Dogs and Kids
There are lots of ideas about how we want our dogs to behave with children. There are also lots of videos on youtube, instagram and facebook showing dogs and kids doing things with dogs that seem to be harmless. A lot of these videos highlight moments that went well. The reality is, dogs come in a variety of shapes and sizes, all with different personalities, temperaments, like and dislikes. With all these variations of types of dogs, the interactions that are seen online between kids and dogs are just a small few of what a lot of interactions are actually like.
Dogs can be pretty tolerant creatures until they have had enough and then start to be proactive to avoid certain situations which leads unsavory outcomes. They can also learn to act like they have been taught to become a dog who doesn’t respect the humans boundaries and treat them like their own toy.
Understanding leads to Proactivity
Dogs will be tolerant to a point but once a threshold is crossed they start to be proactive at keeping things a bay. This shows up at dog parks when one dog is done playing but continues to be pestered and when the dog doesn’t pick up on the social cues, the dog being bullied will respond with what is necessary to make the dog stop. Once it gets this far, and is a common occurrence, they could start to lose trust in other dogs and be proactive on sight but at the same time this can cause them to lose trust in humans as well. How does this relates to kids? Like a dog that can’t read the social cues of another dog, children do the same thing. The kids continuously run up to it, hug it, lay on them, pull on their fur, ears and tail.
They do these things unless they have been shown how to behave around the dog and how to interact with it. Dogs that are treated like a kids personal stuffed animal can start to give the cues that it doesn’t enjoy what is happening and unless the kid stops, the dog will take action to stop what is going on. Likewise, the exact opposite can happen, where the dog sees the kid as its personal play thing. It doesn’t know the cues that what is going on isn’t acceptable. At the beginning it can seem cute then the dog is young and a puppy, but what happens when it is an 80 pound one year old full sized dog barreling at a 7 year old child. Most bites can be avoided. Taking the time to train the dog and teach them and the kids how to exist and interact with one another can save a lot of worry later on.
Educating and Awareness
If the child doesn’t understand taking direction from the parents then they shouldn’t be near the dog. Likewise if the dog doesn’t take direction they shouldn’t be near the children. If the kids can’t leave the dog along, nor listen to the adult to leave the dog alone then they shouldn’t be around the dog because the dog will start to defend itself. Teach the kids to respect the animal, that it isn’t a personal play thing. When the dog moves away, it doesn’t mean that it wants to keep being chased, pet or cuddled. It is moving away to alleviate pressure.
Similar to when someone tries to pet a dog and the dog moves its head away, that is a sign of the dog moving away from an incoming pressure source. Not understanding this cue can lead to a bite. We must not only just educate the kids but also the dog. Kids are strange creatures to dogs as they are chaotic, loud, and unpredictable. This can cause the dog to try and chase them, nip them, all with the intention to correct the instability. Teach the dog to respect the kids by supervising interactions and allowing things that you like but making sure to not allow things that can become detrimental in the future.
Expect what you have taught
If there hasn’t been any teaching on how interactions should be, the door for misinterpretations is open. Unwanted behaviors are not intentionally taught, but the not teaching actually teaches the behaviors because of the misunderstanding. Expectations on both the dog’s and kid’s part can be made and if those expectations are not made with the end goal in mind, that can leave the door open for unfortunate consequences. Taking the time to ensure that the interactions are positive and safe will carry over far past these beginning moments because both the kids and the dog will learn how to behave around one another and learn to truly respect each other.