs into schools on certain weeks for "mental health" and many students enjoy and use the service. But there's probably an equal number of students who are afraid of dogs even if those particular dogs are meant to be trained therapeutic dogs. Schools should consider having the dogss far far away from areas all students use such as the front lobby and keep them in one room of the school for students needing the service can go get them in that room or meet dogs outside. Just as there's an increase in dogs, there seems to be an increase in people who are allergic to dogs. Allergies to cats and dogs should be the reason businesses should not allow dogs into establishments such as grocery stores, healthcare settings, stores, schools, etc.

Those aren't service dogs - they're "therapy dogs" which are basically mellow pet dogs. And the school should stop doing this for a number of reasons

Those dogs make school safe for some kids. While PP's kid may think they're the worst thing, to another kid, they may be the best thing, maybe the only thing about school that feels safe and welcoming.

They shouldn't be everywhere, all the time. They shouldn't be completely banned. They should be an opt-in experience.

Some of y'all are really freakin' unreasonable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP they are not forced but the sight of one indoors even for a day or week is enough to make students not want to go to school. those dogs have both effects on students.

Oh, stop. If this is your kid, please get them some stress tolerance training, or therapy, if the aversion is due to past trauma.

Otherwise, please kindly stfu with this nonsense. You're a mess.

Yuck you got out on the wrong side of bed today

Not really. I'm just fed up with people acting like their slightest discomfort should require formal accommodations.

"the sight of one indoors even for a day or week is enough to make students not want to go to school." Really, though? Is it? Because if the mere sight of something you dislike simply existing where you can easily avoid it is enough to make you want to quit your obligations entirely, well, you need some stress tolerance training, or maybe therapy, if the aversion is due to past trauma.

It's nonsense, and it's messy. I guess I could've not asked someone, mock-politely, to STFU with their messy nonsense, but, you know, I don't owe people being crazy demanding a gentle audience for their madness.

I think you need to remember you're talking about young children, and that kids' fears about dogs are actually pretty rational -- dogs are larger or similar in size to many kids,but they are animals and if not trained and socialized, can be very dangerous.

My daughter was afraid of dogs from about 5 to 8. To teach her not to be afraid, we couldn't just say "dogs are fine! They can't hurt you." Because a dog could hurt her. Instead we taught her to pay attention to the behavior of dogs and their owners. To notice the difference between a reactive dog and an non-reactive dog. To pay attention to whether the dog was leashed or not and how short or controlled the leash was. And with time she learned to relax around safe digs, the well behaved ones whose owners took care with them. But we also had to teach her strategies for dealing with dogs who aren't well behaved, whose owners don't train them or restrain them. To pay attention when a dog like this is coming and make choices to avoid them and keep herself safe. Unfortunately, here are more and more dogs like this, and their owners are often oblivious, so they would work against us ("He's friendly!" As their dog bounds up to our clearly terrified kid and tries to pick her face, not getting that the dog's personality is totally beside the point in that situation). So yeah, it took 3 years and now she's ok.

But what were you saying? Something about 1st graders sucking it up and dealing with having dogs in their school, and not being such snowflakes? I can't remember what your point was.

I never said any of that mess.

It's sad, because your paragraph about teaching your kid for how to handle her fear is exactly what i was actually talking about. Your kid had a phobia, for whatever reasons, and you taught her how to negotiate a world that wasn't going to be trigger-free for her.

But then you got all reactionary and weird, so I'm not quite sure you're the best example. I'll try again: the point is, if your kid has an issue, it's your job to help your kid learn to navigate the issue, not to demand that the world bubble-wrap itself so your kid never encounters something that might trigger their issues.

If you didn't agree, you wouldn't have done what you did for your kid, so I'm not sure why you're getting ugly with me about it...

No, I don't agree with you. Schools should be dog-free because it can take as much as three years to help a young kid through their fear of dogs, a my kid deserves to feel safe at school when she was a kindergartener, 1st, and 2nd grader. And gave dogs hanging out at school would not have made her feel safe during that time.

Your argument that parents "just" teach their kids not to fear dogs ignores the fact that you can't do that overnight. You assume if a kid is freaking out about a dog at school, it's because their parents gave done nothing. No, it's because this is a small child and a lot of small children are afraid of dogs and it's much more important to accommodate kids in schools than dogs.

Were you not given notice that there would be therapy dogs at school? Were you not allowed to opt-out of encountering them?

Demanding that the kids who would find them beneficial miss out because YOUR kid can't hang is pretty peak "snowflake" behavior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP they are not forced but the sight of one indoors even for a day or week is enough to make students not want to go to school. those dogs have both effects on students.

