Hey Woofa’s,

While I don’t have any children of my own, it pains me when I hear a story either via other people or in the news that a dog has mauled a child!!!

It’s gut wrenching!

I always wonder though HOW the hell that situation came about in the first place?

If there’s kids and dogs where are the adults watching said kids and dogs??

A recent story in the news was that a 5 week old baby was mauled/killed by two Rottweilers!!!!!  Apparently, the baby was in a bouncer on the floor with the dogs walking around!!!

Now, obviously I wasn’t there and it’s easy to see things from the outside looking in.

HOWEVER, no matter how gentle those dogs were, there’s no way I’d have a new born on the floor in a bouncer with ANY dog walking around!

I want to know, why the adults in the room thought it was fine to have a baby on ground level with the dogs?  Why weren’t the dogs put outside and why wasn’t the baby up high so the dogs didn’t have access to it?

Couldn’t someone read the body language of the dogs who were near the baby?

Horrifically the baby died, and the dogs got put to sleep……………..all because the adults in the room weren’t that aware!

I just don’t understand these situations!

 

My Experience!

We had a situation once where we had friends over who had a 5 year old boy.

He has 2 dogs of his own so he appeared fine around Billy.

However, I knew Billy hadn’t had a lot of exposure to kids so I was watching both him and the boy.

We were sitting around and Billy always sits with me, no problems.

Billy also had his ball in his mouth, either ready to play or for anxiety reasons.  In this case it was a bit of both.

I knew he wasn’t too sure of this little person.

Anyway the little boy wanted to pat Billy so I guided him around and he was patting Billy on the top of his head.

Out of nowhere, the little boy did a big growl in Billy’s face!!!! OMFG!!

I moved the little boy away and brought Billy closer to me, his eyes were almost popping out of his head.

I said to the little boy, ‘You can’t do that to dogs, they don’t like it, it’s not a good thing to do to them!!!’

His parents gave him a bit of a ‘Don’t do that to Billy’ speech.  Then I heard, ‘Just because you do it to our dogs doesn’t mean you can do it to other dogs.’

I immediately thought, you shouldn’t be letting him do it to any dog!!!!!!

This was quite a few years ago and it’s always stayed with me.

And it’s why I’m asking – Have You Taught Your Child Dog Etiquette?

 

HAVE YOU TAUGHT YOUR CHILD DOG ETIQUETTE?

All I’m asking is that you teach your kids how to be with and around dogs!  Not just your own dog/s but other people’s dogs as well.

We were out walking Billy one day and this lovely little girl stepped onto the path and asked very politely if she could pat our dog please?

I was so proud of her and her parents.  We stopped and I crouched down so I was eye level with the little girl and I showed her where to pat Billy and she followed.

Billy was happy and so was the little girl.

I said to her father that she was very good in asking before she patted a strange dog.

It’s important that we teach our kids how to respect and play with dogs.

Kids and dogs can form great bonds, they’ve just got to learn to respect the dog.

I cringe every time I see or hear of a kid pulling a dog’s tail, or any part of the dog, their hair, their ears their legs etc, it’s not fun for the dog.

One day that dog is going to be older and sore and it’s not going to be as tolerant with these things being done and may snap for good reason.

Or parents letting their kids take away their dog’s food while they’re eating – NOT COOL!  A dog trusts you to feed it, why are you taking their food away?

I understand teaching dogs the ‘drop it’ command, but never taking a dog’s food bowl away once it’s been given.

Kids need to be taught this stuff and probably some adults.

 

THE BASICS OF DOG ETIQUETTE FOR YOUR KIDS!

 

1. Safe Zone – a safe zone for your dog means allowing it to go somewhere where it can have time alone.  It could be their kennel, your bed, or their bed somewhere in the house, but it’s away from kids/everyone.  Somewhere they can chill and sleep without being annoyed!   You also  have to get your kids to respect your dog’s peace time.

 

2. Food Safety –  I’m all for your kids giving treats and food to your dog when it’s safe for all.  As much as you have to teach your kids about dogs, you have to teach your dog to be gentle when accepting treats/food.   Do not allow your child to give your dog their bowl full of their food and then to take it away while your dog is eating.

It’s not cool for you to do this to your dog, and when your kid is bending down to take the bowl they are face to face with your dog!   Why you even need to do this is beyond me, so just don’t do it.

Teach your dog the ‘drop it’ command, so if they do have something in their mouth you want them to drop they will, BUT DO NOT TAKE THEIR FOOD BOWL AWAY ONCE YOU’VE GIVEN IT TO YOUR DOG.

