How to keep a Child Safe who Loves Dogs
Does your child absolutely adore dogs? Do you worry about how you can keep them safe around dogs that you do not know?
Do you have a hard time stopping them from running legs and arms flailing in excitement closing in on their next canine victim!?
You can’t even get the word STOP out as they have suddenly turned into the roadrunner and are too far out of earshot, having wrapped their arms around the disgruntled pooch clinging onto them squeezing them like a much-loved lemon, whilst the poor dog is trying to desperately get away?
It’s lovely isn’t it, that the child has no fear, but… the reality is this can be soooo bloody dangerous!
We teach our kids to not be afraid, to be brave, and to be bold! That is unless we have experienced something bad ourselves or have an ingrained fear that has already taken residence in our minds.
So many people do not have the fear of dogs but 1 in 20 do. This goes to show that 19 out of 20 are much more likely to get bitten in their youth (presuming they like dogs and are uneducated around our K9 friends) than not. People who are scared of dogs who do not run and scream at the sight of a drooling floppy-eared beast, tend to stay a safe distance away. So the laws of probability go to show that they do not get in the dog’s space therefore far less likely to get bitten!
We all think we understand these incredible animals, but how can we?!! Most humans don’t understand humans and if you are reading this you are most likely human so this probably applies to you. How can we think that we can understand a dog when we can’t speak their language!?
I’ve had this issue before!
I keep my dog on a lead especially around kids, not because he is in the slightest bit interested in kids or that I think he will suddenly savage one and have little Timmy for tea, but because some children have the habit of running up to him, catching him unawares and that’s when accidents can happen.
I have seen so many kids running after a dog and the parent is either oblivious because they have their nose buried in their phone or are busy talking to a friend. I get it we can’t keep a vigilant eye on our kids every moment of every day… but if that child runs up to a dog and gets bitten, it’s curtains for the dog, possibly hospital or if they are lucky just a dosing of life long fear for the child!
So how can we combat this, the answer is simple it’s EDUCATION!!
WolfeEdu firmly believes by educating children from a young age we can stop this. We can reduce the number of euthanised pets, we can reduce the number of kids who suffer from cynophobia, we can reduce the number of dog bites, and we can minimise the number of parents who must contend with the guilt because they were not aware!
Educating children from a young age stops the fear, but makes them aware of the potential dangers. This is not a scaremongering tactic! For example, a Lion tamer does not have/show fear that they will be eaten as they have been educated into handling a Lion and understanding their behaviour! They know the dangers but are not fearful and that is what WolfeEdu is here to do, to teach kids to respect dogs, how to read their body language, how to share a safe space with a dog, and how to act around dogs when they are in an outdoor environment, how to stroke a dog, how to be a dogs friend without being overbearing or inadvertently cruel, how to understand the signs that a dog gives off before he or she might react!
So if you are interested in finding out more, please feel free to contact me, or review some of the other WolfeEdu blogs below
