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.

Ooh misogyny. Edgy.

Parents (and the community at large) need to take more responsibility for all aspects of children's education.
That includes life skills, reading, maths… and socialization.

Yep, same here.

The premise of this thread is a bit like looking at child road death statistics and saying we need to teach children to stay away from cars. I mean sure, it helps I suppose, but it’s a bit of a skewed perspective I think. The onus lies firmly with the human in charge of the potential danger ie car or dog.

"@Melsy88 I know my dog would not bite a child. But I still don't think it's fair for her to be tormented or chased by badly behaved children.
My own children have been taught how to respect animals. It's not that difficult to do."

You don't know that. You believe that your dog would not bite a child, but you can't 100% guarantee that if ill, hurt or scared your dog would not bite.

No, I can't in those circumstances. Which is why it's even more important for children to be taught not to torment dogs.

In an ideal world children would be taught stuff like this at home, i know some parents aren't able to educate their children for a variety or reasons, but many also just assume school should do everything. As an aside, I've not seen children approaching random dogs half as much as inept dog owners either being in places they shouldn't be or being unable to keep an eye/control their dogs.

I'm less concerned about children meeting dogs in the park - I'd agree there's more of an issue with uncontrolled loose dogs approaching other people in most parks - than with children who actually live with dogs and their feckless owners (i.e. their parents), or visit feckless owner-relative or friend's dogs.

I see so many terrifying videos of children crawling over dogs, lying in the dog's bed, pulling, poking, riding and god knows what else, while the dog tolerates it, but displays significant signs of distress. Teaching these children to recognise subtle signs of discomfort from the dog could save their lives. Their parents are ignorant - they seem to be too busy filming and cooing about how cute it all is - so they're not going to learn it from them.

If we could break through the ignorance around dog behaviour, and actually treat animals like animals (and, by that I do mean, treat them well, but as what they are), we could reduce the risk to children and improve canine welfare. It would be a win-win situation.

@Melsy88 it is a parents job to ensure that their children know how to behave around animals I agree. But ultimate responsibility over whether a dog bites sits with the owner. My daughter isn't comfortable around dogs she doesn't know and will actively stay away from them, moving to the other side of the pavement or going in a different direction in the park. On multiple occasions she's had dogs run up to her unwanted and jump at her when we're out on walks or at the park. Idiot owners yelling 'oh he's friendly' and laughing, or ineffectually calling the dogs name knowing it won't respond because they've failed to train it.

I grab them by the collar now and hold them still till the owner comes over and apologises for having an out of control dog, couldn't care less if it pisses off the dog or the owner I'm fed up of lazy entitled dog owners thinking it's ok to scare my child and have her covered in muddy paw prints because they can't be bothered to train their dog to heel and come when called.

That's insane! Kids should be taught by their parents or other adults about how to behave around dogs, and dog owners should train their animals to behave around other people.

I agree with you that dogs shouldn't be doing this! Totally.
All I am saying is that multiple times a week my dog (small, cute and fluffy) is grabbed at by children and/or encouraged by parents to stroke her without asking first. Luckily she is friendly but I can tell she doesn't always enjoy it and she never approaches children.
Time after time I ask parents not to let them handle her and I get ignored because they are focused on how cute their princess looks with the cute dog.
100% agree that something should be done about bad dog owners. But it doesn't have to be one or the other. We can also teach children how to respect animals.

I am quite clear on my position on this (albeit I can recognise my own bias!) but without saying that upfront, I've had a couple of situations fairly recently that I would be interested in people's thoughts on.

My toddler was walking about a metre away from me. Couple with a dog on a lead (lead maybe 2-3 metres? Quite long but not a retractable one) came from behind us and overtook. As they passed, the dog went to lick my daughter's face. Daughter was very upset, and I shouted "hey!" The response I got from the owner was that I should have had hold of my child so that I could physically stop the dog from licking her, if I didn't want that to happen.

Second scenario: a group of people standing by a fence watching something. A few had dogs, all on leads. I walked along the path nearby and one dog came up to me, sniffing etc. I said hello and stroked its head. The owner told me I shouldn't stroke a dog without asking first.

No, I think dog owners should learn how to control their mutts around children.