Oh, stop. If this is your kid, please get them some stress tolerance training, or therapy, if the aversion is due to past trauma.

Otherwise, please kindly stfu with this nonsense. You're a mess.

Yuck you got out on the wrong side of bed today

Not really. I'm just fed up with people acting like their slightest discomfort should require formal accommodations.

"the sight of one indoors even for a day or week is enough to make students not want to go to school." Really, though? Is it? Because if the mere sight of something you dislike simply existing where you can easily avoid it is enough to make you want to quit your obligations entirely, well, you need some stress tolerance training, or maybe therapy, if the aversion is due to past trauma.

It's nonsense, and it's messy. I guess I could've not asked someone, mock-politely, to STFU with their messy nonsense, but, you know, I don't owe people being crazy demanding a gentle audience for their madness.

I think you need to remember you're talking about young children, and that kids' fears about dogs are actually pretty rational -- dogs are larger or similar in size to many kids,but they are animals and if not trained and socialized, can be very dangerous.

My daughter was afraid of dogs from about 5 to 8. To teach her not to be afraid, we couldn't just say "dogs are fine! They can't hurt you." Because a dog could hurt her. Instead we taught her to pay attention to the behavior of dogs and their owners. To notice the difference between a reactive dog and an non-reactive dog. To pay attention to whether the dog was leashed or not and how short or controlled the leash was. And with time she learned to relax around safe digs, the well behaved ones whose owners took care with them. But we also had to teach her strategies for dealing with dogs who aren't well behaved, whose owners don't train them or restrain them. To pay attention when a dog like this is coming and make choices to avoid them and keep herself safe. Unfortunately, here are more and more dogs like this, and their owners are often oblivious, so they would work against us ("He's friendly!" As their dog bounds up to our clearly terrified kid and tries to pick her face, not getting that the dog's personality is totally beside the point in that situation). So yeah, it took 3 years and now she's ok.

But what were you saying? Something about 1st graders sucking it up and dealing with having dogs in their school, and not being such snowflakes? I can't remember what your point was.

You know what would've been a great dynamic for you kid? A trained therapy dog experienced in a place they already felt safe.

[Anonymous]

I had surgery and was at an event. A dog, quite some distance away broke free from their owner and charged at me, trying to bite the area I had surgery. People surrounded me and helped get the dog away from me, since that point I was laying on the ground and in pain. When the owner came to get their dog, they blamed me for triggering the dog. Really, I did nothing and it was event dogs should not have been at. Luckily I was treated by medics but am still traumatized by it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They bring service dogs into schools on certain weeks for "mental health" and many students enjoy and use the service. But there's probably an equal number of students who are afraid of dogs even if those particular dogs are meant to be trained therapeutic dogs. Schools should consider having the dogss far far away from areas all students use such as the front lobby and keep them in one room of the school for students needing the service can go get them in that room or meet dogs outside. Just as there's an increase in dogs, there seems to be an increase in people who are allergic to dogs. Allergies to cats and dogs should be the reason businesses should not allow dogs into establishments such as grocery stores, healthcare settings, stores, schools, etc.

Those aren't service dogs - they're "therapy dogs" which are basically mellow pet dogs. And the school should stop doing this for a number of reasons

Those dogs make school safe for some kids. While PP's kid may think they're the worst thing, to another kid, they may be the best thing, maybe the only thing about school that feels safe and welcoming.

They shouldn't be everywhere, all the time. They shouldn't be completely banned. They should be an opt-in experience.

Some of y'all are really freakin' unreasonable.

Sounds like snowflake behavior to me. Why do those kids get to feel safe and welcomed in school, but the kids who are scared of dogs don’t?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had surgery and was at an event. A dog, quite some distance away broke free from their owner and charged at me, trying to bite the area I had surgery. People surrounded me and helped get the dog away from me, since that point I was laying on the ground and in pain. When the owner came to get their dog, they blamed me for triggering the dog. Really, I did nothing and it was event dogs should not have been at. Luckily I was treated by medics but am still traumatized by it.

Lemme guess: it was a "pit bull"?

What type of event?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had surgery and was at an event. A dog, quite some distance away broke free from their owner and charged at me, trying to bite the area I had surgery. People surrounded me and helped get the dog away from me, since that point I was laying on the ground and in pain. When the owner came to get their dog, they blamed me for triggering the dog. Really, I did nothing and it was event dogs should not have been at. Luckily I was treated by medics but am still traumatized by it.

Lemme guess: it was a "pit bull"?

What type of event?

No it was not a pitbull. Was a wedding reception at a country club.

