Category Archives: Safety with dogs

Education is Key to Preventing a Dog Attack

A sad story with impact and hopefully with lessons for all of us.

In November 2021 a boy aged 10 was savagely mauled to death by a dog in South Wales.  I am not going to post the child’s name, as I have not asked permission to do so, nor is it relevant, however reading this very sad story made me realise that what WolfeEdu is setting out to achieve, by educating people especially children of how to share a safe space with a dog could prevent such an attack.

The Dog "B"

The dog was a troubled, 15-month-old, very large, 8-stone American Pitbull “type” called “B” ( for article purposes and out of respect we are not using his real name).  “B” in my opinion should have been responsibly passed over to a trained handler or euthanaised to avoid such a tragedy from happening. 

 

 

 

B had shown severe aggression towards other dogs.  His original owner had stated that “I’ve tried my best with him, I have other dogs and cannot put them at risk”.  And that he was “great with people”. 

 

 

 

I’m not here to speculate whether he was telling the truth or not, as the dog may well have shown no signs of aggression towards humans prior.  However, being the size of dog, and the “type”, showing aggression towards other dogs, alarm bells should have been ringing LOUDLY.

 

 

 

So “B” was mistakenly rehomed.   

 

 

 

In the short time that the new family had owned B it had attacked a cat, and an adult and lunged at a child. More clear signs that this was a disaster waiting to happen.

Then on this very tragic day, a 10-year-old boy was playing with a friend outside his house and decided to go back to his mate’s house.  This is where the event took place where he was savagely and violently attacked and sadly killed

Things Could Have Been Different

Now I have no idea exactly what happened, I can only imagine from the articles that I have read; therefore, this is only written out of assumption below are possible reasons why the dog attacked this child.

  • One scenario could be that the boy showed immense fear towards the dog and therefore omitted energy that the dog recognised as danger and attacked.
  • The boy could have approached the dog and didn’t understand the body language and the signals the dog was giving off, as he had never been taught, the dog was unable to flee and therefore his only option was to fight.
  • The dog did not show any prior signals or warn the boy. Due to mismanagement and poor treatment, these may not have been listened to in the past, so he has learnt to skip A & B and go straight to C which is attack!
  • The dog was extremely territorial and protective, and his instant reaction was to attack. Resource aggression can be reversed if done correctly, should your dog show any sort of resource aggression, it is important to contact a qualified Canine Behaviourist or Dog trainer.

The dog and the boy were allegedly unsupervised. Dogs should be supervised at all times when children are around no matter what breed. If you cannot supervise them then the dog should be removed from the vicinity and put into a safe, comfortable environment where they will not be disturbed.

I can surmise all the scenarios that happened and there are many more, but to be entirely honest I don’t know. So, the above is pure speculation.

What we Know is....

If this little boy was able to read the signs or even if the owners recognised that this dog was showing aggressive behaviour, then this may not have happened.  Education is so important to all, to keep us safe, keep our children safe and keep our beloved pets safe.

 

So as much as you love your dog be honest with people, and ensure they are not around others if they show signs of being uncomfortable, especially around children.  If you do have people coming around to your house give them a quick character reference of your dog and tell them how to act to ensure that everyone is comfortable and safe.  If your guests or the dog seem agitated, then put your dog in a safe secure comfortable room away from people or ask your guests to leave. 

 

Do not be afraid to offend by not letting your child go around to someone’s house if you feel that their dog may cause harm to your child.  If you suspect the dog to be volatile or unsafe do not allow your child around there.

You wouldn’t let your child go around to someone’s house if you knew that there was domestic violence there, would you? So do not let your child go to someone else’s house if you suspect that the dog could show signs of being unpredictable or aggressive in any way.

 Ensure you know who is at the house, not just the people but the animals as well, it is your responsibility.

Make your child aware of the dangers but do not instil fear.  Give them the skills that they need in case they are nervous around dogs and equally overly confident.

More education is required, and WolfeEdu recognises this.  The dog is not a human it doesn’t understand English, it understands commands and tone but cannot speak a specific language.  

