Dog Safety Seminars for kids...

[poohbearsmom]

quote:
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Originally posted by Bucky's Mom
"dog safety seminars for kids"

That sounds great! - Can you elaborate on your idea a bit please?
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This might be a good topic to start another thread with.

Ok, I will. :D

I am aware that people do this, just haven't personally found anyone in my area that has experience with it. I think Michelle of JonandMichelle fame is working on something similar, so perhaps she will add her 2 cents here.

AKC provides a video for free, which I have received, and State Farm Insurance will provide work books and other materials, so that we (people who feel this is important) can approach schools, churches, youth groups (i.e. scouting groups), etc, and hold fun little seminars, expounding upon dog safety -
Things like:
How and when to approach a dog. Bite prevention, etc.....

I want to add to the bit a little about the responsibility of owning a dog - that dogs aren't disposable, what usually happens to "fluffy" when he's not cute anymore, the importance of dogs being in a family environment, as opposed to tied to a tree, the importance of training a dog, and, in an elementary way, that dogs are not people, and they think and operate differently than we do.

Also thought it would be cool to suggest dog related jobs, to spark an interest in anything from veterinary work, to kennel help, to handling in shows....etc....

I still have a long way to go in the obedience arena, before my dogs are ready to go meet a group of kids and be solid without rolling on their backs and wanting to play....<<giggle>> but I am slowly putting these ideas down, and trying to find the proper people to approach to start setting a program like this up. (School board, etc...)

Unfortunately, no one affiliated with the long standing club in my area has apparently done anything like this before, so, I'm starting from scratch.

Any and all ideas welcome... perhaps with a little brain storming, we could get something going more than locally. ???

Kids are our future, and if we expect them to appreciate these animals, respect them, and really understand the fundamental differences in this species we've chosen to bring into our lives, then it's up to us (the fanciers) to help them do so. It's also not bad PR for our breed to be involved in these things.

I'd like to make a little difference somehow.... and I feel that this could be a good way to start.

Elisabeth

[shybird]

I think it is a fantastic idea and is greatly needed. I also think it should be manditory in schools. We teach fire safty and stranger awareness, why not dog safty?

[Bucky's Mom]

"Any and all ideas welcome... perhaps with a little brain storming, we could get something going more than locally. ???"

How about starting with "Steve"? - You could approach the local third or fourth grade class and visit with the puppy once a week - showing how he grows. Bring a brush and show grooming, different collars as he progesses, the proper way to pick-up a puppy, nail clipping(:D :D :D) and a question and answer time for them to ask about the dogs they have at home

[DNeff]

My friend and I did a dog safety demo for a local girl scout group. One of my coworkers had a child in the group and asked if we might be interested in coming to talk about dogs. So I didn't have to contact anyone or get permission since they invited us.

We used the AKC safety video. We went over the video and talked at length about the importance of training and taking proper care of a dog. I demonstrated the right and wrong way to greet a dog using my guy.

Riven and my friend's dobie did lots of tricks and obedience demos, which the kids adored. We then let the kids pet and meet the dogs, using the proper meeting technqiues discussed in the video.

The girls enjoyed us coming so much, and we got a great thank you letter and many invitations to come back again. The parents attending were all quite amazed (especially when they saw the type of dogs we had - nothing like good breed PR amoung parents and kids) and word got back to me from several other people that everyone thought the session was a huge success.

It's a great way to start kids off on the right foot with dogs and to help keep them safe around new or strange dogs.

You might start out with youth groups, see if you know any parents who have kids in these groups and they can usually arrange for you to come in. Most groups are always looking for people to come speak to the kids and educate them. Then when you approach the schools you can list all of the youth groups you've worked with already which will give you more credibility and ease their mind a bit.

Good luck with getting this started off in your area.

Dawn
U-CD Cammcastle's Mystic Riven CD NA NAJ NAC NGC NJC TT CGC
http://members.aol.com/dplantier
http://members.aol.com/rottweilerworld

[poohbearsmom]

Well, I think that proper care will be covered in the responsibility part of my schpeel. (schpelling? hehe)

I work with a lot of young folks in the restaurant business, and it maddens me that these 18-20 year olds get dogs, and have no idea how to care for them properly. i.e. one young woman's boyfriend has a lab full of heartworms right now - cannot afford to treat his dog, and really has no business owning one at this stage of his life. It's maddening. They come to me for advice AFTER their dog is dying.... It's heartbreaking, and it's maddening.