AND don’t let your kid do it either.

Always be vigilant when there is food, kids and dogs all in the same area together.

 

3. Pulling on your Dog – As I said above, do not let your kid pull your dog’s tail!  Your dog’s tail is part of their spine, pulling it pulls on their spine.  Would you like someone pulling on your spine???

Nor do dogs like their ears pulled, their feet or legs being pulled or being patted really hard so much so that it’s a smack!

One day your dog is going to be sore and it may snap at your kid when this pulling behaviour occurs AND THE DOG ALWAYS gets the blame.

It’s NOT ALWAYS the dog’s fault!

Dogs are very tolerable so we may think they’re enjoying something when they’re actually not!!!

 

4. Riding Your Dog Like a Horse – DO NOT let your kids ride your dog, I don’t care how big it is, your dog’s back and legs are not equipped to take on the extra weight.

It hurts their spine and they are not horses.

 

5. Growling In Your Dog’s Face – Just don’t let them do it.  Your dogs or any dogs, do not let them do it.  For some dogs it could mean a fight, it could be threatening and they may react without thinking.

Then your kid has been bitten on the face and it’s your dog’s fault – no it’s actually not!!

 

6. Getting In Your Dog’s Face – some dogs are okay with licking their human’s face and getting in their humans face.  However, I always let the dog come up to me first.

Other dogs hate people or any other dog being in their face.  It’s invasive and they don’t like it.

Never force your face into a dogs face, or let your kids do it!

Kids are closer to our dogs faces than we are as adults because we’re taller.   So you don’t want any dog to have any reason to be snapping at their face.

 

7. Don’t interrupt a sleeping Dog – A customer of mine, her mum did this to her brother’s Bull Mastiff : (

This dog was a gorgeous gentle dog!

However he was sleeping one day and the mother thought he looked so cute so she crouched down and got in his sleeping face, he woke with a start and reacted by pinning her down on her back and biting her face!!!!  FFS!

A dog’s instinct is to go into fight mode when they feel threatened!!!

She had to have plastic surgery, and the dog sadly every so sadly got put to sleep!!!  To this day I’m still angry at the stupidity of that woman.

That dog’s life got cut short because she didn’t think.

So no do not interrupt a sleeping dog or let your kids do it.

 

8. Don’t let your kids annoy your Dog – Dogs are pretty tolerant and will take a lot.  However we need to respect when they’ve had enough and need to get away.

Sometimes though kids don’t read these signs so parents need to for them.

Dogs will try to run and hide away as an indication that they’ve had enough, or do little snaps in the air to let them know.

My friend’s son was annoying their Pitt Bull who was a great dog and greatly loved.  My friend kept telling her son (who was in his early teens) to stop annoying the dog but he kept doing it hour after hour until eventually the dog snapped at him as he bent to pick up something and take it off the dog.

The dog grazed his cheek with his tooth, it wasn’t a bite, he snapped the air as a warning but my friend’s son got in the way.

Even the Dr said if her dog meant harm by her son he’d have major serious injuries not just a graze.

So teach your kids that enough is enough and make sure they listen.

Let your dogs go to their safe zone and be at peace there.

 

9. Don’t let your kids draw on your dog – Some kids and parents may think this is funny but it’s not!  I’ve had to take months to try and get permanent marker out of a dog’s short hair and off it’s skin, it’s not fun.

 

10. Dressing up your dog – some dogs tolerate this more than others.  If your kids want to dress up your dog in dresses or tutus and your dog doesn’t like it, stop them from doing it.

Putting clothes on dogs means moving their legs around and putting things over their heads and covering their tails etc, it’s not normal for a dog.

Read your dog’s body language if they don’t like it don’t let your kids do it.

 

11. Ask before approaching someone else’s dog – As stated above it’s important that your kids know that not all dogs are like their own dog.

So it’s important to ask before approaching someone else’s dog.  Just because they look cute and you want to pat them doesn’t mean the dog want’s to be patted by you or your kid.

 

 

These should give you a place to start when it comes to teaching your child dog etiquette.

And an understanding WHY your child needs to learn dog etiquette, for the dogs sake and for their own.

 

WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN?

When it comes to dogs and kids a beautiful bond can be made.

However, it’s important to teach our kids Dog Etiquette because sometimes kids can’t read the dog’s body language and things can go wrong.

ALWAYS be aware when both dogs and kids are around.

 

IN THE COMMENTS BELOW – BILLY WOULD LIKE TO KNOW – HOW YOUR KIDS ARE WITH DOGS?