Sarah Palin's Kid Stands on Dog; Palin Blames Dog for Being "Lazy"

Happy New Year! Here is Sarah Palin gleefully posting pics of her son as he stands on the family dog to reach a counter.

To welcome in 2015, Palin posted a photo of her son using the family dog to climb up and reach the counter, so he could help her wash dishes:

Happy New Year!

May 2015 see every stumbling block turned into a stepping stone on the path forward. Trig just reminded me. He, determined to help wash dishes with an oblivious mama not acknowledging his signs for “up!”, found me and a lazy dog blocking his way. He made his stepping stone.

– Sarah Palin

Reuters via Yahoo has the rundown on how people are responding to this latest Palin social media mind fuck, which as they point out is eerily reminiscent of the time Mitt Romney strapped the family dog to the roof of a car for some National Lampoon-esque family road trip.

Trig, 6, who has Down Syndrome, is shown stepping on the back of the family’s black Labrador while it lies on the kitchen floor in order to reach the sink. The dog appears unruffled.

The Facebook post by Palin, who was the Republican vice presidential nominee in 2008, drew more than 12,000 comments by midday Friday, ranging from cries of animal abuse to those seconding Palin’s praise for the youngest of her five children.

[…]

But some online commentators were infuriated.

“You want to run your state and the country, but you don’t have the sense to tell your children to stop stepping on your dog’s spine?” Kenneth Meador wrote.

“Yes the dog could have moved but the greater lesson is he’s gonna get bit and hurt and the dog will get blamed instead of the child that is abusing the dog/ should a child ever be allowed to step on any animal ughhh,” posted Amy Payzant Steward.

“I am the extra h’s in Amy’s ughhh.” That dog looks just like my Lab, which compounds my needs for lots and lot of extra h’s for my ughhhs. It should be noted that the criticism isn’t being lobbed at Trig, who is a six-year-old child with Down’s Syndrome and absolutely doesn’t deserve to be the target of Internet ire for something his mother is actively encouraging (it would seem). Children do unfortunate or irresponsible things all the time; it’s up to their parents to help correct those behaviors when they are clearly wrong (and stepping on the back of a dog is clearly wrong, no matter how much “problem solving” it demonstrates). Instead, Palin celebrates it by posting it all over Facebook.

After seeing all the negative feedback to her post, Palin spent hours in a deep, quiet meditative state, emerging only to apologize, delete the Facebook post and replace with a haiku she wrote about the beauty of human kindness. Just kidding; she gives zero fucks what anyone has to say about the crazy bullshit she posts online and probably never will. It’s probably more likely she’s filled with the joy of a thousand bunny snuggle kisses whenever someone posts an angry comment about something she’s done.

ETA: As MorningCowgirl points out, the dog is actually a service dog given to the Palins, a decision that originally raised some eyebrows in the first place. Via The Inquisitr:

Palin posted in April and in August about the Puppy Jake Foundation’s connection to her new pet, noting that the dog would be training with the foundation and its founder, and later crediting again “our friend in Iowa Becky Beach and her Puppy Jake Foundation, along with Canine Craze in Des Moines.”

The Pupppy Jake Foundation is known for training dogs to be adopted by military families, with an emphasis on wounded vets. Their values, as described on their website, include treating dogs with respect, and ensuring that every dollar donated helps to further their mission of providing wounded vets with animals to improve their lives.

However, in light of Sarah Palin’s New Year’s post, people are asking whether the Puppy Jake Foundation is having success in those two values. There are concerns that donated funds were used to train Sarah’s dog, Jill, who was provided to a high-profile politician, rather than a wounded vet. These concerns, at least, are likely moot, since the Palin family is a supporter of the Puppy Jake Foundation, and their own donations may have covered the cost of the animal and his training. Her fame also brings attention to the organization, which is rarely a bad thing for a charity

Many are now calling for the organization to make a public condemnation of Palin’s post, but so far they have remained silent. According to the Inquisitr, comments speaking out against Palin’s post and demanding the Puppy Jake Foundation make a statement were deleted from the organization’s Facebook page.