[Anonymous]

Years ago I saw a woman in a froyo shop with her dog sticking out of her purse. When she turned around, her dog licked the froyo dispenser.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Got barked and growled at for several minutes at Politics and Prose today. Lady, your dog is not able to handle this environment, why are you taking it here?!

There too? And there's a cafe there. Where can we enjoy without having to see any dogs??!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had surgery and was at an event. A dog, quite some distance away broke free from their owner and charged at me, trying to bite the area I had surgery. People surrounded me and helped get the dog away from me, since that point I was laying on the ground and in pain. When the owner came to get their dog, they blamed me for triggering the dog. Really, I did nothing and it was event dogs should not have been at. Luckily I was treated by medics but am still traumatized by it.

Lemme guess: it was a "pit bull"?

What type of event?

DP. Why does that matter? Unless it was a dog show, why bring a dog to the event?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP they are not forced but the sight of one indoors even for a day or week is enough to make students not want to go to school. those dogs have both effects on students.

Oh, stop. If this is your kid, please get them some stress tolerance training, or therapy, if the aversion is due to past trauma.

Otherwise, please kindly stfu with this nonsense. You're a mess.

Yuck you got out on the wrong side of bed today

Not really. I'm just fed up with people acting like their slightest discomfort should require formal accommodations.

"the sight of one indoors even for a day or week is enough to make students not want to go to school." Really, though? Is it? Because if the mere sight of something you dislike simply existing where you can easily avoid it is enough to make you want to quit your obligations entirely, well, you need some stress tolerance training, or maybe therapy, if the aversion is due to past trauma.

It's nonsense, and it's messy. I guess I could've not asked someone, mock-politely, to STFU with their messy nonsense, but, you know, I don't owe people being crazy demanding a gentle audience for their madness.

I think you need to remember you're talking about young children, and that kids' fears about dogs are actually pretty rational -- dogs are larger or similar in size to many kids,but they are animals and if not trained and socialized, can be very dangerous.

My daughter was afraid of dogs from about 5 to 8. To teach her not to be afraid, we couldn't just say "dogs are fine! They can't hurt you." Because a dog could hurt her. Instead we taught her to pay attention to the behavior of dogs and their owners. To notice the difference between a reactive dog and an non-reactive dog. To pay attention to whether the dog was leashed or not and how short or controlled the leash was. And with time she learned to relax around safe digs, the well behaved ones whose owners took care with them. But we also had to teach her strategies for dealing with dogs who aren't well behaved, whose owners don't train them or restrain them. To pay attention when a dog like this is coming and make choices to avoid them and keep herself safe. Unfortunately, here are more and more dogs like this, and their owners are often oblivious, so they would work against us ("He's friendly!" As their dog bounds up to our clearly terrified kid and tries to pick her face, not getting that the dog's personality is totally beside the point in that situation). So yeah, it took 3 years and now she's ok.

But what were you saying? Something about 1st graders sucking it up and dealing with having dogs in their school, and not being such snowflakes? I can't remember what your point was.

I never said any of that mess.

It's sad, because your paragraph about teaching your kid for how to handle her fear is exactly what i was actually talking about. Your kid had a phobia, for whatever reasons, and you taught her how to negotiate a world that wasn't going to be trigger-free for her.

But then you got all reactionary and weird, so I'm not quite sure you're the best example. I'll try again: the point is, if your kid has an issue, it's your job to help your kid learn to navigate the issue, not to demand that the world bubble-wrap itself so your kid never encounters something that might trigger their issues.

If you didn't agree, you wouldn't have done what you did for your kid, so I'm not sure why you're getting ugly with me about it...

No, I don't agree with you. Schools should be dog-free because it can take as much as three years to help a young kid through their fear of dogs, a my kid deserves to feel safe at school when she was a kindergartener, 1st, and 2nd grader. And gave dogs hanging out at school would not have made her feel safe during that time.

Your argument that parents "just" teach their kids not to fear dogs ignores the fact that you can't do that overnight. You assume if a kid is freaking out about a dog at school, it's because their parents gave done nothing. No, it's because this is a small child and a lot of small children are afraid of dogs and it's much more important to accommodate kids in schools than dogs.

Were you not given notice that there would be therapy dogs at school? Were you not allowed to opt-out of encountering them?

Demanding that the kids who would find them beneficial miss out because YOUR kid can't hang is pretty peak "snowflake" behavior.

