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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]When I was pregnant with our first, my husband and I took a course called "Dogs and Puppies, Play it Safe" to learn how to prevent dog bites from day 1.  Part of it is preventing the opportunity, and [b]part of it is training the young child how to interact with dogs so as to reduce the risk of getting bitten[/b].

Our daughter is 3, and she is very careful when interacting with our 85 lb shepherd--we don't think he'd bite since he's very sweet, but still, not taking any chances.

Husband works in pediatric ER and sees the results of bad dog bites from time to time--not anything we wanted to have on our hands.[/quote]

That's crazy. [b]You should not expect that a young child (a baby or toddler) can possibly learn how to interact with a dog without making mistakes.[/b]

The only way to not have a bitten child on your hands is to 1. just be lucky and have a very gentle dog or 2. not have a dog. PERIOD.[/quote]

Well, of course.  But that wasn't the intent of the class.  The class teacher emphasized making sure that your child is not "magnetized" to the dog--basically, she was saying that you shouldn't permit your baby/toddler/young child to get too comfortable with teasing the dog, rolling all over the dog, getting in the dog's face, etc.--basically, all the stuff that people think is so cute when they post dog/child videos on Youtube.  They also taught us how to recognize signs that the dog is uncomfortable, to try to prevent bites before they happen.  Too much to summarize here, but good stuff--especially for me as a first-time dog-owner (our dog was exactly 1 year old when our daughter was born, so still a high-energy puppy in many ways.

So our 3yo knows not to stare lovingly in the dog's eyes, not to jump/yell/speak in a high-pitched voice while close to the dog (our dog gets uncomfortable with this), not to pull his tail, hit him, etc.--and we give her constant feedback so she knows what's okay and what's not with the dog.  Less fun photo opps, but that's fine.

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