A video that looks at both sides of dog bites

[Soubriquet]

Please do watch this. And if you have children, teach them how to read the signs of a dog who doesn’t want to be messed around with.

As an adult, learn the signs yourself and intervene as soon as you spot the dog starting to show signs

And never leave a dog and child alone together

link

But they should point out to me if her behaviour isn't appropriate

Not appropriate for their dog - some dogs are happy with things others aren't

So the video appears to be targetting at families whose children regularly come into contact with a dog (own one or have friends who own one).

It's not trying to protect against random dogs running up in the street, or off lead dogs in the park. This isn't a video for those who just want all dogs to leave them alone.

It's trying to reach families who think it's cute when their child hugs their pet dog but never considers if the dog wants to be hugged or not. It's also saying those dogs who do not want to be hugged will probably tolerate it for a long time, constantly giving signals that are unhappy until eventually they realise the normal signals are not working and use something else instead. That same family will then rehome or pts because the dog bit their child without ever realising there could have been simple ways to prevent it.

I cannot see a single harm coming from teaching children who live with dogs - or who have regular contact with them through friends - how to interact safely. For those children too young to learn, they should not be interacting with any dog (not even the family pet) at all without close and active adult supervision.

I see photo like the ones posted in the video all the time, including once when someone posted a photo of a dog that was clearly VERY unhappy about being hugged by a toddler, describing their relationship as "magical". When pointed to the distressed body language they told everyone to f* off. They just could not see that their dog did not like the toddler hugging it.

I CAN remove things from my dogs without them getting aggressive. I just don’t do it unless I really need to.

This is a good example of a dog being uncomfortable about being hugged.

His body language is tense, he is avoiding looking at the child and he’s licking his lips which shows his anxiety.

This is when an adult should step in and say, leave the dog alone. He doesn’t want to be cuddled right now

I am saying is that our friend with dogs take responsibility for ensuring DD doesn't hassle them or bother them and I would expect that from other dog owners

Surely it's your responsibility as her parent to keep her under control and to stop her from running over to dogs and hassling them?

I would be really unimpressed if someone let their child harass my dog.

No one can control their dog 100% of the time in all situations.

No one can control their child 100% of the time in all situations.

So we socialise and train dogs to accept children, to not panic because of loud noises, to drop food when we want to take it, to have bite inhibition, to recall, etc.

So we train DCs not to approach dogs they do not know, to read dog body language, to not disturb dogs that are eating or sleeping, etc.

Then when either the DC or the dog makes a mistake the other one picks up the slack and we don’t end up with a bite.

Of course there are still some dogs which will bite regardless but if we can avoid most bites why not do so?

adaline I agree, I'm just not articulating myself well

Absolutely astonished at some of the posts on here from parents who think their snot-nosed brats are entitled to pester other living creatures with no consequences.

Only on Mumsnet would people take offence at a video aimed at protecting children.