Dogs and Children: Safeguarding

Any dog can be pushed past its limit and eventually bite.

Imagine if I continually took your food, lay on top of you, pulled your ears, poked your butt, and hugged you when you were napping. One day at one point you are going to have enough. Now you might walk away to begin with. Next time you might shout; but eventually you may learn that the only way to alleviate yourself of this distress and keep hold of your valuable resources is to get physical and in a dog’s case that’s a bite.

Therefore it is vital we teach our children to be safe and respectful around dogs

RULES

Babies/ Children should be supervised around dogs at all times i.e. do not leave them on the floor together.
We should learn dogs’ stress signals and if we notice our dog doing things like yawning, scratching lip licking then we should listen that this might be a sign they are becoming stressed and so be moving ourselves and our child away to give them space so they do not have to escalate to bearing teeth and ultimately a bite.
If your dog is pushed to a point it’s having to bear teeth it’s saying back up now or I will have to bite but we should never push them there and you should get in contact if your dog has already reached a point where they feel they need to do that.
Children must NOT be around dogs whilst they eat.
Dogs should have a quiet space to be alone, eg their bed or pen or crate.
Children must NOT be getting in the dog’s quiet space.
Children must NOT be tugging dog’s ears, or tails or smothering them with hugs.
We should use management such as stair gates, pens and crates to help separate dogs and children and their toys and food and to help children respect a dog’s space.
For tips on introducing your new baby, click here:
You may also want to be aware of trigger stacking.

This poster may help you understand the dog’s language better.

Also when getting a new pup; talk to us about desensitising your dog to various triggers they may accidentally be exposed to around children.