With few exceptions, you can gauge a person’s character by how they treat animals. That isn’t to say that everyone must love critters in order to be a solid human being, but the way people interact with dependent creatures really gives you an inside look at who they are and what they value.
That’s part of why making sure kids have beneficial interactions with animals from a young age is so important. Bad experiences will haunt them for the rest of their lives, while good experiences will bring them joy for years to come.
Kids can learn a lot of things from pets: joy, empathy and responsibility, to name a few. Those life lessons can be learned through the ownership of pets of any shape or size, but for companionship and unconditional love, it’s hard to beat a dog.
A boy and his dog. <3#blossomsandbeaus #starflowerblossom #bostonterrierservicedog #bostonterriersofinstagram…
Posted by Bitty Man Beau and the Blossoms gang on Saturday, September 2, 2017
The bond between kid and pup is strong — stronger, in some cases, than the bond between adult and pup. Dogs and kids are similar in many ways, and dogs can sense that.
Many canines are protective of their young charges and take their role of protector very seriously. Of course, kids also need to learn how to interact with dogs properly, since not all friendly human behaviors translate to friendly dog behaviors.
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A child who learns to pat a dog carefully, find good ear scratch spots, and doesn’t hit, yell at, or pull any part of the dog will generally be accepted and loved by a good-natured, four-legged friend.
Dogs put up with a lot from kids. They endure tea parties and being dressed up, they sit patiently while young artists scribble on their coats with permanent marker, and are generally happy for the attention.
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But the pup in this video has got it made. The large pit bull is splayed out on the tot’s bed, its head on the pillow, taking up most of the sleepy time real estate.
The girl takes a few moments to arrange the blanket over them both as they settle down, the dog enjoying every moment of it. Kyle Leary posted the video on Facebook on Dec. 30, and it has taken off since.
“Cutest video EVER,” he wrote. “Just A girl tucking in her 100lbs Pit bull best friend and bodyguard for life. If you raise them with love, they only show love.”
Cutest video EVER. Just A girl tucking in her 100lbs Pitbull best friend and bodyguard for life. If you raise them with love, they only show love. #daughter #pitbull #pit #pitbullsofinstagram #bestfriends #bff #protector
Posted by Kyle Leary on Sunday, December 30, 2018
“This is Adalynn Leary tucking in Fury Leary, her best friend and bodyguard since birth who is a 100+pound blue nose pit bull,” he explained in a comment on the video.
“We live in Palmer, Alaska and recently got hit hard by a 7.0 earthquake and we’ve had over 5,000 aftershocks. Since then Ady has been having severe anxiety and trouble sleeping. The only way she’ll sleep is if Fury is in there with her to protect and ease her anxiety. Normally he sleeps on the floor next to her bed but that night she called him up to cuddle him.”
So not only is this video cute, it’s even sweeter knowing that the pup was keeping the little girl company during a scary time. If that’s not a best friend, what is?
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