THIS IS WHY YOUR CHILD WILL END UP IN A&E ONE DAY WITH STITCHES IN HER FACE
Absolutely raging!
Just back from the park where I was working with a dog with a bite history. The dog was wearing a muzzle and was away from the busy path area.

Out comes 3 year old (beautiful) blonde little girl. 

RUNS at the dog, who has it's back turned, is sniffing, and is oblivious to approaching whirlwind.

Little girl is shrieking ''Oooh big dooooggie, big doggie'' and launches itself at my clients dog. 

Luckily the dog showed impeccable restraint and was unresponsive.

HOWEVER! Mum and dad were also with the little girl, were watching her behaviour, and were STROLLING along behind her, at least 25 feet away, no calling her back, no instructions to not touch dooooooggie, no calling out to ask if the (muzzled) dog is friendly, and no rushing over to grab their child.

Mum strolled over to have a look at what was going on and I , as kindly as possible, told her it's actually very dangerous to let her run over to a strange dog. I said so with a smile, mum smiled back, then blondie ran off ahead shrieking ''oooooh, doooooggie'' at another dog on the other side of the playground, again, mum and dad following along like snails.

THIS IS WHY YOUR CHILD WILL END UP IN A&E ONE DAY WITH STITCHES IN HER FACE.

PLEASE PEOPLE - TEACH YOUR CHILD TO RESPECT STRANGE DOGS - ASK MUM - ASK DOGGIE MUM - THEN LET DOG APPROACH

So many people report that they have been bitten by a dog completely out of the blue, and that there was no warnings.
I would argue that in 99.9% of dog bites, this is not the case. Dog's constantly show us they are uncomfortable, we don't listen, then they are forced to bite.

The below video shows just SOME of the many signals that dogs give when they NEED space. GIVE THEM SPACE WHEN YOU SEE ANY OF THE BELOW SIGNALS - THIS INFORMATION CAN SAVE LIVES.

(Contact a certified dog behaviour consultant if your dog is showing signs of stress in normal everyday situations as your dog may need help to eliminate this fear.)

I often hear pet dog owners tell me "Oh he's a star, he hates the vet trips but he just puts up with it", or parents saying "That poor dog is terrorised by the children but he's very good, he just puts up with it".

This is absolutely not good enough.

Ever heard of Trigger Stacking?

Trigger stacking is when several things you don't like come together at the same time, and voila, you're storming out of the office screaming "you can stick your job where the sun don't shine!".

The picture below illustrates fabulously how trigger stacking in dogs leads to bites.

Tiny hates skateboards, but he 'puts up with it.'
He also doesn't like being petted on the head, but he 'puts up with it.'
And poor Tiny is afraid of big dogs, but usually just cowers and 'puts up with it'.


Saturday morning, little Tommy whizzes by on his skateboard with his big lab pulling him along. As he whizzes past Tiny he reaches out to pat him on the head.
Tiny can't deal, and feels so threatened that he feels he needs to protect himself and tell Tommy, "Tommy I TOLD you I hated skateboards, but you didn't listen. And I told you I'm scared of your dog, but you didn't listen. And Tommy, I ALWAYS show you I don't like when you pat me like that but you did it anyway. Now that you're not listening, I have no choice but to MAKE you listen."

And voila, this is how dogs 'bite out of the blue'.

Start listening to your dog, Seek help to change how they feel around scary things so they are no longer scary, and no longer triggers.