Socialisation is about teaching your dog the skills to navigate life in our world confidently. The ideal socialisation development stage is 4 to 4 weeks of puppyhood; however, socialisation should continue through their lives. Children are a large part of our world, and learning how to socialise your dog around kids is essential.
More importantly, teaching children how to interact with dogs safely is essential. It is your responsibility to teach your children and any other children who will encounter your dog, what behaviour is acceptable. You need to be your dog’s advocate to keep everyone safe. Even the most docile and placid dog can be pushed to its limits by unacceptable behaviour.
Teach Children How To Interact With Dogs
Most dog bites are towards children and older adults and caused by the family dog. This is due mainly to the dog’s body language signals being missed or ignored. Any dog breed can bite under the right circumstances, so teaching children how to interact with dogs safely is essential. Prevention is better than a cure.
Dogs communicate through body language, and their signals can be subtle and easily missed. Fortunately, dogs give several signals and only bite if they feel they have no choice. For this reason, teaching your children some basic ground rules about dogs is good. And never leave children unsupervised with a dog.
Teach Children:
- Dogs are living creatures who feel fear, pain, anxiety, as well as joy and love, they are not a toy
- Do leave the dog alone when it’s sleeping, or feeling ill
- Do not go near the dog when it’s eating
- Call the dog and let the dog come to you
- Dogs hug us by leaning in against us, don’t put your arms around its neck
- Be gentle, don’t climb on the dog or pull the dog’s tail or ears
- Don’t put your face into the dog’s face
- Be calm around the dog, squealing and running can frighten or over-excite the dog
- Allow the dog to move away from you when it needs to
Teach Your Children Some Basic Dog Body Language
Living with dogs can be very rewarding for everyone in the family. It makes sense to learn some basic doggy body language to understand what your dog is feeling – after all, dogs learn some of our language.
When your dog:
- Turns its head and/or body away – this is usually one of the first signals that your dog is starting to feel uncomfortable in a situation or with someone. Allow your dog to remove itself from the stressor.
- Yawning – if your dog doesn’t seem tired but starts yawning coupled with turning away, this is another signal that your dog isn’t comfortable in the situation or with the person. Allow your dog to move away or you remove your dog from the stressor.
- Lip Licking – unless your dog is eating or drinking, lip licking means that previous calming signals have been missed. Your dog is becoming uncomfortable and must be left alone or removed from the stressor.
- Wide eyes, ears back & tense face – if you can see the whites of your dog’s eyes, then its stress levels are high. This is a sign that your dog is scared. You need to move away from the dog or remove your dog from the situation.
- Tense face & body stiffening – if you see your dog’s body going stiff, then your dog is going on high alert, going into fight or flight mode. Your dog is getting ready to run away or defend itself. Turn away from the dog or start moving the dog away from the stressor.
- Teeth baring & tense face – your dog is highly stressed and getting ready to defend itself. Your dog needs to be removed from the situation, or you need to move away from the dog.
- Growling – this is your dog giving you a verbal warning. It is feeling very stressed, and it wants the situation to end. Never punish the growl; your dog chooses to express its distress vocally and doesn’t want to bite. Give your dog space or remove it from the stressful situation.
Socialising Your Dog With Children
It’s normal for children to get excited when a dog joins the family, however, it’s essential to teach them to be calm when first meeting the dog. Ideally, your dog needs to get used to all children who will be in its life. However, socialisation works best if each new experience is positive and not overwhelming for your dog.
Get your child to sit quietly and calmly and let your dog approach and sniff. Once the dog has sniffed, put a treat in your child’s open hand for the dog to take.
Once the dog has finished the treat, allow your child to stroke the dog’s shoulder or chest. Most dogs don’t like people petting them on the head, especially if they are only just meeting them.
If you have more than one child, you should explain to them that they will need to take turns. It may be too overwhelming for your dog if excited children surround it.
Initially keep the interactions short, and let your dog choose if it wants to interact with the children. Allowing your dog to choose to interact and move away from the interaction will be more favourable for your dog. Encouraging further interactions. Before you know it, your dog will gradually want to spend more time with the children.
Allowing your children to play with the dog will also embed positive associations for your dog. Throwing a ball for the dog is a great way to start creating a bond between your children and the dog.
Remember! Always supervise children around your dog. I hope you found this article helpful.
Leave a Reply