Making A Safer Dog

While reading this, please remember that this is NOT specific to one breed or cross of dog.  Any dog, even the small toy breeds, can cause serious injury or even a fatality. Big dogs bite big, small dogs bite small - but damage is relative to the size of the person and the location of the bite.  A Chihuahua can cause far more damage to an infant than to a grown man. Any dog, no matter how well trained, can bite.  More of this is covered in the General Dog Information section.

What goes into making a safer dog? Well, time, effort and expense.  If you are not willing to devote all three, do not get a dog. 

Dogs are pack animals and very social. Leaving a dog confined to a back yard all day does nothing to help teach manners and social skills. In fact, lack of education can create a socially retarded dog who is at greater risk of biting. From the moment the dog comes into your house, he is you responsibility to train and socialize. Even young puppies can learn and needs to learn. The longer you wait to work with the dog, the greater the risk.  For more on socializing, go to the General Dog Information section.

It can take a lot of work to get a well trained and socialized dog - almost as much work as a toddler! If you are not willing to get your dog out to several new situations a week, find outlets for them to just be dogs and interact appropriately with others of their own species, you should not own a dog.

And expense, well, good training programs, refreshers, getting into sports activities if you have a dog whose background was developed to work all day, and medical. Sudden behavioral issues could have an underlying medical cause. Then there is the cost of making sure your yard is safely fenced and doing needed repairs should the fence line have areas where the dog could escape.

Making a safer dog also means teaching children how to be safer around your dog! Even the best trained and socialized dog can be pushed into a bite. The rule with kids and your dog is: if the kid cannot behave, the kids cannot have access to your dog.  It is amazing how many dog bites are instigated by a child being rough, teasing or playing incorrectly with a dog.  If a dog feels threatened, he is more likely to bite. Kids can be very threatening!  Kids need to remain calm around dogs and learn how to safely interact with them. For more on this, see The Kids and Parents/Guardians sections of this CD.

Ultimately YOU are responsible for the type of Canine Citizen your dog becomes.  Putting the time and effort into this will be far less expensive than a lawsiut when your dog bites!