Incendiary title is incendiary, but hear me out. This just happened, like, half an hour ago. If that. So it's still fresh in my mind.
We were at my MIL's for an early easter/birthday party for my niece. It's mostly my wife's siblings and their kids that showed up, with the exception of a family friend and one of her husband's daughters. (She remarried, long story)
One of my BILs brought their dog named Daisy along with them. Daisy is a puppy (<18 months old), but mostly full grown. Pretty sure she has some poodle in her, if not purebred. So, as pups are wont to do, they like to get themselves into trouble. Daisy's a good dog overall, but something today really set me off.
She took food out of my son's(2 years old) hand. Like, he was eating it, she came up, grabbed it out of his hand, and walked off. Then she came back looking for more. I intervened, telling her that that's not okay. There are few things that set me off, but any potential for hurting my son is one of those. And when papa bear comes out? May the devil take pity on the soul of anyone who harms my son.
So, when she came back to my son again, I let out a loud, "DAISY, NO!" to get her to back off. MIL heard this, and immediately went into defensive mode. But not for her grandson. Nope, she started defending the dog. So we got into an argument. She's going on about how it's fine, she doesn't know any better, she's just a dog, she's not smart enough to understand, all this nonsense. Bear in mind, my mom trains service dogs for people with physical and mobility impairments. By the time they're the same age as daisy, they're opening doors, retrieving items, and doing a whole hell of a lot more than Daisy does.
I get that Daisy will never be a service dog. I'm not going to hold her to that standard. But at the same time, if a dog (of any age) starts doing stuff to my kids, I'm not going to let it slide. And if they're a puppy, I will use it as a teaching moment for the dog. I don't think that's all that outlandish.
My concern with Daisy taking food from my son is that it leads to biting if left unchecked. This is definitely not behavior any dog owner should allow. And I feel very strongly about this. But the comments from my MIL and another one of the guests that straight up told me "she's just a dog" like this was somehow acceptable behavior really pissed me off. So I texted the wife, "grab the kids, we're going home." and we left the party early. On the way home, my wife and I had a bit of a discussion on what happened, and she said, "is this the hill you want to die on?"
I mean, it's kind of an important hill when it comes to the safety of my kids. She said she would agree if Daisy had bitten him. I know that this will happen eventually if left unchecked, and I don't want that happening. But am I the asshole here?