April 24, 2012 • 6 mins
In this episode, Sarah teaches you three simple things to watch for to avoid aggression in dogs: Avoidance, Freezing, Disinterest. Learn them, teach your children them and everyone will be safer! For more information on bite prevention, please visit MySmartPuppy.com and explore the helpful library or ask question in the moderated forums. Everyone welcome!
Questions or Comments? Send them to: sarah@petliferadio.com.
More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - Bite Prevention 1, 2, 3 on Pet Life Radio
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-my-smart-puppy-minute-on-pet-life-radio--6671826/support.
Questions or Comments? Send them to: sarah@petliferadio.com.
More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - Bite Prevention 1, 2, 3 on Pet Life Radio
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-my-smart-puppy-minute-on-pet-life-radio--6671826/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is Pet Life Radio. Let's Talk pets. Welcome to
(00:26):
the My Smart Puppy Minute. This is Sarah Wilson. This
week we're going to talk about bite prevention one two three.
The three signs that dogs give people that we often miss.
They are avoidance, freezing, and disinterest. Avoidance means the dog
(00:49):
looks away, turns away, or walks away. If your dog
is playing with children and suddenly gets up, walks under
the table, and lies down, your dog has said enough,
I'm done. It really isn't any different than people. If
we're interacting with somebody and then we get up and
walk away and do something else, we're saying we're done.
(01:11):
If your child, who may still be in the middle
of play mode, pursues the dog under the table or
goes after the dog, and you think to yourself, well,
my dog's always been so good with kids, you can
be forcing your dog to say the next thing. All right,
they've already said I'm done. If the child pursues, they
(01:34):
may then growl or snap. They may also just give
a nip. We need to respect dogs when they say enough,
and we need to teach our children to respect them
as well. My motto is never allow your child to
do what you wouldn't allow them to do to a
younger child. And if a younger child was running away
(01:55):
or trying to stop a game, you would not allow
the older child to pursue them and go, oh, now,
come on, now, come on, let's play. Let's play. You
know what will happen. There'll be an explosion. It's the
same thing with a dog. Never rely on your dog's
good temperament to prevent bad things from happening. It's wonderful
that they have a love of children, but everybody has
(02:18):
their limit. We do, and dogs do too, So don't
press the limit. Teach your child to respect your dog.
When your dog walks away. The next one is freezing.
And by freezing, I don't mean birr it's cold, I
mean freezing in place motionlessness. This is a huge sign.
(02:40):
If a dog is chewing something or eating and you
walk toward that dog and the dog freezes in place
and is motionless, this is a warning to you that
they are unhappy with your approach. It's not so different
than it would be for people. If someone's doing something
and you walk toward them and all of a sudden
they freeze and glare at you. You know that something
(03:04):
is up. It is exactly the same for the dog.
You should always respect a dog that freezes for whatever reason.
If you are walking your dog on leash and they
see another dog and they face the dog, their tail
goes up and they become motionless, that is a big warning.
(03:24):
Not all dogs will growl. Dogs growl because they wish
to avoid conflict. Dogs who do not wish to avoid
conflict won't growl, but many of them will warn with
a freeze. Anytime you see a dog freeze, teach your
child to back away from the dog, and you should too.
(03:46):
Whatever the issue is, it should be trained and resolved.
But you don't do it once the dog has frozen.
Once the dog has frozen, your job is to avoid
a bite and then deal with whatever the issue is.
The last thing to watch for is disinterest. I see
this a great deal as a trainer. People will tell
(04:09):
me my dog is so good with people, and then
when I go in to meet the dog, they have
very little interest. People mistake calm disinterest for friendliness, not
at all. A dog who is friendly seeks your interaction.
They wag their tail, they put their ears back, They
(04:32):
want to make eye contact with you in a soft,
friendly way. That is a friendly dog. A disinterested dog
will walk up and sniff you, walk away, or if
children are around, they'll stand there. Their tail won't wag,
they won't interact, They're just there, just like us. When
we are disinterested in a person, we are less tolerant
(04:56):
of that person than we would be with somebody who
we actually enjoy, and like dogs who are disinterested have
lower thresholds for being annoyed or reactive. So watch for disinterest.
Don't mistake that for friendliness, and don't mistake calm for friendliness.
It might not be either of those things. This is
(05:19):
very similar to you sitting down and trying to start
a conversation with somebody. They don't say anything, they don't
look at you, they don't do much. You wouldn't mistake
that in a person for friendliness. I'm not sure why
we mistake it so frequently in dogs, but watch for it.
Dogs and people are very different, but in many body
(05:39):
language ways we are the same. And if you can't
figure out exactly what a dog is doing, ask yourself,
what would I think if a person did that? You
probably won't be too far wrong. So that is bite
prevention one, two three. It isn't difficult once you understand
what to look for. It's very straightforward and I am
(06:01):
hopeful that many people and children will be saved bites.
