Sarah Palin has invited trouble again after Facebook pictures of her son standing on a dog sparked outrage on Thursday.
The former vice-presidential candidate and Alaska governor shared pictures on Facebook Thursday, showing her 6-year-old son Trig, who has Down syndrome, climbing on the back of the family's black lab in order to reach the kitchen countertop, the New York Daily News reported.
The picture was captioned, "He made his stepping stone."
The images instantly received strong criticism, garnering more than 12,000 Facebook comments, with users blasting the incident as "disgusting," "animal abuse" and "awful" while branding Palin as "irresponsible."
"Poor dog. And how exactly is the dog supposed to get up, with a seventy or more pound kid on his spine?" one user wondered.
"This is animal abuse," one commenter raged. "Purchase a step stool!!!! GEEZ!!! This angers me!" said another.
But Palin, who had intended to portray the resourcefulness of her youngest child, described the three controversial images as "a symbol of perseverance."
"May 2015 see every stumbling block turned into a stepping stone on the path forward," Palin wrote in a New Year's message, captioning the Facebook album.
"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."
Meanwhile, this incident spells a rocky start to the year for gaffe-prone Palin, who had spent the end of 2014 defending her family's involvement in a physical brawl, the Daily Mail reported.
In September, Palin and her family participated in a mass drunken brawl, with the former governor's son and daughter both throwing punches, a man who says he was a guest at the party told ABC News.
The fight involved "roughly 20 people" and had to eventually be broken up by police, Wonkette.com first reported.
