Twice over, even. (the hellspawn and its mother. Both are examples of failed parenting.)

"Make sure to not give them any opportunity to steal your dog" .... I don't even know how to respond to that. Seriously?

I understand it might sound like victim blaming, but it is wise to be wary of the possibility and take precautions like microchip the dog. It should NOT be OP's responsibility, but it sounds like the neighbour might decide to take the dog anyway.

Yes, seriously. Because you never know with the crazy people. If that lady is crazy enough to demand to just hand over the dog, who knows what else she is capable of. So not letting the dog out in the yard unsupervised should be avoided in the near future, as well as make sure the dog is registered, chipped and on a leash whenever outside the house.

Absolutely. If this woman thinks it is ok to demand that someone hand over what is probably considered a family member, she is the kind of person who might not think twice about just taking the dog. Animal theft is a real thing. When dogs are being stolen, beaten and tortured, and dumped back in their yards for the owners to find, it's not hard to believe that someone could steal a dog their kid wanted. Hell, my husband's childhood dog was poisoned and killed by a neighbor who didn't like dogs. Humans are also spiteful enough to have the "Well, if my kid can't have it, no one can" or "How dare you not let my kid have the dog. I'll make sure you can't have the dog either" kind of attitude. If someone got all butt hurt about me not letting their kid have my dog then demanded I give my dog to their kid, you can absolutely bet that I'd be taking some serious precautions to make sure my dog stays in my possession. My dog is family to me and I don't take threats to my family lightly. That woman is absolutely a threat to the dog.

#97, exactly! Thank you for putting my thoughts into words better than I am capable of. I think some people misunderstood my original comment because of my clumsy wording. English is not my native language, so I might have missed some nuances of meaning here.

At four? Better late than never.

Hard for a kid to learn things if the parent won't teach them. Obviously the mother isn't teaching her anything other than she can have whatever she wants.

I'd like to think that decent parents teach kids early on how to take no for an answer. "Moooomm, get me candy." "No, sweetheart."/"But I don't want to go to bed!" "Sorry, honey, but it's time for bed. I'll read you a story." I'm not a parent, and I'm sure it's easier than done. But parents have to set boundaries for their kids. One of them is not demanding a neighbor just give away his dog.