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Jul 7, 2010
Don't leave dogs to kids
I WAS at the Serangoon Gardens playground in Chartwell Drive with my four children (aged three to 12) one evening.
There was a boy who looked about eight years old holding a dog on a leash. The dog was running around the rope structure shaped like a spider web, barking at the children who were climbing the structure. Including my three boys, there were about eight children on or around the structure at that time.
Suddenly, the dog broke free from the leash, ran to my 10-year-old son and looked like it was about to bite him. I shouted at the dog and it was only then that a woman called to the dog to come to her. She did not act when the dog first broke loose, and had I not shouted, she may not have even bothered to control her dog.
My question is this: Should dog owners allow their young children to control their dogs in public places, especially at a children's playground?
My children have been traumatised by this incident and are now wary about going to the Serangoon Gardens playground because there are many dogs there which are "under the control" of children instead of adults.
I hope that the relevant authorities will inform all dog owners that dogs in public (especially in places where there are a lot of children) should be under the control of responsible, competent adults and not be left to children to handle.
Cheong Wai Yin (Ms)
