Dogs and children are very much alike. There are many similarities between dogs and children, including how they learn, their play styles, how their social skills are formed when growing up and how they learn to interact with the world. Children are a treasure and dogs are a gift. Many treat their dogs as if they were their children, with dogs being more a part of our families than ever before. When it comes to dogs and children, we love to take them out in public and watch people smile as we walk past. We are all guilty of jumping at the opportunity to pull out our phones and share a picture of our dog or child. But why can the interaction between these two beings be so touchy and unpredictable? Why are some dogs very confident and social around grown humans but then timid or even aggressive toward children? What should the interaction between children and dogs look like?

When it comes to the interaction between the two, statistics behind dog bites are alarming. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Humane Society of the United States estimate there are about 4.7 million dog bites every year in the United States (Centers for Disease Control). Approximately 800,000 people seek medical attention; of those, the highest rate of dog-bite visits were for children under the age of ten years old (Holmquist and Elixhauser). Children are by far the most common victims of dog bites and are far more likely to be severely injured (Dog Bite Prevention). Because we can never fully know exactly what dogs are thinking, we can only observe our dogs’ behavior and how they react to certain situations. In John Bradshaw’s book “Dog Sense”, Bradshaw explains that dogs may not necessarily see kids the same way they see adults. He describes that children smell, move, sound, and act much differently than older humans. This would also explain why dogs react differently to elderly people too; the elderly are statistically much more likely to be bitten by a dog. The way I see it is, children are very unpredictable. They move sporadically, grabbing and pulling without warning, which can make a dog very uneasy and very uncomfortable.

Dogs bite for several reasons: Dogs bite due to fear or nervousness, frustration (the dog is not getting what it wants), protection (resource guarding food, toys, a person or place), or over-arousal (play or excessive stimulation). Dogs rarely bite due to anger. I think dogs bite most frequently due to over-arousal and fear. Many dogs get worked up when kids are running around, and they can want to play (and some dogs will want to herd). The result is nipping and sometimes a hard bite. Now, is this malicious or intentional? Not necessarily, but it is still a bite, and can still be dangerous. What about when the bite is intentional or malicious? What is going through our dog’s minds?

“People and dogs don’t speak the same language and neither is perfectly bilingual. This disconnect sometimes results in interactions which people consider to be “friendly” but dogs may view as threatening. If your dog is anxious, a visitor bending to tie a shoelace might be seen as a significant threat,”

Dr. Ilana Reisner (Reisner).

A bite can arise due to a misunderstanding of what we are communicating and what our dogs are communicating. A nervous dog will more often try to flee before resorting to biting, but when the dog is restricted, restrained, or cornered, sometimes the dog is forced from its “flight” response to its “fight” response. This explains why so many dogs suffer from leash reactivity*. “A timid dog whose space is trespassed upon will retreat, but if prevented from retreating, will bite out of fear,” says Pat Miller, CPDT-KA (Miller). If we think about this in the realm of interaction with children, many instances are bites due to a child forcing his or her presence on a nervous dog. Dogs never bite without warning. Most of the time, it’s our human inability to read our dog’s body language and understand their emotions, and therefore our inability to read our dog’s intent.

In an article written in Psychology Today, Dr. Stanley Coren dives into why children suffer the greatest risk for dog bites. In the data he shares, the children only accurately recognized the dog’s emotions an average of 17% of the time. “The worrisome aspects of these results are that only one in three children recognized the body language associated with displays of fearfulness in dogs. It is a worried, frightened, dog who is most likely to bite. Even more of a concern is the fact that explicit threat and attack signals are recognized by less than one child in 10.” Coren says (Coren). There is what is called the “Canine Ladder of Aggression,” which is the gradual progression of smaller signals that dogs give prior to biting. The sequence begins with subtle stress signals, like “lip licking,” averting eye contact, or panting (when the dog is neither hot or thirsty). The signals intensify when the dog tries to flee or walk away, then the dog will show its teeth, growl, then bite (Shelley-Grielen).

Socializing kids to dogs, teaching them how to act around dogs and how to read and understand dogs’ and their body language is every bit as important as socializing dogs to kids. Dogs are very predictable if you know what to look for, but many adults do not recognize or understand dog body language and stress signals, much less children. Kids are much more unpredictable, so it’s important to teach the kid how to act around a dog and it is important to accustom the dog to kids’ unpredictable behavior. For example, kids can go from calm and spontaneously start laughing, crying, or screaming. Kids can start petting a dog and then randomly start grabbing ears or feet. This is not recommended for most interactions, especially unfamiliar dogs, but it’s important that we condition our dogs to being handled around the feet, ears, nose and mouth, especially when it is children. Many dogs will tolerate this kind of handling, but it is important that parents are supervising to make sure the dog is not becoming stressed.

