Take the Bite out of Dog Bites

By: DogSmith, Palm Beach & Martin County

Jupiter- May 3rd 2011

The DogSmith Dog Training Franchise and Pampered Paws Pet Resort & Spa join together to support National Dog Bite Prevention Week with Free Dog Behavior Consultations and Puppy Socialization Classes Throughout the Month.

During the third week in May, Doggone Safe Inc., The DogSmith and Pampered Paws Pet Resort & Spa will be calling attention to one of the nation’s most commonly reported public health problems: dog bites.  Half of all children will be bitten by a dog by age 12 and the majority of these bites are by the family dog or other dog known to the child.

Doggone Safe, a non-profit organization dedicated to dog bite prevention through education offers free information at its website www.doggonesafe.com to help promote safety messages during ‘dog bite prevention week.’  Doggone Safe also promotes the “Doggone Safe Be a Tree” children’s program.  This program, for school age children, is a short presentation with large photos and many activities to teach children to understand the signs dogs send with their body language.  The central message of this program is “Be a Tree.”  That is, stand still if a strange dog approaches or any dog is threatening or overly frisky.  Children learn to be doggie detectives, looking for the clues that dogs give with body language to show how they are feeling.  Pampered Paws Pet Resort & Spa offers the Doggone Safe program to local schools as a public service.

The DogSmith, a national dog training and pet care franchise, believes almost all dog bites are preventable if dogs are properly trained, socialized and cared for and if children are taught how to behave and act around dogs.  To support Doggone Safe and the National Dog Bite Prevention Week, The DogSmith offers free puppy socialization classes for families and their puppies to help dogs start out on the right paw.

Doggone Safe, Pampered Paws Pet Resort & Spa and The DogSmith offer the following tips for parents and dog owners to help keep kids safe:

The 3 Most Important Things to Teach Your Kids:

1. Dogs Don’t Like Hugs and Kisses – Teach your kids not to hug or kiss a dog on the face.  Hugging the family dog or face-to-face contact are common causes of bites to the face.  Instead, teach kids to scratch the dog on the chest or the side of the neck.
2. Be a Tree if a Strange Dog Approaches – Teach kids to stand still, like a tree.  Trees are boring and the dog will eventually go away.  This works for strange dogs and anytime the family dog gets too frisky or becomes aggressive.
3. Never Tease a Dog – and never disturb a dog that is sleeping, eating or protecting something.

The 2 Most Important Things Parents Can Do

1. Supervise – Don’t assume your dog is good with kids.  If a toddler must interact with your dog, you should have your hands on the dog too.  Even if your dog is great with kids and has never bitten – why take a chance?
2. Train the dog – Take your dog to obedience classes where positive-reinforcement is used.  Never pin, shake, choke, hold the dog down or roll the dog over to teach it a lesson.  Dogs treated this way are likely to turn their aggression on weaker family members.  Involve older children in training the family dog while supervising.  Don’t allow children to punish the dog.  Condition the dog to enjoy the presence and actions of children using positive experiences.