When Teaching Children About the Animal Kingdom, Don’t Forget the Family Pet

With dog bites and the question of banning certain breeds making so many headlines today, let’s look at a statistic covering the past decade. While the number of pet dogs in the U.S. has risen just two percent over the last ten years, the incidents of bites by pets have increased by thirty three percent. With over one half of these occurrences happening to children, dog bites are the second most common cause of hospital visits for young people.

The best way to reduce these unfortunate incidents is avoiding hazardous situations. Be sure to teach children early in their life how to touch, pet and play with dogs, both the family pet and strange dogs. The first rule to follow is to always be cautious on the dog’s home turf, and with its possessions. Avoid letting children in the space around the pet’s dishes, feeding dishes and favorite toys, or at the very least, these belongings should be put away whenever a child is around. With strange animals, children should be taught to always ask permission of the owner to approach before making a move toward an animal that is unfamiliar to them. Total strangers, or people unknown to the dog, are very rarely involved in serious attacks, most likely because strangers do not take the same liberties with the animal, and are not as likely to ignore the warnings, such as growls, barks and raised hackles.

While breeds such as pit bulls and Dobermans garner much of the ‘vicious breed’ headlines, the fact is that any dog, whether a purebred of mutt, big or small, is capable of causing painful damage. In one tragic case, an eight pound Pomeranian killed a six-week-old baby, proving that not only are the large, ferocious dogs the only ones that need to be watched. The safest way to prevent, or at least lower the risk of, dog related injuries to children, is through education of children and adults alike. Teach children from an early age that they should always leave a situation in which they find themselves alone with a dog, while all grown-ups need to realize that if an adult can’t be in the same room at the same time, then kids and dogs must be apart. It’s that simple.

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