To think learning how to behave around dogs should be part of the national curriculum

[Itsadogsworld]

I think schools should teach children how to behave around dogs, canine body language and so on. I think it would significantly reduce the number of children that end up in A&E each year due to dogs bites. I’ve seen some dreadful behaviour in my local park where children will run up to my dog and one child was continually trying to bear hug her own dog. Children clearly aren’t being taught this at home so I think they should include it in schools. I welcome your thoughts on this.

YANBU OP

Of course it would be great if parents were able / inclined to teach their children how to behave around dogs but clearly not all are.

For the environment we should be owning less dogs, and having less kids come to that. But cats dogs etc are all breathing and crapping.

Omg
Sorry
But I've read it all now
Do you know how much teaching has to be fitted into a school day .....no way is their time for this

It should be taught by the parents but let's be real some parents are useless. I once watched a young man telling his toddler that if a dog looks at you to stare it out and not look away before it does, otherwise the dog will think it's dominant.

I do teach my kids how to be safe around dogs (not that I need to bother as they don’t approach any dogs after my son was knocked over and scratched up by an excited off lead staffing) and I think it’s only sensible for parents to teach children things like this to keep them safe, as they do road safety.

However I do find it funny that people who choose not to have pets have to adapt their lives for others who choose to have pets. I have to teach my child how to act because someone else chooses to have a dog and allow them off lead in the park. I have to pick up cat poo from my garden because multiple other people choose to have cats….etc.

Obviously if I was a dog owner I’d probably see the other side, but my personal experience from a no dog owning family is that dogs approach us and cause issues for us (poo on the street near school, being allowed to wee on my child’s bike).

@Yusanaim

For the environment we should be owning less dogs, and having less kids come to that. But cats dogs etc are all breathing and crapping.

Whereas children don't do either 🙄🙄

@Yusanaim does have a point. An average sized dog (think labrador) does has a carbon footprint 2 times that of a 4x4 SUV. Ms Thunberg has two (dogs that is, not SUV's).

P.S. Parents should be teaching their kids how to behave around dogs, people, in public places, roads etc. If they do know know they should find out.

Dogs should be on the lead at 100% of times and muzzled in all public places. As simple as that.

@Iwonder08

Dogs should be on the lead at 100% of times and muzzled in all public places. As simple as that.

Thus showing that you have no understanding of dogs. This is how to create aggressive dogs.

If you kept a child on a a lead all the time and didn't let it interact with anything then it would get anxiety problems and wouldn't know how to interact with others. The same is true with dogs.

Dogs should be on the lead at 100% of times and muzzled in all public places. As simple as that

And this is why education about dogs is important, because some like this will pass there bias to their children.

It’s not always about children approaching strange dogs. Sometimes owners don’t understand when their dog is showing signs of being uncomfortable and even the most well trained dog has a breaking point. For example if dd wraps her arms tightly around our dog’s next the dog may show it’s not happy (by licking lips, avoiding eye contact, ears back, ect) but if we don’t know if f we don’t understand canine body language. If she continued with this behaviour then she is liable to be bitten and it would be my fault as the adult in charge.

Neck*

@PurpleOkapi What's so awful about a child giving their dog a bear hug, you ask?

Take a look at these two pictures (taken from google).

Are you able to identify which dog is enjoying their hug? Maybe both dogs are enjoying it? Maybe only one is? Maybe both dogs are hating the experience? How can you tell from their body language/facial expressions?

@Iwonder08

Dogs should be on the lead at 100% of times and muzzled in all public places. As simple as that.

Give over. It's not as simple as that at all.

[quote Schnauzersaremyheros]@PurpleOkapi What's so awful about a child giving their dog a bear hug, you ask?

Take a look at these two pictures (taken from google).

Are you able to identify which dog is enjoying their hug? Maybe both dogs are enjoying it? Maybe only one is? Maybe both dogs are hating the experience? How can you tell from their body language/facial expressions?[/quote]
Averted gaze, wide eyes, evasive and stiff body positioning. Neither are liking it.

