Every year, around 12000-14000 people are treated at Doctors Surgeries and Hospitals around Australia for dog bite injuries. Around 1400 of these are serious enough to require hospitalisation, with most of these being children.
Every child needs to be taught some basic rules when it comes to behaving around dogs:
- Leave dogs alone when they are eating or are near their food.
- Don’t grab or cuddle a dog around the neck, as this can frighten it.
- Don’t surprise a sleeping dog.
- Always ask the owner before you pat their dog.
- Don’t enter a strange dog’s yard without the owner being present.
- Don’t play with any dog unless the owner is watching.
- Don’t play with a dog with a litter of puppies, especially while the mother is still feeding them.
- Take care not to get dogs over-excited when you play with them.
No child under the age of 10 should ever be left unsupervised around a dog, even if they know the dog well and it has never shown any signs of aggression.