The recent horrendous death of a child on Merseyside following being mauled by a dog prompts Brenda from Lancing Canine Obedience   to send out this warning

 

 

"Please read this and take heed if you have a dog and children in your house or a dog visiting and children visiting.

 

It grieves me to hear that another child has died because of another dog attack. Owners must be made aware that a dog is capable of being upset by many things in their world. Even those dogs that have grown up with familiar children around them can be suddenly frightened by something unknown to them.

 

Children should never be left alone with a dog even if it is familiar to them. Children can do things that they may not think of as antagonistic and cause the dog to retaliate in some way. Dogs can be frightened by something that they may not have been frightened of before.

Sudden changes in temeperature ie: hot summers, surroundings ie: moving to another house or having some one to stay that they don’t know. Noises ie: fireworks that get louder, atmospheric pressure ie: thunder and lightning. All manner of things can frighten a dog that has been very sound to all sorts of things.

 

Children growing up suddenly smell differently and dogs growing up get more active in the way they behave. Puppies have small teeth and although a nip is painful, the teeth of an adult dog get larger and there are more of them and that nip then gets to be a bite and more painful and dangerous.

 

A running child screaming in fun can suddenly sound menacing and the dog joins in the chase. Children must be taught to behave in a gentle manner around dogs and dogs must be taught and trained to be careful around children. All children love to run and make a noise and all dogs, unless stopped from chasing, love to chase a moving target. Please if you own a dog and have children around you, either in the house or outside walking to school etc. train your dog to be a good well mannered dog. Train your children to be quiet around dogs and not to run near a dog.

 

Ask the teachers where your child goes to school to make the children aware of what may happen if they run and make a lot of noise near a dog walking.

 

Ask those that do paper rounds to be careful when riding their bikes on pavements and also when putting the paper through the letter box. This can suddenly frighten a dog and cause it to do something completely out of character.

Keep children safe and dogs safe by teaching them both to be well mannered around each other.

Remember never leave a child alone with a dog. And never leave your dog in a bedroom at night where there is a sleeping child. That sudden disturbed sleep that children have sometimes can disturb a dog that is suddenly woken up in the dark to that sudden noise.

 

Training is the key to both a well mannered dog and a sensible child.

 

Please take care with your children and your dogs".