Toddler's Parents Do Nothing As He Hits An Unleashed Pit Bull In The Head With A Water Bottle
Viewers are unsure who's to blame.
Twitter A video of a toddler repeatedly hitting an unleashed dog with a water bottle has divided viewers.
Some people believe that the toddler cannot be blamed due to his age and the fact that the dog is off of a leash.
However, others believe that the little boy needs a reality check and behavioral lessons.
The video shows a toddler hitting a pitbull dog with a plastic water bottle while his parents do not intervene.
In the video which has received over 2 million views on Twitter, a young toddler who appears to be two or three years old approaches a large pitbull holding a plastic water bottle.
As the dog sits on his hind legs and wags his tail, the toddler whacks him in the head with the water bottle.
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A man behind the camera, presumed to be the dog’s owner, can be heard telling the child, “no!”
The toddler walks away while swinging the bottle in the air before returning to the dog a second time to deliver a few more blows on the head.
The owner again tells the boy “no!” as he continues hitting the dog, who does not react until the fourth hit on his back.
He suddenly whips his head around, barking and snarling, while his owner holds onto his collar to keep him from going after the toddler.
As the toddler runs off, no parents appear to be in sight.
The video has sparked mixed reactions among viewers.
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Some people believe that the dog’s owner should not have had his pet off of a leash and that the toddler’s actions should have been expected.
“Kids are gonna be kids. If your dog can’t handle that, don’t have it around them off-leash,” one Twitter user commented.
“As a former Pitbull owner I never had mine off-leash in public spaces,” another user shared.
“People keep talking about the child but as an owner of an animal like that… they are guilty of bringing this animal into a situation… the dog is capable of serious harm… not for off leash and in public,” another user pointed out.
However, others believed that the child’s age was no excuse to be hitting animals and criticized his parents for not intervening.
"The dog was fine being well-behaved until the kid hit him. Would you be happy if someone kept hitting you with a water bottle? Try teaching your kids discipline for once,” one user commented.
“That kid should have been beside their parent, with a handheld and told to 'look not touch.' Poor dog,” another user wrote.
“Here's a kid doing something dumb that kids do, and the parents seem nowhere to be found. They could easily lose a kid to a dog turned violent,” another user added.
One user noted that the dog indicated signs of stress when he was hit with the bottle by the toddler and gave him more than a fair warning before he finally reacted.
“No, the dog actually gave three signals saying to stop,” the Twitter user wrote.
“Dog communication is very subtle, they look away, they move their head, they wag their tail and lower their ears, the fourth one he was going to escalate because neither the parent nor the owner of the dog did anything.”
Regardless of who is at fault here, it is always a good idea to keep an eye on your little ones around them since a normal interaction can turn dangerous, especially while behaving carelessly.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.