My child loves dogs. What to teach?

[Anonymous]

My child absolutely loves dogs. I never had one and know very little about them, but have tried to teach her what I know. She knows never to approach on one her own or to chase one. If one is walking by she knows to always ask the human if she can say hello before getting close and offering a hand to sniff. Generally neighbors are happy to do this and have complimented her for asking and staying really calm. I typically only let her ask neighbors we see a lot and generally are open to stopping and chatting. Another neighbor offered to let her play with their small dogs in their fenced backyard if I wanted to come by for coffee.

What else should we know before spending more time with dogs?

[Anonymous]

Don’t pull their tail. Learn their play growl vs their warning growl.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t pull their tail. Learn their play growl vs their warning growl.

Knew about the tail. How do you distinguish the growls?

[Anonymous]

Leave them alone if they’re eating or chewing on a bone/toy. Even the sweetest dogs can get weird or aggressive around their food.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t pull their tail. Learn their play growl vs their warning growl.

Knew about the tail. How do you distinguish the growls?

You can’t. A child should treat any growl from someone else’s dog as a serious warning. If it’s your own dog you might know the difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Leave them alone if they’re eating or chewing on a bone/toy. Even the sweetest dogs can get weird or aggressive around their food.

^THIS

If a neighbor lets your dd give their dog a treat and he bites in half and some of it falls on the ground, your dd should not try to pick up the fallen piece to feed to the dog. That’s a good way to get bitten.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t pull their tail. Learn their play growl vs their warning growl.

A growl is a growl and there is no point in distinguishing between them!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Leave them alone if they’re eating or chewing on a bone/toy. Even the sweetest dogs can get weird or aggressive around their food.

^THIS

If a neighbor lets your dd give their dog a treat and he bites in half and some of it falls on the ground, your dd should not try to pick up the fallen piece to feed to the dog. That’s a good way to get bitten.

Thanks, I appreciate the reminder about food in general and also the specificity about this example. A dropped treat is the kind of situation that I wouldn't have thought of to mention.

[Anonymous]

Don’t hang on them or hug them around the neck. Especially for bigger dogs who are about the same size as kids.

[Anonymous]

Don't pick them up.
Don't get to close if on a bike or scooter--a lot of otherwise friendly dogs can be scared or wary of those

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t pull their tail. Learn their play growl vs their warning growl.

A growl is a growl and there is no point in distinguishing between them!

There is definitely a point in learning to distinguish, but it is good advice to take any growl seriously until you've had enough experience to know how to tell.

Some places offer child safety classes/dog bite prevention classes. https://www.google.com/search?q=child+safety+pet+classes&oq=child+safety+pet+classes&aqs=chrome..69i57j33i160.2828j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Check and see if that's available where you live. And, just, that's awesome your kid loves dogs so much. I was that kid and now I work in animal welfare - and am just as obsessed with dogs as I ever was. There are some wonderful kids camps held at animal shelters you might look into, once your kid is old enough.

[Anonymous]

There’s a YouTube channel called “thefamilydog” that has really good videos with songs on how kids can interact with dogs. Another amazing resource is Family Paws.

[Anonymous]

Any growl, leave them alone.

[Anonymous]

(My parents had a farm where they trained dogs.)

Even for friendly dogs, the Pat-Pet-Pause method is a good idea. Pat your knee and invite the dog to come to you (if it doesn't come to you, don't proceed), pet the dog, and then pause after 3 seconds to give the dog a break and see how the dog reacts.

And yes to never disturbing a dog who is around food.

[Anonymous]

Only pet between collar and tail. A lot of dogs get nervous with head pats. Don’t ever try and take something from a dog’s mouth (tennis ball, stick, etc.), whether they should have it or not. I’m always amazed at the people (kids and adults) who try to grab sticks. DC should be calm during interaction. Some dogs are scared by little kids’ sudden movements.