I'm not the person who said therapy dogs came to our school. When we have dogs at our school, there is never any warning and no one can "opt out" because it happens when parents with dogs bring them to school and to school functions totally ignoring the fact that the school does not allow dogs on the premises. We've had to deal with dogs standing right next to the door during pick up, when my kid would not exit the building because she was afraid of the dogs and I had to ask the parents to please take them away from the entrance so my kid could leave (and wind up arguing with them because they think I am being "a snowflake" for asking them to simply follow the posted rules about dogs on campus so that my then-6 yr old could leave the building without having a dog several feet away. We've also seen people bring dogs to school events even though they are explicitly not allowed, in one case even taking the dog off leash to run around at a school fair. So no, we are not always given a chance to "opt out" of dogs at school because so many dog owners are stupid and entitled and think their dog is welcome everywhere and will walk right past sings that say "NO DOGS ON SCHOOL PROPERTY" as though it doesn't apply to them.

I was explaining to the PP that it is idiotic to act like parents can just magically turn a kid who is afraid of dogs into one who isn't afraid overnight. We worked hard at it for years because we have friends and family members with dogs and we want our kid to feel comfortable and safe around them. So we worked diligently at it. But in the meantime, my kid was afraid of dogs for several years, the way some kids might be fearful of the dark for a couple years, or afraid of new foods, or afraid of spiders, or any of the other normal, developmentally appropriate fears that kids have in early childhood. You don't just snap your fingers and get rid of your kid's fears. And in the meantime, kids still have to go to school and be in society.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP they are not forced but the sight of one indoors even for a day or week is enough to make students not want to go to school. those dogs have both effects on students.

Oh, stop. If this is your kid, please get them some stress tolerance training, or therapy, if the aversion is due to past trauma.

Otherwise, please kindly stfu with this nonsense. You're a mess.

Yuck you got out on the wrong side of bed today

Not really. I'm just fed up with people acting like their slightest discomfort should require formal accommodations.

"the sight of one indoors even for a day or week is enough to make students not want to go to school." Really, though? Is it? Because if the mere sight of something you dislike simply existing where you can easily avoid it is enough to make you want to quit your obligations entirely, well, you need some stress tolerance training, or maybe therapy, if the aversion is due to past trauma.

It's nonsense, and it's messy. I guess I could've not asked someone, mock-politely, to STFU with their messy nonsense, but, you know, I don't owe people being crazy demanding a gentle audience for their madness.

I think you need to remember you're talking about young children, and that kids' fears about dogs are actually pretty rational -- dogs are larger or similar in size to many kids,but they are animals and if not trained and socialized, can be very dangerous.

My daughter was afraid of dogs from about 5 to 8. To teach her not to be afraid, we couldn't just say "dogs are fine! They can't hurt you." Because a dog could hurt her. Instead we taught her to pay attention to the behavior of dogs and their owners. To notice the difference between a reactive dog and an non-reactive dog. To pay attention to whether the dog was leashed or not and how short or controlled the leash was. And with time she learned to relax around safe digs, the well behaved ones whose owners took care with them. But we also had to teach her strategies for dealing with dogs who aren't well behaved, whose owners don't train them or restrain them. To pay attention when a dog like this is coming and make choices to avoid them and keep herself safe. Unfortunately, here are more and more dogs like this, and their owners are often oblivious, so they would work against us ("He's friendly!" As their dog bounds up to our clearly terrified kid and tries to pick her face, not getting that the dog's personality is totally beside the point in that situation). So yeah, it took 3 years and now she's ok.

But what were you saying? Something about 1st graders sucking it up and dealing with having dogs in their school, and not being such snowflakes? I can't remember what your point was.

You know what would've been a great dynamic for you kid? A trained therapy dog experienced in a place they already felt safe.

False, and reflects how you don't understand this issue. If my kid had been taken in to meet a therapy dog at school during the peak of her dog fears, it would have completely terrified her and she would not have been able to participate in any "dog therapy" because she would have had to be forced to go into a room with animals she is afraid of. Even now, if you asked my kid (who is no longer terrified of dogs and can even pet and take her grandma's dogs for walks or interact with a friend's dog at their house) if she wanted to go do dog therapy, she'd tell you politely no thank and that she isn't really a dog person. That's still legal, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP they are not forced but the sight of one indoors even for a day or week is enough to make students not want to go to school. those dogs have both effects on students.

Oh, stop. If this is your kid, please get them some stress tolerance training, or therapy, if the aversion is due to past trauma.

Otherwise, please kindly stfu with this nonsense. You're a mess.

Yuck you got out on the wrong side of bed today

Not really. I'm just fed up with people acting like their slightest discomfort should require formal accommodations.

"the sight of one indoors even for a day or week is enough to make students not want to go to school." Really, though? Is it? Because if the mere sight of something you dislike simply existing where you can easily avoid it is enough to make you want to quit your obligations entirely, well, you need some stress tolerance training, or maybe therapy, if the aversion is due to past trauma.