 

Therefore, we need to understand the dog, we need to recognise the signs when a dog is exhibiting distressed or anxious behaviours!  You cannot rely on the owner alone to tell us this we have to be able to read them for ourselves. 

 

Wayne David, the Labour MP for Caerphilly, said: “There needs to be an examination of the Dangerous Dogs Act to see if the law needs to be strengthened.”

 

But there also needs to be education, people break laws!  Education to every single one of our children to prevent any future attacks!

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Simple steps on how Kids should act and interact with dogs

 

Many children do not know how to interact with dogs some are overzealous, and others are so shy that they do not know where to look and can be so scared that they become paralysed with fear or run as fast as Usain Bolt in a major panic screaming, which is very enticing for most dogs!

Both can be very dangerous, but both can be managed if a child is educated in a way that does not instill more fear or more unauthorised confidence in a child!

We expect a lot from our dogs and how they should behave around our children, and they should instinctively know how to act.  Dogs learn how to behave around people through experience and handling when a pup, it is not instinctive it is taught!  We need to teach our children too!

 


This blog is about the overzealous, overconfident, overbearing child. 

Have you heard a mother or father say ohh my son just adores dogs or my daughter loves every dog and they love her back, my child is so good with dogs, they are so natural with animals!  Yes, it is lovely that your child is an “animal lover” but do they understand the basic signs of animal behaviour and the signs that a dog could be distressed, in pain, or showing signs of anxiety, fear or anger?

Climbing on a dog, pulling, hugging, prodding and just getting into their space is a big no-no, should they cross these boundaries they are at an increased risk of being bitten.  Should your child be itching to get up close and personal it is so vitally important that they understand that dogs, no matter how well you know them value their personal space and like us humans have boundaries, just some are more tolerant than others!

Interactions between a child and a dog should be a good experience for both!  Instilling fear into them is not advisable.  Ask a child to do simple tasks, games, and basic training that will help build a relationship, teach a child how to be in control, and how to read basic body language and warning signs that a dog is giving off.

Tasks involving Positive Reinforcement

  • Sit
  • Lie Down
  • Stay
  • Come
  • Ball playing

Teach your child to give simple commands to not overuse its name.  You can assign a name for your child to use that is not used in training for example pup, or pooky!  Children tend to overuse a dog’s name and they can very easily become numb, deadened, to it!  Therefore if the overuse of their name is used when it comes to commands such as recalling then you can have a whole feast of problems. 

This should be supervised to ensure timely rewards are given and they are both interacting safely and calmly.

How to make the interactions as positive and as safe as possible.  Talk to the child before introducing them to a dog.  Tell them that sometimes we are unable to see if a dog is in pain or if a dog is unhappy so it is best to let a dog approach you rather than the other way round, and always ask the owner if it is OK to touch. 

Highlight to a child that if a dog is sleeping, eating or has taken itself away then it is to be left alone. 

Playtime is for outside only!  This is so very important to maintain a level of calm in a house, plus a dog outside can flee should it need to (in a secure back garden/yard ).  In a house there are walls and they can feel trapped therefore the fight instinct may be the only option they have if they are cornered. 

Direct Supervision you should never leave your child alone with a dog always supervise, be calm and help them to build a harmonised, respectful relationship.

 If you cannot supervise all the time, give the dog a space where he or she can chill without being disturbed by a child, and ensure the child understands that when they are in this space they are not to be approached.

My child wants to hug my puppy how do I stop them? Some dogs do not mind being hugged by a child, but many do.  Your pet Labrador may be very tolerant of this, but what happens when your child goes to a friend’s house where they have a dog who does not tolerate being smothered.  It can end in dire consequences.  The child can be bitten very easily! 

It is therefore so vitally important that boundaries are set for children, that they are told that not all dogs like cuddles!  That they must always ask the owner first.  Stop before approaching, Ask the owner, Wait for a response and be Calm and Gentle! Good dog owners should always talk to a child before they get a chance to smother it with love or remove the dog from the situation putting it in a safe quiet place where it can be on its own and not bothered.

