People love to share photos of their children with their pets, but many of us often see little things that indicate that there’s trouble brewing.

Often, small children mistreat pets because they don’t know any better. Meanwhile, their parents take video of pinching, pushing, and other behavior that turns out to be dangerous for everyone.

Dogs are not toys. Furthermore, no matter how loyal and even-tempered a dog is, they still have a breaking point – and the instinct to attack or be otherwise aggressive when they’re mistreated.

For dogs that get to this point, parents are often shocked and blame the animal rather than take responsibility for letting their child run amok with it.

Dogs end up euthanized and in shelters after snapping at a child. But it all could have been avoided if the parents had intervened.

A comment thread to this effect is going viral because so many parents refuse to believe their dog could ever attack their children – and people are trying to set them straight.

It all started off with a photo and a warning:

While most of us cringe at this photo, we’ve also seen parents wait to intervene in situations like this.

This is NOT a cute scene.

The poster had some strongly worded advice for parents and those blind to the fact that even good dogs can be driven to aggression.

It’s a parent’s responsibility to train pets AND children and to be around in case anything happens.

If that’s not possible, they should rethink having an animal in the house.

Commenters also helped point out that even young children can – and SHOULD – be trained to treat animals with respect.

Even commenters who have had experience with an animal snapping chimed in to say that it was not the pet’s fault if they defending themselves.

People shared their stories as a warning to parents – and a reminder not the blame the pet:

“Mom told toddler me not to spook our dog when he slept, did it anyway. I have a scar on my face from the bite. I got in trouble, dog did not,” said one.

Actions have consequences and you don’t want your child to learn that the hard way.

People also shared sad stories of dogs that were blamed:

“I had to watch as a family dog was put down because my sister couldn’t teach her daughter to keep her hands to herself.”

The sentiment was not overwhelmingly anti-child – in fact, many people who chimed in were parents who acknowledged it was their responsibility to teach their children how to be gentle with animals (and keep children too small to understand away from them).

Bored Panda interviewed dog expert Mindaugas Sejunas who reiterated that parents are being naive when they assume their pets will put up with whatever their children have in store.

“There are plenty of videos online that show kids riding dogs. Everyone brags on Facebook about how well their kid and dog get along. Many parents decide to get a dog for their child so that the little one stays entertained and doesn’t get bored. Some think of a dog as an excellent guardian. This is the biggest mistake an adult can make and it could easily turn into tragedy.”

We’ve all heard horror stories about children being mauled by pets and the pets needing to be put down as a result.

But that can all be avoided with some responsible parenting.

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Source: Bored Panda, Mindaugas Sejunas via Instagram, somewhatvaguelywitty via Imgur