• Prevent Dog Bites

When I started pet sitting seven years ago, I thought I knew everything about animals. I loved animals. Animals loved me. What more did I need to know? As it turns out, a lot.

Dog bites, for instance. I never gave a thought about being bitten; dogs liked me. But recently a dog I was caring for nipped me—no bigger than a pinprick, but he broke the skin. Luckily, he had his rabies shot and the area healed in a few days.

But things don’t always turn out so well. More than 4.5 million people are bitten by dogs each year; about 800,000 warrant a trip to the hospital. Just this week, a dog ran onto a school bus in Clinton, Maryland, biting four students and sending them to the hospital.

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) is hosting National Dog Bite Prevention Week, May 15–21, 2011 in an effort to help educate the public about safe dog practices, especially for parents and children. The AMVA web site has great resources.

DoggoneSafe also offers Tips for Parents, Kids and Dog Owners, including a quiz that tests your knowledge of dogs’ body language.

In Dogs Bite When Humans Greet Inappropriately, Dr. Sophia Yin gives what I think is great advice: “ . . . we’ve been told many times that you should greet a dog by letting him sniff your hand, but in reality, the best way to greet is to stay outside of the dog’s personal bubble and let the dog approach you at his own rate.”

On Saturday, May 21, Kahuna's K9 will host Teach a Child, Save a Dog, a free event for parents and dog owners to learn about how to protect children and dogs through education. Children are also welcome. It's at the North Beach Community Center, in Maryland.