My toddler was walking about a metre away from me. Couple with a dog on a lead (lead maybe 2-3 metres? Quite long but not a retractable one) came from behind us and overtook. As they passed, the dog went to lick my daughter's face. Daughter was very upset, and I shouted "hey!" The response I got from the owner was that I should have had hold of my child so that I could physically stop the dog from licking her, if I didn't want that to happen.

^No, they should’ve held the dog on a shorter lead/retracted it to prevent any licking taking place.

Second scenario: a group of people standing by a fence watching something. A few had dogs, all on leads. I walked along the path nearby and one dog came up to me, sniffing etc. I said hello and stroked its head. The owner told me I shouldn't stroke a dog without asking first.

Then dog should’ve been kept on a lead. Should be on a lead anyway…

People need to keep their dogs under control in parks where children are playing. I see dogs off leads and running round in our local one far too often. It's a small town centre one with some play equipment and a football field not a big country park type place with plenty of room. Parents should obviously not let their kids bother strange dogs but it's ultimately on owners to control their dog in public or leave it at home.

Parents need to control their kids or teach them how to behave around animals. I had to physically pull a child off my dog last week and drag her back to her mother who didn't even seem to realise she'd gone and just tittered and said 'sorry, she's autistic.' I don't care if she's the bloody pope! Keep her under control. She could have been badly hurt. It's just luck that my dogs are well trained and soft as shit. If they hadn't been, who knows what could have happened.

She just wandered up and started grabbing their ears and trying to push them together. They're labs with lovely silky ears so I guess she liked the feel but was far too rough with them. Totally ignored me when told twice to stop, dog2 was trying to get away from her so in the end I just grabbed her wrists and pulled her back over to her mother. I mean, they're friendly dogs but come on! No animal should be expected to tolerate that.

If toddlers and children are approaching and touching dogs its due in no small part to the owners who minimise the danger dogs represent and brush off their poorly trained dogs behaviour as friendly or benign.

I suspect children who do this are largely from dogs=people owners.

So this is mostly a problem that originates in dog owners and hence needs to be sorted by dog owners.

Either dogs are potentially a danger, in which case take some responsibility for their behaviour, or they are not and accept people will treat them as such. You cannot have it both ways.

That's a strong if btw. Seen no evidence of these supposed out of control toddlers. Plenty of out of control dogs though.

😂😂 oh dear god. This logic HAS to be a joke. Surely 😅🤦🏻‍♀️

Looking at your posts it is very clear that you are part of the problem.

In what way am I the problem?

Why is that schools job? That's a parenting issue x

I tend to assume that those who blame badly behaved children on random dog owners are the type to blame everyone else for what their kids do.

I’ve seen quite a few kids pulling at, climbing on, or trying to bear hug “cute” dogs. Quite often the idiot parents are filming it or taking pictures whilst the dog owner is trying to get the dog away. It’s not all one-sided and each needs to have control over their own. The law is on the parents’ side but wouldn’t you rather have a safe child than be ‘right’?

Interesting! If you apply the logic of the silly couple in the first scenario to what happened in the second, the dog in the second scenario should have been kept under close enough control to prevent anyone stroking its head! Of course the first couple were wrong though. I think some of these dog owners essentially want children to be on short leads but don’t want to go as far as actually saying that….

I agree, I was livid with the first owner, just a bit bemused by the second tbh. The dog was on a lead but long enough to approach people on the path, and they didn't stop it coming over to me, so I gave it a quick head stroke as I passed.

The reason I asked though is that I spoke about these two situations with dog owners and non-dog owners, and the dog owners all seemed to take the attitude of "well they were on leads, what more do you want?" which to me is selfish and ridiculous. There's a lot more to keeping a dog under control than simply attaching a lead.

I will definitely teach my child how to behave around dogs.

I think dog owners are responsible for dog attacks, but there are so many irresponsible owners and some countries also have stray dogs, so I think it's useful to know these things.

“Nope. That is not it. Dog owners should be able to go for a peaceful walk with their dog without your child running at it.
^^
Shocking news for you but the world doesn't revolve around you and your child. Maybe stay home if you're unsure of how to behave in public.”

Actually the world does, and should, place human beings, and children in particular, above dogs. Legally and morally. So your batshit and frankly dumb argument is laughable.

Three simple words. Control your dog.