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Building Behaviorally Healthy Relationships Between Children and Dogs

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Children, Dogs and Education

Abstract

Behaviorally healthy relationships between children and dogs are characterized by reciprocal trust, respect and affection that result in a secure attachment bond. Statistics gathered by leading organizations and self-report data collected from families suggest three themes related to the expectations for family dogs. The first theme is “for the children,” meaning that dogs frequently are brought into the home to please a child, so we use children’s words about the “nicest dog they know” to describe what they regard as the ideal canine companion. The second theme is that adults hope that children and dogs will “grow up together,” so we discuss children’s ways of being with their dogs. A third theme is that parents/guardians expect that a dog will “teach responsibility” to a child, so we share insights from adults and children on the behaviors that exemplify this. The chapter concludes with the perspective that achieving a secure bond between a child and a dog is not a happy accident; rather, it is the product of thoughtful decision-making and careful supervision of child-canine interactions that demands an investment of emotions, time, effort, education, and finances

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Editor, Early Childhood Education Journal, Indiana, PA, USA

    Mary Renck Jalongo

  2. Counselor and Professional Dog Trainer, Pelham, NH, USA

    Maureen Ross

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  1. Mary Renck Jalongo
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  2. Maureen Ross
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Correspondence to Mary Renck Jalongo .

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  1. Journal and Book Series Editor Springer, Indiana, Pennsylvania, USA

    Mary Renck Jalongo

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Jalongo, M.R., Ross, M. (2018). Building Behaviorally Healthy Relationships Between Children and Dogs. In: Renck Jalongo, M. (eds) Children, Dogs and Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77845-7_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77845-7_3

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-77845-7

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