Decrease the risk of dog bites in children! Support Education!

Each year there is estimated over 5 Million dog bites! Children are the most common victims with the injury happening in their own home by their dog or familiar dog. Why is this? What can be done? Education! We must bring effective, educational and fun dog bite prevention education to our communities.

(PRWEB) May 13, 2004

The Biting Facts!

•Dog bites claim 800,000 victims per year!

•More than 400,000 victims are Children!

•Every day 1,000 dog bite victims are seen in Emergency Rooms.

•Facial Attacks are most common in children.

•Most often it is a familiar dog or the family dog (77%).

•Boys ages 5-9 are the most common victims.

•61% of dog bites happen in the home or a familiar place.

•Dog bites cause losses that exceed $1 billion per year, with $310 million paid by insurance.

Statistics are from http://www.dogbitelaw.com and http://www.cdc.gov.

Education helps lower dog bite risk!

In an effort to prevent unfortunate outcomes or injury to infants and children, Jennifer Shryock of Family Paws created a workshop for new and expecting parents called Dogs & Storks™. This workshop gets parents thinking ahead about the different stages they will be experiencing in the next couple of years as their baby grows. Thinking ahead and making any necessary changes before the baby arrives will help the parents and their dog adjustment a bit easier as well as safer. Learning about canine body language, behavior as well as safe fun ways to include the dog once baby arrives can make a huge difference for the entire family.

We know that education and awareness are the keys to prevention. The statistics indicate that our children need more effective education about how to be safe around dogs. This is why Jennifer Shryock has teamed up with Doggone Safe!, a Canadian based non-profit organization dedicated to dog bite prevention. Doggone Safe! has developed an educational program for children called Be A Tree™. This is a fun and interactive presentation that leaves kids with “the tools” to make safe choices when encountering a familiar or unfamiliar dog.

The founders of Doggone Safe! also created an interactive and fun board game for kids to play that reinforces what to look for and consider when encountering a dog at anytime. The board game is Doggone Crazy! Family Fun Action Game. This game is excellent! Its real life dog photos immediately catch a kid's interest. In a fun and interactive way, kids (and adults) learn to recognize the different signals our dogs routinely give us. They then have to identify if the dog is “safe” or “unsafe” by using all of the information combined. This is another great teaching tool that we hope to see used more often!

If you or your place of business is interested in sponsoring a "Be A Tree" program at a school in your community please contact us!

Learning about safe kid & k9 interaction can help a child create a safe, respectful and loving bond with their family dog that will last a lifetime!

Resources: http://www.familypaws.com, http://www.doggonesafe.com.

http://www.doggonesafe.com/be%20a%20tree%20program%20profile.pdf

http://www.dogbitelaw.com