Yesterday we went to S.A.D to give our Christmas donation...it is a no kill shelter and struggles financially as most shelters do..
After we went into a local pet store to buy the girls new collars for xmas....a lady was shopping with her little grandson....he had a small hard dog toy in his hand and when he saw Zari..he threw the toy at her almost hitting her eye ! I was shocked at his reaction...the grandmother then said to him
" thats not for her, thats for your dog ! " as if he had made a kind gesture of offering Zari the toy ! Believe me, he was not making a kind offering to Zari..he flung that toy at her as hard as he could ...I hate to think of how he treats his own pet...I just picked Zari up and walked away, I was afraid if I said something, it might have been inappropriate for tiny ears
Never did get the collars, the ones I wanted hadn't come in yet !

Oh that's terrible! I'm so sorry. Poor lil Zari. You did better than I would have. I would have said something. I would have kept it clean, but that could have hurt her. From his GM's reaction, sounds as if he isn't taught how to treat animals. How sad. So sorry you and Zari had to go through that. (((Hugs)))

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If you aren't part of the solution, you're part of the problem.

I thought about it after the fact...I did miss an opportunity to say something educational to both the GM and the child...but I was in shock...She only has one eye and my first thought was to pick her up and protect her...the mother bear reaction LOL I understand that to see her without an eye can be disturbing to some people..kids and adults...but his reaction was dangerous... later I was reading labels on Hip/Joint supplements and a tap came on my shoulder...I looked around an a man was standing there...he pointed at Zari and said " what happened to her eye ? " Some people just have to know LOL...but he was a very kind soul and does rescue etc so I didn't mind giving him the short version of Zaris ocular journey

It saddens me when children aren't taught better. You see it all the time. It just makes me want children more so I can bring them up the right way. Poor Zari being subjected to a mean and badly taught child.

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I drove a school bus for 17 years and at the end of those years of was driving the children of the parents that was on the bus years before. Every year I saw the children go down hill. They were not taught kindness, respect for adults or to each other. I could go on but I won't. I am very dispointed in the way the parents today (not all ) but most are raising very spoiled and just plain bad children and then you have the children who are abused by the parents. Our country is going down hill. Very sad.

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Ike born Aug 15 2012

You know. Things like this also make me think about children you see poking, jerking, pulling, etc on a dog. Then the parents freak out when the dog bites. I hear and read it all the time. This might sound wrong to some, but if you don't teach your child to be gentle, then don't complain when the child gets bitten. I know there are cases when a dog bites when it isn't provoked, but just as many incidents when they are. It drives me nuts hearing, "well it's just a dog! I'm not going to have my child bitten even if he/she is provoking the dog." I wonder if the adult realizes just how ignorant that sounds? Dogs have feelings. Teach the child manners for Christ sake! Thank God my kids and Grandson know better. My kids would have freaked out seeing a child throwing a toy at Zari. Knowing my kids, they would have said something for you. And probably cried seeing lil Zari treated that way.

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If you aren't part of the solution, you're part of the problem.

So glad she wasn't hurt! I can't believe that child did that! Well, nowadays, I can. I have had some issues with children who were not raised around animals thinking Ava is a small toy and trying to be rough with her, but I immedietaly say something. I have a big mouth at times




TL, you have very good point and I completely agree!
I feel as though some parents, not all, ( I actually know a few who do this ) were raised in a strict environment so they want their kids to have more freedom and they want to be their kids friend, the problem is they forget how to be a parent.
My mom is a huge animal lover being a vet tech and taught me as soon as I was born it feels like to be respectful and kind to all animals.
I feel like the more spoiled children I see who aren't taught to love and respect animals, the more abused animals you see. And just as TL said, then people want to complain when an animal retaliates! Just like a human, you can only take so much until you snap.

This may sound harsh but I remember back in the day when my friend and I were younger and should have known better we woke up her family's older jack russell terrier rougher than we should have. I think we were wanting her to play but she didn't hear very well and was asleep and she woke up and snapped at us, connecting with my friend and drawing a bit of blood. Nothing bad, just a small wound. We knew that we would be in more trouble than the dog when we told her mom but we had to in order to get a band-aid. Her mom just said that's what we get for not respecting the dog like we were taught!

Today's parents would have freaked out and euthanized the dog for being vicious! It wasn't her fault but ours and we remembered forever after to be kinder to her older soul. We weren't bad kids but we forgot in our eagerness to play. Lesson learned.

Kids need to be taught how to behave around dogs and dogs need to be taught how to behave around kids and both should always be monitored! That child that threw the toy should have been scolded and removed from the store.

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