 

I had a situation with my dog when a 2-year-old came running up to him.  We were outside, my dog was on a lead and under control.  My dog does not appreciate being touched by strangers.  9 times out of 10 he would be fine but it only takes that one time for something unfortunate to happen!  Luckily I was able to stop the child before she came into contact with him, but I had to put my hand up to provide distance between her and the dog.  Unfortunately, it resulted in tears due to my quick reaction, but it could have been a lot of lot worse!  The thing that amazed me the most was her mother, who put her on the ground to go and touch the dog without asking me, I was shocked at how she put her child in danger purely through lack of education.  Should we be able to educate children who will eventually become adults we will have a lot fewer incidents of children being bitten by dogs, and dogs being unfairly euthanised or rehomed.  

 

It is nice for humans to hug each other but for a dog, it can make them feel confined, threatened, and claustrophobic.  Imagine someone holding onto you for a prolonged period of time or a stranger coming up to you and placing their hands on you, don’t you think you would try whatever you could to get away.  So why do we expect our dogs to tolerate this and not react?

The best way that a dog knows how to handle an unfavorable situation is that they move away ( they would rather flee a situation than fight), ensure your child does not follow them if the dog gets up and removes itself from a situation, and allow this, allow them to set some boundaries as you do too! Recognise the small cues the dog is giving out don’t ignore signs such as licking of the lips, cowering, tail between its legs, ears flat to their head, yawning, looking away, snarling, growling etc… these are all signs that the dog is uncomfortable.

Dogs are dogs they are not robots we expect so much from our dogs but they all have their individual personalities and have their own stories they can all react so very differently from each other.  Keep our children safe keep our dogs safe! 

Harmonised living between person and pooch!

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What is Cynophobia?

Cynophobia is the crippling fear of dogs.  Cynophobia is the Greek word cyno meaning dog & phobia meaning fear.

It can be debilitating, you can lose your mind, have heart-pounding, sweaty palms, feel sick, dizzy, unsafe, and out of control and you simply cannot rationalise it.  I have the same feeling with flying completely irrational as I know it is one of the safest ways to travel but at the same time, I cannot shift the fear.  Some people will admit to this fear, and some will be too embarrassed and bury it so it doesn’t show externally but internally they are feeling all of the above.

Cynophobia affects 1 in 20 people and is rarely talked about.  It is more obviously prevalent in children as they haven’t yet learned the ability to mask their fear.  How often do you see kids hanging onto their mums or dads when out walking, and the parent saying it’s ok he won’t hurt you, look she’s so friendly, it can get very frustrating for any parent!  But in adults a lot of the time you wouldn’t know that they are suffering, however for them meeting a dog still has a silent debilitating effect.  People who do not let on that they are scared often make excuses as to why they can’t go somewhere that a dog could potentially be for example a walk, having a picnic, or going around to a friend’s house who has a dog.  There will be signs!

 

Many Adults will not verbalise that they are scared of dogs in case of ridicule or mocking.  But it is a valid fear for all who suffer and should not be marginalised.

This is a rarely talked about condition.  Some people are scared of all dogs but some people are scared of specific breeds or a type of dogs.  For example, bully breeds have got a name for themselves over the years for being aggressive, Alsatians, large dogs, and Dogs with strong facial features!  My child had a fear of dogs such as Boxers, French bulldogs, Pugs etc.. any dog with a flattened face, regardless of their size.

Cynophobia can be explained and sometimes it can’t! For example, A person who has had a traumatic experience in the past that has been confronted by an aggressive dog, an over playful one or even bitten may develop the fear.  Some people develop cynophobia from a young age from inheriting it from a family member or friend, and some may have seen movies or heard stories that have caused this issue and some have no explanation at all they are just plain scared!   

 

What Can You Do?

So next time you are with someone who is afraid of a dog tell them is OK and if you are someone who is scared of dogs speak freely about this fear and then you are less likely to be put in a situation that you do not want to be in!  It is ok for people to say they are scared of spiders, snakes, sharks, flying, heights etc… so why not dogs! 

Let us all gain a better understanding and be more empathetic to those that do suffer to be able to create a more harmonised living between person and pooch!

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