Dog Bite Prevention: Being Proactive through Education and Communication
February 24th, 2010
With most dog bite victims being children, it seems the two main reasons for these bites are lack of adult supervision and lack of education. Because parents feel safe with the family dog or dog of another family member or friend, parents tend to not worry about dog bites. The cold hard truth is over 70 percent of dog bites are from a family dog or a well-known, trusted dog and are completely preventable.
Teach dog bite prevention to children
Children tend to play with dogs and other animals much the same as they would their own peer. While children love to hug and kiss, dogs don’t. They actually feel threatened when being squeezed. Children also tend to take toys and other belongings away in an attempt to play, but dogs see this as teasing and competition.
Children also tend to move quicker than adults, which makes dogs nervous. Dogs also recognize the social status of humans and realize a child is not an authority figure, so the respect level for children is different than for that of adult humans.
Another large factor in dog bite prevention is learning to read (and teaching your children to read) dog body language while also conditioning the dog to not react in certain ways, such as if a child drops a cookie. The dog should be trained to not reach for it. It comes down to teaching both children and dogs to be respectful and safe with each other.
Be a Tree Program uses stimulating interaction to teach children dog bite prevention
The Be a Tree Program teaches children how to become experts at reading dog body language, such as what panting through a closed mouth means, how to be safe around dogs and how to ‘be a tree’ if threatened. It is administered by Doggone Safe, a non-profit organization that focuses on dog bite prevention and dog bite victims. There is also a teacher kit version, available through Doggone Crazy! that includes photos and games to teach children in a fun, interactive manner.
Both Doggone Safe and Doggone Crazy! are created by Teresa Lewin, a dog bite prevention educator and animal behavior specialist and Joan Orr, a safety risk analyst.
When it comes to dog bite prevention, communication is vital!
One of the most important steps in preventing dog bit prevention is for parents to just communicate. Once your child has learned the proper dog bite prevention techniques, if you see him ignoring the signs of a possible bite, then communicate. Ask the child, for example, “Did you not just see that paw lift?” Also, when dropping a child elsewhere, say for a birthday party, it is very important to ask if there is a dog and where will the dog be during the party.
Regardless of the when or where, when children are playing with dogs, remind them of certain rules and what signs to watch for. In some cases, the dog may need to be placed elsewhere temporarily while the children play. Keep the communication lines open all the way around and you can truly enjoy your canine family member!
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This information was provided by Wendy Gould of Chester’s Pet Shoppe, LLC and lives in New Hampshire with Chester and Sammy. She is a member of International Positive Dog Training Association (IPDTA) and is a Be A Tree Presenter. Come the end of June 2010, she will be a certified pet safety instructor though Pet Tech. Wendy’s motto is to research before buying or rescuing a pet. Wendy speaks with various pet experts to help educate current and future pet owners through pod casting. Starting in February 2010, she will offer interviews with pet experts on blog radio. The Web site includes various pet products and information links. For more information, please visit Chesters Pet Shoppe.
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Tags: Be a Tree, dog bite prevention, K9 Cuisine
Posted in K9 Care, K9 Expert Question, K9 Safety, K9 Training | 3 Comments »
3 Responses to “Dog Bite Prevention: Being Proactive through Education and Communication”
It isn’t just kids. I see adults do all kinds of “scary” things to dogs they don’t know, including bending over and putting their faces right next to the dog’s. For a skittish pooch like mine, that is super intimindating.
Hi Roxanne,
I have coined a phrase and it goes like this:
“You can’t prepare the world for your dog, however, you can prepare your dog for the world.” Teresa Lewin
What I mean by this, is simple, you can’t educate every person who may approach and interact with your dog while you are out in public. So, the best thing to do is prep your dog for all the crazy things that people may do when interacting with your pooch.
While the concept may be simple, the conditioning process may take you a while to complete. It wouldn’t hurt to employ an expert dog trainer in your area, or even pursue a phone consult with an expert pet dog trainer to help you through the exercise.
Depending how much or how little your dog likes to be touched in certain spots of his body, you could try touching him all over while you give him a special treat. When you find there are places that he becomes uncomfortable with the touch, touch lighter, and up the treat value. You will note that over time, you will be fading out most of the treats, treating just once in a while to keep the behaviour strong.
What you are doing is conditioning your dog to accept this behaviour from strangers. This is done by appealing to your dog’s emotional state-keeping him happy instead of worried. I can infer that your dog will view people approaching as potential treat dispensers instead of trouble! Wouldn’t that be a wonderful change for your wonderful boy? I hope this info helps.
To learn more about this exercise and other great idea’s please visit our web site:
www.doggonesafe.com or www.doggonecrazy.ca
Cheers Teresa
Thanks for the info, I’ll keep checking back for more news soon, bookmarked your blog!