When teaching your kids how to properly act around dogs, please consider these tips to help educate your children for their own safety and the dogs.
~ Always ask an adult permission before you pet a dog.
~ Wait for a dog to come to you. Pet the dog on the chest or back – not the head or tail. Don’t go behind the dog. If the dog does not come up to you on its own, the dog may not want you to pet it.
~ If you don’t know the dog well, don’t hug or kiss the dog. It can be a very invasive and personal thing for a dog to allow a new person to hug or kiss it. Save your hugs and kisses for your human friends and family.
~ Do not tease a dog. Do not run up to one and then run away or try to steal a toy. The dog may not think you’re playing.
~ “Service Dogs” shouldn’t be engaged with or distracted. If you see a service dog with someone in a store, restaurant or in a public place, it is probably doing an important job for its handler and shouldn’t be touched.
~ Always give dogs space. You don’t want a stranger to or even sometimes a friend to come up and touch you without permission. A dog is the same way.
~ Do not go up to a dog that is eating or sleeping.
~ Do not put your hands on a fence where there is a dog or touch a dog’s food bowl while eating, and do not touch a dogs toys or bones while in their mouth or area.
~ Do not allow your child or children to pull on a dogs ears, tail or poke them in the eyes. Do not allow them to jump on the dogs body in any way.
~ Do not allow your child or children to run and scream, or play with toys that make loud noises around a new dogs space.
~ Be careful around a mother dog and her puppies. These are her babies and she most likely doesn’t want strangers to touch them. It can also be unsafe for someone with dirty hands to touch a newborn puppy.
~ Remember that a dog that is older, sick or injured may not be in a good mood and will possibly bite if bothered.
~ If a dog comes close to you without a leash, don’t run away or make loud noises. Stand tall like a tree and don’t move, even if you want to run away. Cross your arms over your chest and don’t stare at the dogs eyes and stay quiet until the dog leaves or an adult is present.
~ If you think a dog may bite you, stay still and maybe try to gently toss a toy or another object away from you. If the dog goes for that object, then slowly turn and walk away from the dog.
~ When meeting a new dog try to stay quiet, have your hand in a fist for the dog to smell, not an open hand, because if a dog bites then your fingers could get badly injured, where as your fist is a lot less likely to get really hurt.
~ A reminder for parents that it is up to a parent to properly teach a child how to respectfully act around a dog, it is not up to the dog to know how to act around a child. Most children and dog related incidents are the parents fault from improper education or supervision. Some dogs are more suited for children, but in the end it is up to the parent to educate their child or children properly.
~ Parents, never leave your child or children unsupervised around a new dog or any dog that is eating, has a bone or toy, is sick, injured or sleeping.
We just want to help educate people so that we can have safer environments for children and dogs to live in together in peace and harmony. Thank you!