Manier times our clients come to us with their pets, complaining that their pet dog bit their child. Sometimes it is a random act by the child that provokes the pet, however, usually it is the unpleasant interactions that leads the pet to behave aggressively. If you are introducing a new pet dog to your children. You need to teach your children how to interact and behave around the pet. There are certain ways to interact with the pets and some things must be avoided.
Avoid bothering dogs when they are eating–
Just like humans don’t like to be bothered while eating, it is observed in various cases at our veterinary hospital in Delhi, where the dogs have shown aggressive behaviour when they are disturbed during their meal.
Avoid tugging away pet’s toys or bones during play–
Animals such as dogs gets irritated when hustled for toys, bones or food. The result of this tug of war end up establishing the alpha in the end between the tugger and the pet. Which you might think as funny but for the pet, it makes you his enemy.
Avoid putting your face right up to the dog’s face–
Dogs, just like humans, do not like such “on your face” interaction and if they are peeved enough, they might make you injured.
Avoid bothering dogs when they are resting–
Avoid waking up your dog, this may cause them to have a bad temper and mood swings. A good and peaceful rest is the key to a healthy and loving dog.
Avoid grabbing tail/ears–
There are numerous cases where we have seen that the children often times keep pulling tail, skin , ear or legs of the dog and this kind of interaction ends up in a dog bite.
Avoid climbing or trampling–
Dogs by nature do not like to be ridden and they will get injured if you do not stop your children from trampling or climbing on them. It could also lead to a dog bite if overdone.
Avoid hugging. Most dogs dislike it–
The reason for this is, most dogs feel suffocated and uneasy with hugs. If you want to show your affection, rubbing their belly is something they love the most.
Avoid hollering and shouting–
Some dogs may bark or make loud sounds, however, most dogs do not like loud sounds and if you keep shouting at your pet, it will become frustrated and may end up in imitating the behavior.
These are some of the normal things we can teach our kids when we introduce a new pet dog to our family. If all goes well you will have a great caring and loving dog.
