Educating About Safe Interactions With Dogs

Lend A Paw sites with children present an excellent opportunity to educate about safe interaction with dogs. Since children under 10 years old are the population most likely to be bitten                        by dogs, we want to make sure they learn about and practice safe introductions, as well as learn the signs that a dog does not want to interact.
Doggone Safe, a non-profit organization dedicated to dog bite prevention through education offers free information at its website: www.doggonesafe.com. The Doggone Safe Be a Tree children's program is an excellent starting point to educate the children our LAP teams encounter during their visits.

Here are a few tips you can find on their website:

The 3 Most Important Things to Teach Your Kids

1. Dogs Don’t Like Hugs and Kisses – Teach your kids not to hug or kiss a dog on the face.  Hugging the family dog or face-to-face contact are common causes of bites to the face.  Instead, teach kids to scratch the dog on the chest or the side of the neck.
2. Be a Tree if a Strange Dog Approaches – Teach kids to stand still, like a tree. Trees are boring and the dog will eventually go away.  This works for strange dogs and anytime the family dog gets too frisky or becomes aggressive.
3. Never Tease a Dog – and never disturb a dog that’s sleeping, eating or protecting something.

The 2 Most Important Things Parents Can Do

1. Supervise – Don’t assume your dog is good with kids.  If a toddler must interact with your dog, you should have your hands on the dog too.  Even if your dog is great with kids and has never bitten – why take a chance?
2. Train the dog – Take your dog to obedience classes where positive-reinforcement is used.  Never pin, shake, choke, hold the dog down or roll the dog over to teach it a lesson.  Dogs treated this way are likely to turn their aggression on weaker family members.  Involve older children in training the family dog while supervising.  Don’t allow children to punish the dog.  Condition the dog to enjoy the presence and actions of children using positive experiences.

The 3 Most Important Things Dog Owners can do

1.      Spay or Neuter Your Dog – Neutered pets are calmer, healthier and less likely to be aggressive.  Neutering prevents unwanted dogs that may end up in shelters or in less than ideal conditions where they may grow up to be poorly socialized or aggressive.

2.      Condition Your Dog for the World – Give your puppy lots of new positive experiences.  Train using positive methods i.e. clicker training.

3.      Supervise Your Dog – Supervise your dog at all times around children.  Do not allow children to hug and kiss the dog.  If visiting children are bothering your dog, put the dog away or send the children home.

From www.doggonesafe.com

Scheduled Visits - February 2013

Here is a calendar of all Lend A Paw scheduled visits for the month of February 2013. Click on an event to see details about the visit. Choose the event(s) you wish to participate in and contact the Leader of the site to RSVP.

Scheduled Visits - January 2013

Here is a calendar of all Lend A Paw scheduled visits for the month of December 2012. Click on an event to see details about the visit. Choose the event(s) you wish to participate in and contact the Leader of the site to RSVP.

Scheduled Vissits - December 2012

Here is a calendar of all Lend A Paw scheduled visits for the month of December 2012. Click on an event to see details about the visit. Choose the event(s) you wish to participate in and contact the Leader of the site to RSVP.

Halloween Spirit

Each year, the Lend A Paw Teams show everyone that Halloween is not just for children; Many of them show up to sites dressed in costumes. And this goes on for the entire month of October as well as early November. This year was no different! Many of our dedicated Lend A Paw volunteers and their canine sidekicks visited children and adults and demonstrated once again that they are willing to go above and beyond their duty to make someone happy! Here are a few photos of our LAP dogs and their wonderful handlers wearing Halloween costumes:

Belle was the cutest police officer!

The most beautiful Fairy Princess: Roxy!

Daisy and Jim the incredible poodles!

Lydia and Cali dressed up as Peanut and Charlie Brown!

The Lend A Paw teams at Ann Douglas Center L.A. Mission.

Cody was a Horse with a Jockey!

Cinder dressed up as a Ketchup package from Cupids Hot Dogs!

Ashley was a cute lady bug!

Mason, impressive as always!

Little Red... A.K.A. Cinder!

Mason the Hot Dog, Cinder, the Ketchup package and Audrey the cutest little devil!

Lexi the little pumpkin was full of spirit!

Sweet little Liza demonstrated her Halloween spirit at the Jewish Home for the Aging.

Another one of the many costumes Cinder modeled during the month of October!

Ash the super hero!

Thanks to all the Lend A Paw teams who continue to make our program a very successful one! Keep up the good work!

Scheduled Visits - November 2012

Here is a calendar of all Lend A Paw scheduled visits for the month of October 2012. Click on an event to see details about the visit. Choose the event(s) you wish to participate in and contact the Leader of the site to RSVP.

Halloween Dog Bite Prevention Tips

Doggone Safe is a non-profit organization dedicated to dog bite prevention through education and offer free information at its website: www.doggonesafe.com. Here is their Dog Bite Prevention Tips for Halloween:

Halloween is lots of fun for kids, but many dogs will be confused or upset by kids in strange costumes and by lots of people coming to the door, but never being invited in. Doggone Safe offers the following tips for dog owners, kids and parents:

Dog owners:

1. Secure your dog behind a closed door or in a crate in a room away from the front door or the party if children are meeting at your house.
2. Give him a juicy bone from the butcher, a sterilized bone or Kong stuffed with hotdog, Rollover or other soft dog treats or a pre-stuffed bone from the pet store.
3. Play music or leave a TV or radio playing in the dog’s room to help mask the sounds of the activity at the front door.
4. Close drapes so that the dog does not see people coming and going through the window.
5. If you have a dog that barks at the sound of the doorbell, disconnect it or watch for trick-or-treaters so that they do not have to ring or knock.
6. Puppies and dogs that like to chase can get overly excited by costumes with dangly bits or streaming material. Supervise very carefully if you have a dog that may try to play with your children’s costumes while they are wearing them. Teach kids to Be a Tree and stand still if the dog does start nipping at their costume since the more they move, the more exited the dog will get.
7. Keep your dogs (and cats) indoors around Halloween time. Pets have been stolen, injured or poisoned as part of Halloween pranks or other rituals.

 Kids and Parents:

1. Avoid houses if you can hear a dog barking behind the door, you can see a dog behind a screen door or you see a dog tied up in the yard or barking behind a fence.
2. Never approach any dog, even if you know him. He may not recognize you in your costume.
3. If an owner opens the door and there is a dog there, just stay still and wait for the dog owner to put the dog away. You can tell them you do not want to come near the dog. Do not move toward the person and dog. Wait for them to come to you to give you your candy. Wait for them to close the door before you turn and leave.
4. If a dog escapes just stand still and Be a Tree (hands folded in front, watching your feet). He will just sniff you and then move on. Wait for the owner to come and get the dog before you turn away.
5. If you meet a loose dog, Be a Tree and wait until it goes away.
6. It is best to ignore other people’s dogs on Halloween if you meet them out walking. The dog may be worried about all the strange creatures that are out and about. Even if you know the dog, he may not recognize you in your costume.

Doggone Safe and Lend A Paw wishes everyone a safe and happy Halloween!

Click on the link below to download these tips as a PDF handout

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lrrgew4ad1g53ak/halloween_tips.pdf