Dogs and kids
Dog; bite; pet; safety; breed; tetanus; puppy; law; worms; fleas; vet ;
Contents
Children love their pets and most adults have had a pet during their childhood. Pets provide comfort, and teach children responsibility and care. Pets can help build children's self esteem and social skills. They can also help reduce stress. Having a pet gives families things to do together and things that help fitness such as taking the dog for a walk.
However it is important to think about the safety issues to make sure that having a pet is a positive experience both for your family and for the pet.
- Young children need to be supervised all the time when they are around dogs. They do not kow how to treat a dog, and may hurt it, or try to take away food, etc, provoking even a calm dog to bite.
- Bringing a baby into the house usually means less attention for the dog, which may react quite negatively.
Why have a dog?
- Owning a dog can have health benefits for the whole family.
- Dogs make close relationships with people and give and need affection and attention.
- Families who get the right kind of dog for their lifestyle and train it well can get many years of pleasure from it.
These 'Golden Rules' have been developed by the Dog and Cat Management Board of South Australia.
Never buy a dog on a whim.
Always socialise your dog with other dogs and people.
- Take your dog to puppy school or dog obedience school. It is very important for dogs, and particularly for puppies, to be socialised with other dogs and people.
- Remember - If your dog has completed an accredited training program, you will receive a discount on your dog registration fee!
Always supervise children with dogs.
- Their behaviour can be unpredictable, especially when left alone with a dog.
- Children should be calm and respectful to animals.
- Teach your child to interact appropriately with dogs and not to play-fight or play tug-of-war games with them.
- Put your dog out of the way when children are playing loud games and running around.
- Dogs can sometimes get overexcited or frightened if there is a lot of noise or if other children are visiting.
Always teach your dog how to behave with visitors.
- Teach your dog to sit before you allow visitors to stroke it.
- Allowing it to jump up may frighten or annoy some people, and children may feel very intimidated by the behaviour.
Always ask permission before you stroke a dog you do not know.
- Not all dogs like to be patted and cuddled!
- Ask the owner of the dog, and if it is OK, allow the dog to sniff the back of your hand first. If it is happy to be patted it will sniff your hand and move towards you. You can then stroke it under the chin, not on top of the head - some dogs may interpret this as threatening behaviour.
- If the dog backs away and does not sniff your hand it is telling you it does not want to be patted.
Always be consistent and constructive in your training and reward the desired behaviour.
- Do not lose your temper with any dog. It will become confused and it will not be easy for it to learn what you want to teach it.
Never let your dog demand attention by jumping, barking and pawing.
- Ignore any undesirable attention-seeking behaviour but reward all good behaviour.
- Call your dog to you and ask it to sit or perform another task before giving it your attention.
- If the dog scratches the door to come in, do not open it immediately. When the dog stops scratching, ask the dog to sit, open the door and then allow it inside.
Never feed your dog from the dinner table.
- Feeding your dog from the dinner table encourages it to beg for food, which is simply bad manners!
- Ask your dog to sit and stay on its bed while the family eats.
- When you feed your dog its meal, ask it to sit first. Good manners for dogs!
Always let a dog eat its meal in peace.
- Do not go near any dog when it is eating its meal or chewing a bone, especially if you do not know the dog.
- If you approach it, the dog may BITE YOU!
- Children, especially young and small children, spend a lot of time with family dogs and are most likely to be bitten.
- Young children are often bitten at home by the family dog, while older children and adults are more likely to be bitten by strange dogs in public places.
- Young children are often bitten around the head, face and neck because of their small size.
- Dog bites can lead to permanent scarring and can become infected.
Lessening the risk of bites
Sleeping dogs
- Do not disturb a dog that is sleeping. If you need to wake it up, call from a distance first.
Feeding dogs
- Teach children not to touch dogs when they are feeding.
- If you have your dog from when it is a puppy you can teach it to be safe around food by putting your hand on the food dish while the puppy is feeding.
- If the puppy is happy and does not show aggression take the food away and give the puppy a pat.
- Then give it back the food.
- Keep this kind of training up all your dog's life, especially if it is to be around children.
Approaching a dog.
- Dogs don't communicate in the same way as people do. Looking into another person's eyes and holding out your hand to shake are good communication tactics for people, but dogs can see them as a threat, so dogs need to be treated differently.
- Ask the owner's permission before you approach a dog.
- Approach the dog from the side, not the front or back.
- Slowly hold out the back of your hand and let the dog sniff your hand. Then you might tickle it under the chin or the side of the chest.
- Do not pat dogs on the top of the head or shoulders.
- An open palm facing the dog might cause a dog to be aggressive.
- If the dog does not sniff or backs away, don't try to pat it.
- Do not let young children annoy or tease dogs.
Teaching children about dogs
- Always supervise young children around dogs.
- Teach your children to ask the owner before going near a dog.
- Talk to children as you handle your dog and explain what you are doing.
- Teach them what parts of the dog they may touch.
- When children are young hold their hands and guide them so they learn to touch the animals gently until they learn how to do it. Show them how to pat a dog in this way while someone else holds the dog. Reward the dog and the child when they do well.
- Teach them to look at the dog's feet, not its eyes, until it gets to know them.
- Teach them not to run and squeal around strange dogs as it may frighten the dog.
- If a strange dog comes up, teach your children to stand still like a statue with their arms by their sides. The dog will probably sniff the child and then walk away. Make sure they do not look the dog in the eye.
- You will need to go through this with young children many times before they get it all right.
Dog language
When a dog wags its tail it is happy.
Signals to leave the dog alone are when it:
- lifts its lips
- growls
- backs off
- raises the hair on its back.
Choosing the right breed
It is important to choose the kind of dog that is right for you and your family. If you are in doubt ask your vet or the Petcare Information Advisory Service (see resources) for advice.