If you watch for avoidance, you watch for freezing, and
you watch for disinterest. Once you know those three things,
you and everyone around you will be safer. If you
have any other questions, please come to mysmartpuppy dot com
(06:22):
and ask us. We are there to help till then,
go and have a great week with you and your dog.
Let's Talk Pets every week on demand only on Petlife
Radio dot com
This is Pet Life Radio. Let's Talk pets. Welcome to
(00:26):
the My Smart Puppy Minute. This is Sarah Wilson. This
week we're going to talk about bite prevention one two three.
The three signs that dogs give people that we often miss.
They are avoidance, freezing, and disinterest. Avoidance means the dog
(00:49):
looks away, turns away, or walks away. If your dog
is playing with children and suddenly gets up, walks under
the table, and lies down, your dog has said enough,
I'm done. It really isn't any different than people. If
we're interacting with somebody and then we get up and
walk away and do something else, we're saying we're done.
(01:11):
If your child, who may still be in the middle
of play mode, pursues the dog under the table or
goes after the dog, and you think to yourself, well,
my dog's always been so good with kids, you can
be forcing your dog to say the next thing. All right,
they've already said I'm done. If the child pursues, they
(01:34):
may then growl or snap. They may also just give
a nip. We need to respect dogs when they say enough,
and we need to teach our children to respect them
as well. My motto is never allow your child to
do what you wouldn't allow them to do to a
younger child. And if a younger child was running away
(01:55):
or trying to stop a game, you would not allow
the older child to pursue them and go, oh, now,
come on, now, come on, let's play. Let's play. You
know what will happen. There'll be an explosion. It's the
same thing with a dog. Never rely on your dog's
good temperament to prevent bad things from happening. It's wonderful
that they have a love of children, but everybody has
(02:18):
their limit. We do, and dogs do too, So don't
press the limit. Teach your child to respect your dog.
When your dog walks away. The next one is freezing.
And by freezing, I don't mean birr it's cold, I
mean freezing in place motionlessness. This is a huge sign.
(02:40):
If a dog is chewing something or eating and you
walk toward that dog and the dog freezes in place
and is motionless, this is a warning to you that
they are unhappy with your approach. It's not so different
than it would be for people. If someone's doing something
and you walk toward them and all of a sudden
they freeze and glare at you. You know that something
(03:04):
is up. It is exactly the same for the dog.
You should always respect a dog that freezes for whatever reason.
If you are walking your dog on leash and they
see another dog and they face the dog, their tail
goes up and they become motionless, that is a big warning.
(03:24):
Not all dogs will growl. Dogs growl because they wish
to avoid conflict. Dogs who do not wish to avoid
conflict won't growl, but many of them will warn with
a freeze. Anytime you see a dog freeze, teach your
child to back away from the dog, and you should too.
(03:46):
Whatever the issue is, it should be trained and resolved.
But you don't do it once the dog has frozen.
Once the dog has frozen, your job is to avoid
a bite and then deal with whatever the issue is.
The last thing to watch for is disinterest. I see
this a great deal as a trainer. People will tell
(04:09):
me my dog is so good with people, and then
when I go in to meet the dog, they have
very little interest. People mistake calm disinterest for friendliness, not
at all. A dog who is friendly seeks your interaction.
They wag their tail, they put their ears back, They
(04:32):
want to make eye contact with you in a soft,
friendly way. That is a friendly dog. A disinterested dog
will walk up and sniff you, walk away, or if
children are around, they'll stand there. Their tail won't wag,
they won't interact, They're just there, just like us. When
we are disinterested in a person, we are less tolerant
(04:56):
of that person than we would be with somebody who
we actually enjoy, and like dogs who are disinterested have
lower thresholds for being annoyed or reactive. So watch for disinterest.
Don't mistake that for friendliness, and don't mistake calm for friendliness.
It might not be either of those things. This is
(05:19):
very similar to you sitting down and trying to start
a conversation with somebody. They don't say anything, they don't
look at you, they don't do much. You wouldn't mistake
that in a person for friendliness. I'm not sure why
we mistake it so frequently in dogs, but watch for it.
Dogs and people are very different, but in many body
(05:39):
language ways we are the same. And if you can't
figure out exactly what a dog is doing, ask yourself,
what would I think if a person did that? You
probably won't be too far wrong. So that is bite
prevention one, two three. It isn't difficult once you understand
what to look for. It's very straightforward and I am
(06:01):
hopeful that many people and children will be saved bites.
If you watch for avoidance, you watch for freezing, and
you watch for disinterest. Once you know those three things,
you and everyone around you will be safer. If you
have any other questions, please come to mysmartpuppy dot com
(06:22):
and ask us. We are there to help till then,
go and have a great week with you and your dog.
Let's Talk Pets every week on demand only on Petlife
Radio dot com
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