It's nonsense, and it's messy. I guess I could've not asked someone, mock-politely, to STFU with their messy nonsense, but, you know, I don't owe people being crazy demanding a gentle audience for their madness.

I think you need to remember you're talking about young children, and that kids' fears about dogs are actually pretty rational -- dogs are larger or similar in size to many kids,but they are animals and if not trained and socialized, can be very dangerous.

My daughter was afraid of dogs from about 5 to 8. To teach her not to be afraid, we couldn't just say "dogs are fine! They can't hurt you." Because a dog could hurt her. Instead we taught her to pay attention to the behavior of dogs and their owners. To notice the difference between a reactive dog and an non-reactive dog. To pay attention to whether the dog was leashed or not and how short or controlled the leash was. And with time she learned to relax around safe digs, the well behaved ones whose owners took care with them. But we also had to teach her strategies for dealing with dogs who aren't well behaved, whose owners don't train them or restrain them. To pay attention when a dog like this is coming and make choices to avoid them and keep herself safe. Unfortunately, here are more and more dogs like this, and their owners are often oblivious, so they would work against us ("He's friendly!" As their dog bounds up to our clearly terrified kid and tries to pick her face, not getting that the dog's personality is totally beside the point in that situation). So yeah, it took 3 years and now she's ok.

But what were you saying? Something about 1st graders sucking it up and dealing with having dogs in their school, and not being such snowflakes? I can't remember what your point was.

I never said any of that mess.

It's sad, because your paragraph about teaching your kid for how to handle her fear is exactly what i was actually talking about. Your kid had a phobia, for whatever reasons, and you taught her how to negotiate a world that wasn't going to be trigger-free for her.

But then you got all reactionary and weird, so I'm not quite sure you're the best example. I'll try again: the point is, if your kid has an issue, it's your job to help your kid learn to navigate the issue, not to demand that the world bubble-wrap itself so your kid never encounters something that might trigger their issues.

If you didn't agree, you wouldn't have done what you did for your kid, so I'm not sure why you're getting ugly with me about it...

No, I don't agree with you. Schools should be dog-free because it can take as much as three years to help a young kid through their fear of dogs, a my kid deserves to feel safe at school when she was a kindergartener, 1st, and 2nd grader. And gave dogs hanging out at school would not have made her feel safe during that time.

Your argument that parents "just" teach their kids not to fear dogs ignores the fact that you can't do that overnight. You assume if a kid is freaking out about a dog at school, it's because their parents gave done nothing. No, it's because this is a small child and a lot of small children are afraid of dogs and it's much more important to accommodate kids in schools than dogs.

Were you not given notice that there would be therapy dogs at school? Were you not allowed to opt-out of encountering them?

Demanding that the kids who would find them beneficial miss out because YOUR kid can't hang is pretty peak "snowflake" behavior.

I'm not the person who said therapy dogs came to our school. When we have dogs at our school, there is never any warning and no one can "opt out" because it happens when parents with dogs bring them to school and to school functions totally ignoring the fact that the school does not allow dogs on the premises. We've had to deal with dogs standing right next to the door during pick up, when my kid would not exit the building because she was afraid of the dogs and I had to ask the parents to please take them away from the entrance so my kid could leave (and wind up arguing with them because they think I am being "a snowflake" for asking them to simply follow the posted rules about dogs on campus so that my then-6 yr old could leave the building without having a dog several feet away. We've also seen people bring dogs to school events even though they are explicitly not allowed, in one case even taking the dog off leash to run around at a school fair. So no, we are not always given a chance to "opt out" of dogs at school because so many dog owners are stupid and entitled and think their dog is welcome everywhere and will walk right past sings that say "NO DOGS ON SCHOOL PROPERTY" as though it doesn't apply to them.

I was explaining to the PP that it is idiotic to act like parents can just magically turn a kid who is afraid of dogs into one who isn't afraid overnight. We worked hard at it for years because we have friends and family members with dogs and we want our kid to feel comfortable and safe around them. So we worked diligently at it. But in the meantime, my kid was afraid of dogs for several years, the way some kids might be fearful of the dark for a couple years, or afraid of new foods, or afraid of spiders, or any of the other normal, developmentally appropriate fears that kids have in early childhood. You don't just snap your fingers and get rid of your kid's fears. And in the meantime, kids still have to go to school and be in society.

Take the smartphone that you're probably DCUMing on, take a pic of the dog and the owner. If they're right by your kid's classroom door, you probably know who they are. Send a message to animal control. Cc the school. Solve your problems instead of just whinging.