The summer holidays with new environment and new hazards. Do your children know how to interact with strange dogs? Almost 5 million people are bitten by dogs every year in the States. Of these 20% require medical attention. Many of these are children. Dog walkers often see kids that have never been correctly trained to interact with dogs.
Because we love our dogs and children, we are often blind to many of their weaknesses, treating it as character. So parents may be blind to how rough their kids may be. Instructing them to be generally gentle can be useful in many ways of life – not just meeting animals.
It begins with the best way for a child to advance a dog. The first meeting, just like for us is key. The first thing is to ask the owner if it is OK to approach the dog. The owner might even, and should introduce you to the dog, this will ease any fear the dog might have with this different person coming up to him. The kid should not run up to the dog, come slowly and calmly. One should allow the dog smell you, present your hand palm down, the dog will make a decision on how near he wants to be. Smell is so important to dogs, being over fifty times more susceptible than humans, no wonder that they are used for searching for drugs. If you offer the hand palm up, he may think you have a treat for him and the dog is likely to get wound up potentially giving potentially grave consequences.
The child must recognize that he has to be kind; he must fuss kindly, not pinch, don’t pull the dogs ears and keep clear of the eyes. Warn kids particularly to leave the dog tail – evolution did not put it there to grasp or tow him by. The chest, chin and shoulders are great areas to pet, stroking the dogs head can sometimes be misunderstood by a dog that does not know you. Never position your head near a dogs, this encroaches on his space, and he has sharp teeth. If your child has never been close to real animals, you could introduce your children to the best way to stroke an animal with one of their soft toys.
Dog socialisation is an integral part of dog care and will reduce the probability of problems with your dogs, many other dogs will not have this advantage. Regular dog walking and exercise will also reduce bad behaviour.
kids must never come up to a dog when he is eating, many dogs are protective of their food, though good dog training will try to take away this habit at an early stage.
It is a good idea to bring your kids up to have no fear of dogs. A kid with apprehension of dogs is more likely to react in a way that could make the situation worse.
All the same you should make children responsive to the risks linked to stray dogs without an owner. The child, and us, should keep a cool head, do not run away from the dog. The dog is descended from wolfs that hunted prey and he is far more likely to pursue and attack. Tell the dog to “go home” in a determined loud voice. If the dog doesn’t, continue to stay, find out more about the situation, what is the dog doing, is the dog just watching you, is he interested, you may tell this from the dogs bearing, are his ears firm and straight up, is the dogs tail wagging, has the dog a relaxed look, if so, just walk away calmly, do not run.
If he is not behaving like this, does the dog look menacing, often characterised by his ears laid back along his head, a tense body (if not much fur, you can see his muscles tighten, his tail up). Ignore a wagging tail. Tell him to “lay down”, again in a solid loud voice. Remaining calm and not yelling or screaming at him. Look for adults nearby who could help? If so ask them to help, but be careful about yelling. Walk away from him steadily with no sudden move. However if he rushes at you, drop into a “turtle” rolled up body position.
If you find this type of dog, do not hesitate to contact local dog wardens, stray dogs are a menace and make life dangerous for kids.
As dog owners, we must never leave a dog unsupervised with kids, accidents happen with even the best trained dog, for the most obscure of reasons, the reason they are called accidents, but one that could have grave consequences.
