 |
| CHILD/DOG SAFETY WORKSHOP West Putnam Volunteer Fire Department #20 March 12, 2005 Fire & Life Safety Instructor K-9 Handler T. Jennings |
 |
| DEMONSTRATION TO A GROUP After the child sees that the dog has accepted them as a friendly being and is willing to be friendly in return, then the child may open their hand (fingers down) and start to touch the dog. In the pictures above we are working on the proper way to pet a strange dog. The children are told never to touch the dog on top of the head but rather to stroke under the chin or on the upper chest. We explain that many dogs do not like to have a person stand over them. The child is shown how to stand in front of the dog and not to lean over the dog. When speaking to a group of children, we work with one child at a time with the dog. We tell the children to make sure that the dog is always aware of their movements. The child is told not to try to make friends with the dog if another child is already petting the dog. They must quietly wait for their turn. While the dog is in contact with a child, care must be taken so that the dog is not startled by any sudden movement from any other source. |
| Remember that the dog must be on a sturdy leash and under complete control of the owner. The owner should put the dog into a sit before the child reaches over to give it a scratch. If the dog is not well behaved enough to sit then it is not ready to meet strange children. Puppies can be excussed from this requirement. |
| You can not gauge a dog's attitude by just one signal. Ears back can mean different things by their position. The dog being used in this demo is FD K-9 Axel vom Riverhaus CGC, Tracking, KsKs Therapy and Demo Dog, aka "Karl". Karl is showing how much he enjoys these encounters with children by his soft relaxed ears, closing his eys part way, and leaning forward so that he can lay his head into the child's hand. He tends to then give little gentle "kisses" with the tip of his tongue. There is no tension showing anywhere on Karl's facial expresion or by his body language. See Karl below in one of the Program coloring sheets. |
| LINK to more indepth articles and pages. This additional work is mostly for the education of an adult. In our workshops we try to work on small things with the child. |
| This page in no way shows all the steps that are to be taken in an introduction, but is only a simplified version of some of the things that we do in our workshops. |
 |
| While child is getting a lesson on proper introductions, the adults are being shown how to hold leash during an intro. First picture shows firm hold but not much room for dog to lean forward without feeling slight leash tension. With a child present is not the time to do any corrections. Dog must not associated child with bad things. Adults present are then shown to allow a little more freedom in leash. Person holding leash must be award of possible actions of both child and dog but must be relaxed and not convey tension to the dog via the leash. |