Think about:
- how active you want the dog to be - do you have a big yard for it to run in and people with time to take it for walks every day?
- will it be around children?
- how much grooming it might need - has it long hair or short?
- how much it will cost to feed
- what is the size that you can manage best - it is easier to manage a small dog
- how much time the dog would be by itself
- who will be doing the caring and feeding
- what training will be needed - if you get a puppy you will need to train it.
Remember all dogs can bite, even small ones, but small ones are likely to do less damage.
Getting a new dog
- If you have children try to choose a puppy that has already been around children.
- Older dogs should not be around children until you find out how the dog reacts to children.
- Before the dog comes, teach your children about dog safety.
- Encourage children to help look after the dog depending on their age, eg feed, water, brush and take for walks.
- Older children and teenagers can help with dog obedience training.
Having a new baby
- If you have a dog and then have a baby you may have a lot less time for the dog than before.
- Make the changes to the dog's routine slowly, before the baby is born. Make sure that the dog has been around children and is safe with children.
- Practice handling the dog in the way a child might, eg gently pull ears, tail or paws and reward the dog if it accepts this.
- Teach it how to gently accept food from a hand.
- If you reward the dog with food when the baby is near the dog is likely to feel positive about the baby. If you shout at the dog or lock it outside it is more likely to have negative feelings.
- Bring some things home with the baby's smell on them before the baby comes home from hospital.
- Always supervise the dog when it is near a baby or young child. Put a barrier across the door to the baby's room so the dog cannot go in when you are not there.
For more information about dogs and babies have a look at 'We are family' on the Good dogSA.com site
http://www.gooddogsa.com/goodowner/we-are-family
- Visitors, especially children, may be quite anxious around dogs, and may not know how to safely approach a dog. Or they may move too quickly towards the dog, and want to play before the dog has had a chance to assess the situation.
- Dogs may also get quite anxious if a visitor seems to be threatening a member of the family (such as if a baby cries while a visitor is present).
- Anxious dogs may react with threatening behaviour, even biting.
It would be wise to separate the dog and the visitor if either is anxious about being together.
Training your dog
- Training is about teaching dogs good manners, eg not to jump up on people.
- All dogs should be taught basic lessons to keep them and other people safe, such as "come", "stay", "sit" and "drop".
- They can also be trained not to react if someone touches their food and to walk safely on a lead.
- Teach your children the same commands that you use with the dog.
- Dog obedience classes can help you with training. In Australia your local Council should know about these.
The law
- Different areas have different laws about dog control.
- In most places in Australia you need to register your dog by 6 months of age. It may be cheaper to register a de-sexed dog and there may be discounts for people on pensions or benefits. If you don't register your dog you may be fined.
- In some places dogs have to be on a lead when they are not on your property. Some places have special areas where you can take dogs so they can run without a lead.
- There may be laws that mean you must pick up any poo that your dog does in a public place. It is a good idea to carry a plastic bag for this.
- It is usually against the law for your dog to stray onto someone else's property, get out of your property without supervision, attack or worry any animal or person, or bark too much.
- You may have to pay for any damage your dog does.
Health issues
- It is easy for puppies that are not toilet trained to pass on infections to young children. Teach your children to wash their hands after playing with animals, especially before eating.
- Your puppy needs to be immunised against distemper, parvovirus and hepatitis every year. [Children cannot catch these diseases from dogs].
- Puppies and dogs should also be regularly treated for worms. Ask your vet about this. Children can pick up worm eggs from dogs.
- Flea bites can cause skin irritation on dogs and on humans. Fleas can also carry the eggs of tape worms which affect dogs but not humans. Keep your dog's bedding clean, and use flea control if you need to. When you treat your dog for fleas, also wash bedding and vacuum carpets (the flea eggs can survive in carpets and bedding for weeks and sometimes months).
- Hot Weather -
the inside of a car can get very hot quickly even when the day is not so hot. Never leave children or dogs alone in cars on warm days. They can get dehydrated and even die. Leaving the window down a bit will not stop this happening.
If a child is bitten
- Bites and scratches from dogs (or cats) should be taken seriously, because these animals have bacteria (germs) on their teeth and claws. Wounds can become infected.
- Always wash the bitten or scratched area thoroughly with soap and water or antiseptic.
- Get a doctor's opinion if the wound is large or shows signs of infection, eg becomes very red or swollen or there is pus.
- Tetanus bacteria can grow in a dog bite. If your child's or your own tetanus immunisations are not up to date, now is a good time to have that immunisation. At the same time have any other immunisations that are due.
Resources
South Australia
General
- Your local vet.
- Your local council.
- Dog breeders' associations.
- Petnet: Select-a-Pet Promoting socially responsible pet ownership
http://www.petnet.com.au/
Dog and Cat Management Board (SA) 'Golden rules for dog owners'
Kreisfeld R, Harrison J 'Dog related injuries' National Injury Surveillance Unit
http://www.nisu.flinders.edu.au/pubs/reports/2005/injcat75.pdf
The Safety Centre. Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia. Dogs 'n' kids: a Resource kit for maternal and child health nurses promoting responsible dog ownership and dog bite prevention. 1997 (Revised 2001).
'You've got what?' Public and Environmental Health, Department of Health (South Australian Government.
http://www.dh.sa.gov.au/pehs/youve-got-what.htm
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ‘Healthy pets, healthy people - diseases from dogs’
http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/animals/dogs.htm
The information on this site should not be used as an alternative to professional care. If you have a particular problem, see a doctor, or ring the Parent Helpline on 1300 364 100 (local call cost from anywhere in South Australia).
This topic may use 'he' and 'she' in turn - please change to suit your
child's sex.