National Dog Bite Prevention Week
This year National Dog Bite Prevention Week is Monday May 17 - Sunday May 23.
The CDC has some interesting information on their site.
As I have discussed before, children are the individuals most at risk for bites. But according to the CDC, men are bit more often than women. Interesting, especially given my post last week.
They also include a great list of tips for children. Here are a few of them.
- Never approach an unfamiliar dog - this is key lesson to teach children. While the majority of bites to children are from familiar dogs, teaching children to just avoid unfamiliar dogs is just good risk management.
- Do not run away from a dog or scream - small children, running away and screaming with high-pitched voices can make a dog excessively aroused and lead to bites and injuries from being knocked over or clawed.
- "Be like a tree" - the excellent Doggone Safe program teaches children how to act when approached by a strange dog.
- Children don't play with dogs unless supervised by an adult. - enough said.
- Never disturb a dog that is sleeping, eating, or caring for puppies. - as discussed in my earlier post, the number cause of bites to children is resource guarding.
It really comes down to this: educate your children so they know how to act around dogs, and then supervise at all times anyway. Many bites are completely preventable. Spend some time during National Dog Bite Prevention Week educating the children (and maybe the men) around you about how to act around dogs.
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/oneras/; / CC BY-SA 2.0
