Here at CAS, we recognise that we really are a nation of dog lovers!
There are currently over 11 million pet dogs in the U.K, and with dogs being the most popular choice of pet*, with it comes the responsibility of understanding our chosen companion.
For that reason, we focus much of our educational work on the importance of dog and child safety, providing school talks, Animal Day sessions for children and behavioural workshops and advice.
Below are some tips you, as a dog owner, can consider implementing to create a safer environment for pets and children in your home:
Create boundaries for safety
Children can be noisy, unpredictable, and excitable! This can often create over-excitement (also known as hyper-arousal) in your dog or can also have the opposite effect and create fear and worry.
An effective way to manage this is to create safe spaces for both animal and child to be apart. Allowing your pet the choice to be in a separate space if they are feeling unsure, or allowing your child the safety of playing without being harmed by an overly bouncy, mouthy pup is a simple way to achieve a happy shared home.
Stairgates can be great temporary barriers and ensure that crucial space and separation is provided throughout your home.
Make sure your dog is given a lovely reward and some enrichment while in these spaces to prevent any stress at being left – a frozen kong can be a great choice!
Get to know your pet!
We should all take the time to learn our dogs’ communications, and this is best achieved by having some knowledge on dog body language.
A dog’s body posture, and tail and ear position can really help give us some clues to understanding how our dogs are feeling and what they wish to convey- tense body, ears flat back and tails tucked can all be more recognisable signs of concern or worry in a dog.
Sometimes, however, the signs a dog gives us can be much more subtle. Did you know that a dog can exhibit low-level signs of stress when excessively blinking, licking their nose or yawning? Or that a dog turning its head away can be it saying, ‘give me space’?
If you see your dog giving these signals when with a child or being petted, be sure to stop the interaction.
The Canine Ladder of Communication can be a great tool to understand this further:
Safe and appropriate interactions
Stroking and petting dogs can be an enjoyable and bonding experience for pet and owner, if we can be considerate to the animal’s needs– petting a dog on top of its head can be quite a daunting experience for them so we encourage better ways to say hello to a dog for the first time where we think about our pets ‘space’ and ‘choice’, and the places they enjoy to be stroked.
Our Animal Days are great ways to help children understand how to interact safely with pets- teaching children aged 5-16 years, through each school holiday, appropriate pet care and safety guidance, fun animal crafts and enrichment making plus a behind the scenes visit to pet rescue life.
Hands Off play!
Children and dogs can bond over non-contact interaction, and this can be as simple as a game of hide and seek (child hides a treat or toy in the garden for the dog to find), a nice dog walk or even making a fun enrichment item for your dog.
Our online education packs can give you some great tips and include instructions on how to make snuffle mats, toys and much more!
These are just a few suggestions to help but our team are always on hand to help with any practical advice you may need.
We also have a great workshop collection available where our behaviourists will be sharing their expertise, tips and advice to support you and your pets on a variety of engaging topics.
Varying from in-person training to knowledge-based webinars, the workshops can help you, as pet owners, to gain more understanding of your chosen companion!
*Figures according to PDSA Animal Wellbeing (PAW) Report 2023
