Keeping Children Safe: Children’s Ability to Interpret Canine Behavioral Cues and Dog Safety Interventions

Abstract

Dog bites and dog-related injuries to children are an international health and safety concern. This chapter begins by examining ways that dog bites are defined and reported. Next, it discusses how children’s typical behavior can be interpreted as threatening to a canine and precipitate an incident. A synthesis of the dog safety concepts from leading professional organizations and ways to communicate these ideas to parents/families follows. We include the relevant findings from 50 interviews with children between 4 and 14 years of age (see Appendix A). Children were presented with photos of aggressive, playful, and fearful dogs. First, they identified the dogs’ emotional state and, in a follow-up question, whether or not they would exercise caution in interacting with the dog in the photo. Consistent with previous research, we found that children were able to identify openly aggressive or playful dogs most accurately; however, fearful dogs were a source of confusion. The second question for each photo focused on whether or not children would choose to interact with a dog displaying the behaviors pictured. Children’s responses were not consistent with recommendations on preventing dog bites; most of the time—particularly with fearful dogs—the majority indicated that they would interact. Of particular importance to injury prevention was the response to the situation of a lost dog. Children routinely tried to catch, contain, and act as rescuers for lost dogs that were unfamiliar to them. The chapter concludes with recommendations on working with families/communities, resources that educators and professionals in related fields can use to prevent dog-related injuries to children and suggested ways to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions intended to prevent dog bites and dog-related injuries to children.