(News Release courtesy Fort Wayne Animal Care and Control)

Every 40 seconds someone in the U.S. seeks medical care because of a dog bite! Children make up 60% of dog bite victims and are often bitten in the face because of their size! In Fort Wayne there were 556 reported bites from animals, 126 of which a child under the age of 11 was the victim.

In honor of National Dog Bite Prevention week, May 17th – May 23rd 2015, Fort Wayne Animal Care & Control will be gifting all Fort Wayne Community School Media Centers / Libraries with an 11 X 17 poster (see attached .pdf) promoting safety and bite prevention messages. Working closely with local schools to spread the word about bite prevention and humane treatment to animals Fort Wayne Animal Care & Control offers the following Bite Prevention tips:  

The 3 Most Important Things to Teach Your Kids

1. Dogs Don’t Like Hugs and Kisses – Teach your kids not to hug or kiss a dog on the face.  Hugging the family dog or face-to-face contact are common causes of bites to the face.  Instead, teach kids to scratch the dog on the chest or the side of the neck.

2. Be a Tree if a Strange Dog Approaches – Teach kids to stand still, like a tree. Trees are boring and the dog will eventually go away.  This works for strange dogs and anytime the family dog gets too frisky.

3. Never Tease a Dog – and never disturb a dog that’s sleeping, eating or protecting something.

The 2 Most Important Things Parents Can Do

1. Supervise – Don’t assume your dog is good with kids.  If a toddler must interact with your dog, you should have your hands on the dog too.  Even if your dog is great with kids and has never bitten – why take a chance?

2. Train the dog – Take your dog to obedience classes where positive-reinforcement is used.  Never pin, shake, choke, hold the dog down or roll the dog over to teach it a lesson.  Dogs treated this way are likely to turn their aggression on weaker family members.  Involve older children in training the family dog while supervising.  Don’t allow children to punish the dog.  Condition the dog to enjoy the presence and actions of children using positive experiences.

The 3 Most Important Things Dog Owners can do

1. Spay or Neuter Your Dog – Neutered pets are calmer, healthier and less likely to be aggressive.  Neutering prevents unwanted dogs that may end up in shelters or in less than ideal conditions where they may grow up to be poorly socialized or aggressive.

2. Condition Your Dog for the World – Give your puppy lots of new positive experiences.  Train using positive methods i.e. clicker training.

3. Supervise Your Dog – Supervise your dog at all times around children.  Do not allow children to hug and kiss the dog.  If visiting children are bothering your dog, put the dog away or send the children home.

Jodi Hamilton, Community Relations & Education Specialist  states, “We teach our children what to do when there is a tornado, how to ‘stop, drop & roll’ when there is a fire, we need to do better when it comes to talking to our children about safety with animals. I’m hoping that this poster will start the conversations”

For more information on Bite Prevention you can visit our website.

If you represent an agency that works with children and would like a poster for your organization, please contact Jodi Hamilton at Fort Wayne Animal Care & Control at 260-427-5508.