May 20-26th marks National Dog Bite Prevention Week, to help educate the public about the nearly 5 million dog bites that happen every year. The event is hosted by the American Veterinary Medical Association in conjunction with other groups that commonly deal with the consequences: postal service workers, pediatricians, plastic surgeons, and insurance carriers.
A few facts from the AVMA that you may or may not know:
- 800,000 Americans seek medical attention for dog bites every year
- Of those, about half are children
- The age most at risk are children age 5-9
- Senior citizens are the second most commonly affected group
The tragedies keep on coming: a one year old killed at his birthday party in Las Vegas, a three day old infant killed while left unattended in a swing. According to the AVMA, “most dog bites affecting young children occur during everyday activities and while interacting with familiar dogs.” Many if not most of these are preventable.
I encourage everyone to check out the AVMA bulletin about Dog Bite Prevention Week as it has great tips and resources for people. The script is nearly always the same: “He’s never shown aggression before!” the owner will say, but if you happened to be a fly on the wall before the incident I’m willing to bet that 99% of the time there were multiple warning signs and red flags that the owner just didn’t recognize, and that is where we are failing ourselves, our pets, and our children.
Here are my three top tips for preventing bites:
1. Learn to recognize canine body language.
- (c) Graphic created by http://dfdk9.wordpress.com/
This is so simple to do, but it’s amazing to me how many people think a dog who is showing anxious or frightened body language ‘just needs a hug’ as they loom over them trying to croon with their face two inches away from the dog. Ask your vet how many times they have been seriously bitten by a dog, despite all that we have to do to sick and frightened dogs. The answer is probably pretty low, because we are trained to recognize the warning signs and avoid the risk.
2. Never, never, never, ever leave a small child unattended with a dog.
Did I say never enough times? Babies have been killed by Pomeranians. I don’t care if you have an ancient toothless pug, the world’s sweetest Golden, or a dachshund in a wheelcart. Just don’t do it. While it is entirely possible and probably quite likely that your dog will not kill a baby while you go to the bathroom, just keep in mind that every one of those children who died had parents who said the exact same thing.
3. Teach kids proper respect for dogs.
Obviously this starts with your own kids. It’s something I have to remind my own kids of constantly, because they are very comfortable interacting with and handling our two large dogs. Young kids have short memories. We review the rules every time we meet a new dog.
- They must always ask owners, always always, before approaching a dog they don’t know.
- They must let the dog come to them.
- If the dog doesn’t seem interested, they must leave him alone. If he or she is ok with it, they pet the dog on the chest or back.
I LOVE these dog safety coloring sheets, by the way. I’ve given them out at the kids’ preschool and they are always a success.
And by the way, you have my permission as a veterinarian to correct children if they are not approaching your dog properly. I know people sometimes get sore about this stuff, but who cares. I stop kids who run up to Brody and grab him in a bear hug, and I get the occasional eye rolls and the “he seems fine with it”- which he is- but they don’t know that. Better that they learn from me and from Brody than from the next dog they come across who is not ok with the attention.
What are your most important tips to prevent dog bites?
Recognizing body language is awesome but that graphic is horrible. For instance, a dog who raises his paw is not excited usually. A raised paw often means the dog is stressed. Dominant and submissive are not body postures or even something to really consider when you look at dogs and their emotional state. The myths surrounding those have been disproved. A dog on his back might just want a belly rub. A dog with his tail up like that is probably confident and alert. This one is WAY better: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lilita/5652847156/sizes/l/in/photostream/
Thanks for the link Michelle. Lili did an amazing job with that.
My dog is fine with everyone, but I always insist that children ask me before touching him, for the sake of their education.
I say (in a louder voice, if parents are near) “Remember — ALWAYS ask before you touch someone else’s dog!”
And then, after they ask, I say “He would like a gentle pat.”
If, by chance, the kid asks me before I need to remind, I tell the kid “Good for you, for remembering to ask!”
I tell people with dogs that my dog would like to sniff, but will NOT like to be jumped on, as well.
It’s MY job to protect him. From kids, from bouncy young dogs (or any dog that is acting weird)……………
My job to protect him, and to educate people……..
We lost our “big” dog (21″ at the withers) to cancer when my daughter was two. Shortly after that we went to a conformation dog show. We asked everyone if we could touch their dog. Everyone (but the poodle people) said yes. Most fun was the Irish Wolfhound guy. He said “PLEASE!!!! PLEASE touch my dogs!!!!!” 🙂 I guess there aren’t that many random two-year-olds available to help socialize wolfhounds. 🙂
I’ve met so few Irish Wolfhounds (hi Finnegan!) and they are SO MASSIVE. And so awesome.
just can say, nice tips..
😀
Thanks so much for both charts. As the owner of a GSD I take very seriously my responsibility to help re-educate the general public about supposed “vicious dogs” vs supposed “non-vicious” dogs. Any dog can bite, especially as you said when injured, hurt or frightened.
I going to print those sheets out for my kids pre-school! thanks! My beloved was a protective sight hound. Once he was your friend he was a friend for life but he had to meet you. I remember several times kids just “running” up and he fortunately didn’t bite but “almost”; I teach my 5 y/o all those things. Another thing to add is not to run up to the pet/owner even if they plan on stopping before to ask. It makes many dogs nervous and then they have to settle down. I forgot about not patting on head…. I’ll remember that. I also have remind my child to not pull back her hand with the sniffing. That made my dog really nervous if he couldn’t see hands and if someone suddenly started acting scared.
And you bring up a good point- out of all those points “ASK THE OWNER” is the number one, I think, because they know their pet better than anyone. Maybe an arthritic pet doesn’t like the hips being touched, or a deaf dog might prefer a pet on the head to one on the back… always ask.
I have to disagree with “Anonymous” (the first commenter here) on this graphic being “horrible”. They’re obviously looking at individual parts of the dog’s body and not at the whole dog – which is a really common mistake people make. I frequently hear, “Oh, he just wants to play. See, his tail is wagging!” when their aggressive dogs loom over another dog, tail waving like a flag. It’s important to look at the WHOLE dog, not just a portion.
The German Shepherd with the raised paw? About to pounce toward another dog. A very different body position from an anxious or uncertain dog with a raised paw. The dog laying on its back, “submissive”? Tail tucked, paws tucked in. Definitely not rolling over for a belly rub. The dog with its tail up, leaned forward, making itself really tall? Posturing over another dog, not “confident and alert”.
Just some thoughts. I think both charts are really nice. The ones with the silhouettes breaks down fewer behaviors and categorizes them in progression in a way, from neutral to a variety of extremes, like very excited or very submissive. The other chart includes more behaviors but doesn’t seem to have a lot of dog-dog body language in it, like posturing or offering the tummy like the one above does.
Great tips for preventing dog bites