Gathering for Thanksgiving dinner with one’s extended family may be very fun and relaxing, but not if a snappy dog is in the same room with a toddler.

Having her dog who previously attacked the girl at the Thanksgiving table was something that this Redditor’s sister-in-law insisted on, so the mother refused to come.

More info: Reddit

A woman was planning to celebrate Thanksgiving with her in-laws but changed her mind due to her sister-in-law’s dog

Image credits: RDNE Stock project (not the actual photo) 

The woman’s sister-in-law owns a dog who doesn’t like kids and has been growling at her daughter since she was a baby

Image credit: u/Jass_the_Yass

Image credits: Tatiana Syrikova (not the actual photo) 

Image credit: u/Jass_the_Yass

As the girl grew up a bit, the dog continued to be aggressive towards her

Image credits: cottonbro studio (not the actual photo) 

The last time, the chihuahua lunged at the girl’s face, growling and snapping, and the mom was just in time to save her from being bitten

A mother of a toddler brought it to the Reddit AITA community online asking whether she was right to refuse to come to her in-laws’ house for Thanksgiving due to their dog.

The woman explained that her sister-in-law owns a chihuahua who doesn’t like children. Since the birth of the OP’s daughter, the dog has been growling at her. Yet it became even more challenging later on.

After the last time when the dog lunged at her daughter’s face, growling and snapping, the girl’s mother told the dog’s owner she had had enough and wouldn’t have them in the same room.

Since the sister-in-law needed to have her dog with her on Thanksgiving, the woman requested that she keep the dog in another room.

The woman’s in-laws were hesitant about keeping the dog separately from the toddler and refused to confirm, so the mother made sure to keep her daughter safe and made an update that she chose to have Thanksgiving as a trio with her daughter and husband at home.

The woman asked her SIL to keep the dog in another room on Thanksgiving, but she only agreed to be holding him

Image credits: wkn (not the actual photo)

So the woman didn’t bring her daughter to her grandparents and celebrated with her husband and daughter at home

Someone less familiar with the breed could wonder whether such a small creature as a Chihuahua can do any harm, yet these dogs are known to sometimes have a snappy character and there probably is no question that with toddlers, it is better to be on the safe side.

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While Chihuahuas and children can coexist, this often requires appropriate training and precautionary measures for both the dog and the kids. This is due to the dog being fragile, kids not always paying attention to the dog’s body language, and Chihuahuas not always appreciating unfamiliar kids’ company.

Finally, it is advised to keep Chihuahuas’ and friends’ or relatives’ children’s interaction supervised at all times to avoid accidents and possible shock to a young kid. For these reasons, celebrating Thanksgiving in the safety of their own home was probably the best decision the parents could have made in this kind of situation and Redditors sided with them.

Redditors sided with the woman and shared their experiences

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