Keeping Kids Safe Around Dogs
One of the most valuable things you can teach your children is how to speak dog. Dogs communicate with their whole body from their nose to their tail.
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Dogs won't bite when a warning will do but there are many ways they will tell us that they are uncomfortable before they raise their voice (growl). If, over time, these earlier signals (saying please) are ignored, the dog may learn to dispense with these altogether and progress much quicker to biting.
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Children will naturally be excited about your new dog and will want to get involved. But to build the foundations for a strong and trusting relationship, we need to teach them how to do things with the puppy, not to the puppy.
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Check out the videos and articles below for more information about understanding dog body language and preventing bites for kids (and adults!) of all ages.
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Learning Dog Body Language
These videos are from www.familydog.com and their Stop the 77 campaign, an online dog safety campaign for families. It is called Stop the 77 because 77% of dog bites are from a family or friend's dog.
Body Language Handouts
For Children
For Adults
Teens and Dogs
There are lots of articles and resources about teaching younger children how to interact with dogs, but what about teens? In this article, we talk about ways teenagers can help with puppies and why the changes their brains are undergoing means we are asking a lot of them if we ask hand over walking to them.
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