An appropriate encounter starts with the introduction. The introduction sets the mood for the rest of the interaction. You should always ask before approaching anyone’s dog (this applies to adults as well as  children). A child should never charge up to a dog. The child should never move its hand abruptly at the dog with fingers out. We need to teach kids that if they want to pet a dog, they should ask, and then let the dog approach. Stand with your side towards the dog, and when the dog approaches, the child should hold its hand out in a fist and let the dog sniff. If the dog is interested, then the child can slowly kneel down and start to pet the dog on the chest and around the shoulders. Avoid petting behind the dog’s head where the dog cannot see, and avoid petting around the legs, feet, or behind. This can be threatening to some dogs, or some might try to play by biting. Some dogs love a belly rub, others do not. It is very important to not lean and “hover” over a dog, and never let a child hug the dog. Also, never run from a dog, panic and make loud noises, or disturb a dog that is eating or sleeping (CDC Features).

With this information, we should put a lot of emphasis on teaching our kids about our dog’s body language and what the body language means. Putting emphasis on body language and communication does not take from the importance of adult supervision with dogs. Young children should always be supervised around dogs. Children should never be allowed around even the most docile dogs unsupervised. One study was done by Vikram Durairaj, MD, of the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and stated that most often the dog that bites is “a breed considered ‘good’ with children, like a Labrador retriever.” (Young, Unsupervised Children Most at Risk for Dog Bites, Study Shows; Dogs Often Target a Child’s Face and Eyes.) Any dog can bite when in the wrong situation, so let’s make sure we are setting our dogs and children up for success. To conclude, even though there are millions of dog bites a year, around 81% of dog bites result in no injury. Sara Wilson (Wilson). If we put that in perspective, you have a 1 in 112,400 chance of dying from a dog bite, and you are about twice as likely to die from a cataclysmic storm (1 in 66,335) or a petacycle incident (1 in 4,486) (“At Work”). Understanding the risks of letting a kid meet a new dog allows us to be proactive and prevent a dangerous situation, but you can rest in the fact that dogs are highly social creatures and that many dogs love and prefer the company of people, including children.

Works Cited

“At Work.” Distracted Driving, www.nsc.org/work-safety/tools-resources/injury-facts/chart.

“CDC Features.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 9 Apr. 2018, www.cdc.gov/features/dog-bite-prevention/index.html.

Coren, Stanley. “Why Children Suffer the Greatest Risk for Dog Bites.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 15 Feb. 2011, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/canine-corner/201102/why-children-suffer-the-greatest-risk-dog-bites.

“Dog Bite Prevention.” Avma.org, www.avma.org/public/Pages/Dog-Bite-Prevention.aspx.

“Dog-Bite-Related Fatalities — United States, 1995-1996.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00047723.htm.

Holmquist, Laurel, and Anne Elixhauser. “Emergency Department Visits and Inpatient Stays Involving Dog Bites, 2008.” Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Nov. 2010, www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb101.pdf.

Miller, Pat. “What to Do When Your Dog Bites.” Whole Dog Journal, Whole Dog Journal, 1 Apr. 2002, www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/5_4/features/If-Your-Dog-Bites-Someone_5444-1.html.

Reisner, Ilana. “Dogs Don’t Bite Out of the Blue.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 14 Dec. 2014, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/decoding-your-pet/201412/dogs-dont-bite-out-the-blue.

Shelley-Grielen, Frania. “Reading the Canine Ladder of Aggression.” AnimalBehaviorist.us – Reading the Canine Ladder of Aggression, 2010, www.animalbehaviorist.us/CanineLadderAggression.html.

Wilson, Sarah Logan. “Dog Bite Statistics (How Likely Are You To Get Bit?).” CanineJournal.com, CanineJournal.com, 29 Nov. 2018, www.caninejournal.com/dog-bite-statistics/#infographic.

“Young, Unsupervised Children Most at Risk for Dog Bites, Study Shows; Dogs Often Target a Child’s Face and Eyes.” ScienceDaily, University of Colorado, 12 Nov. 2010, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101109133233.htm.