I voted YANBU, but I think it should not be a separate subject, but part of general nature study/ early biology. Learning how to behave around animals in general - not only dogs - could be an important factor in both children's and animals' safety. However, it should not be used by pet owners as an excuse for not taking responsibility for their pets' behaviour.

@lazylinguist

Oh yes, let's just add that to the list of eleventy billion things MNers think schools should somehow be cramming into all that non-existent spare contact time they have!

FFS. Yes children should be taught how to behave around animals by their bloody parents.

This. Absolutely.

Schnauzersaremyheros

I would agree with OP, neither of those dogs are enjoying their hug.

Humans being oblivious to dogs signals is very common, you only have to observe how most people will pet a dog on its head. Anyone paying attention would observe that most dogs will subtly dip their head and blink when you reach a hand out to pet them on the head. They will tolerate it but they would rather you petted them elsewhere.

@stingofthebutterfly

I think owners need to train their dogs not the react to children being children.

Children being children... like children that are left to run feral in cafes, shops etc. Control your kids.

Why don’t we just hand kids over to “the school” at 5 years old and pick them up again at 18? FFS, how much do you expect school to do?

@iloveruby

YANBU OP

Of course it would be great if parents were able / inclined to teach their children how to behave around dogs but clearly not all are.

But schools cannot pick up the slack. That is also a blunt reality.

@Itsadogsworld

It’s not always about children approaching strange dogs. Sometimes owners don’t understand when their dog is showing signs of being uncomfortable and even the most well trained dog has a breaking point. For example if dd wraps her arms tightly around our dog’s next the dog may show it’s not happy (by licking lips, avoiding eye contact, ears back, ect) but if we don’t know if f we don’t understand canine body language. If she continued with this behaviour then she is liable to be bitten and it would be my fault as the adult in charge.

That's the difference though. Owners should absolutely know their dogs body language to avoid situations which could lead to the dog biting. Sadly too many irresponsible people owning dogs but have no idea about them.

I don't own a dog. Have never owned a dog. Unlikely to own a dog in the future. Am quite allergic to most dogs. I don't need to know about a dogs body language.

I taught my children (although my eldest didn't need much teaching as he had a phobia of dogs) to ask the owners permission if they wanted to approach a dog. And if no owner about (more common than it should be) not to approach it. Something my youngest has always stuck by.

But schools cannot pick up the slack. That is also a blunt reality

This.

There are lots of things that some parents are really crap at teaching their chicken, it cannot be the increasing responsibility of schools to sort it all out.

Dogs should always be on leads and if they might bite they should be muzzled.
DH was bitten last week. He doesn't like dogs and avoids them if possible, would never approach or touch a dog.
He was walking down a country lane when a small floppy eared dog (he has no idea of breeds) just ran up and bit him on the hand. Owner was some distance away but rushed up and apologised profusely.
His skin was broken in five places, bleeding profusely and he had to go to A&E for a tetanus jab (GP doesn't do them). He did nothing to provoke the animal.

@PurpleOkapi What's so awful about a child giving their dog a bear hug, you ask?

Take a look at these two pictures (taken from google).

Are you able to identify which dog is enjoying their hug? Maybe both dogs are enjoying it? Maybe only one is? Maybe both dogs are hating the experience? How can you tell from their body language/facial expressions?

But why do non dog owners need to know this shit, when it's only because dog owners choose to own dogs. It's not like we would have dogs running around otherwise & need to know🤷‍♀️

& from our experience it makes no odds anyway, a shit dog owner, brings up shit & unpredictable dogs, so no matter what you teach your kids, there is still a risk

I did bring DD up to respect boundaries full stop, be it a dog, cat or people, so she's never gone running to hug or grab a strange dog.

She has been bitten by her great aunts nasty & very spoilt little baby substitute as dog didn't like owner paying DD attention

She would also have had her face bitten badly by a random Jack Russell, that shot out from under a table to lunge snarling at her face, had I not rugby tackled her out of the way. Nobody saw that dog until it was almost too late

How exactly does learning dog body language or keeping kids away from strange dogs help there 🤷‍♀️... it doesn't