So, as cute and charming as puppies are, I think it should be instilled into kids, that dogs are work. Dogs cost money. Dogs need training. Dogs need proper socialization. Dogs need to be rendered incapable of breeding unless great pains are taken, and much knowledge is acquired, and dogs need regular visits to the vet.

Parents of these kids have not done their job here. I equate owning a dog with having a perpetual 2 year old human in the home. We're up against people like my step son's mother, who will not spay her cat, and is continuously throwing out litters of kittens.... grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. We're up against folks, like most of those in my suburban neighborhood, who let their dogs roam free, unchecked. We're up against a lot here.

So, rather than get upset about this, it is my intention to empower kids with factual information, so they can then go home and educate their parents.....or at least help the kids become aware of the serious issues at hand, in a fun and animated manner.

Elisabeth

[poohbearsmom]

Excellent advice!

:D :D

e

[Bucky's Mom]

Originally posted by poohbearsmom
So, rather than get upset about this, it is my intention to empower kids with factual information, so they can then go home and educate their parents.....or at least help the kids become aware of the serious issues at hand, in a fun and animated manner.

Elisabeth

Does the AKC have pamplets already geared to kids that you could utilize?

[DNeff]

Checkout their web site. They have two programs for kids. One is "Best Friends" about responsible dog ownership. The other is "Safety Around Dogs"
http://www.akc.org/love/dah/kidzdogz.cfm

Both programs have videos and handouts specificly geared to kids. I was pretty impressed with the safety info I received from them.

Dawn
U-CD Cammcastle's Mystic Riven CD NA NAJ NAC NGC NJC TT CGC
http://members.aol.com/dplantier
http://members.aol.com/rottweilerworld

[Rottlva]

Every year I do dog care and saftey demos for the local 4-H groups. The childeren are very receptive! I have never used any information other than what I compiled on my own, so hearing that all of these organizations which help gets me excited!!

Generally the demo is about 1/2 hr long. The group size is usually 5-7 kids which keeps it small and very interactive. I've spent a lot of time trick training my dogs so the tricks are very helpful in keeping the kids attention and keeping things serious, but light at the same time.

Things I include are:
Introduction of myself, my dog, his breed, age and hobbies.

When should you approach a strange dog?

How to pet a dog.

Proper grooming and feeding of a dog.

Some history of the rottweiler.

Why training/spay & neutering is important.

I generally adlib as needed. You will find that kids have so many questions.... The groups I do are normally between 6-10y/o so they get a kick out of "correct petting", trying out tricks and looking at various tools I've brought in .

My dog is a wonderful soul who will preform his tricks for anyone anywhere and the kids really like it! The parents in the background who may have hesatations about rotties quickly smile when they see all of this positive interaction. I wish you the best of luck! I have enjoyed doing it and have really found 4-H to be very excited in me speaking to ther group.

[Knucklesmom]

As the mom of two Eagle Scouts, I can see that something like this would make a great project. Anyone out there interested in this might contact a local Boy Scout troop. (The Eagle candidate could take care of setting up meetings and doing all the PR, getting the materials, etc.) Might be especially good for a boy in a small troop that can't take on a building project or something that takes a lot of man-power to complete.)

[CarolineS]

Up here in Canada, the SPCA puts on the Bite Prevention and Pet Care presentations. St. John Ambulance Therapy Dogs are the live "demo dogs" that take part in the presentations. I don't know what the SPCA does in the States, but if they have a website, there might be some ideas on it.

[poohbearsmom]

Go to a rottie club meeting, and apparently, enthusiasm can be infectious!!!! hehehe.

I got all sorts of information (people to contact with Humane Society, etc...) from folks last night. Being the new kid on the block, I've been a little hesitant to speak up too much at the meetings, because there has been little or no discussion of anything but direct club issues, and most of the long timers are specifically into conformation. I should speak up more often, I guess....lol

Enthusiasm also won me the opportunity to be delegated to several jobs in the club....lmao.... oops.... hehehe.

I told them my dogs weren't ready at the moment (Pooh needs refresher obedience, and Deiter just needs some...lol), but I was trying to put together a program that is presented well, with fun and humor, and full of education.

At the end of the meeting, the President of the club asked me if I was sticking around town for a while, because he was glad I was here. <<blushing>> All in all, I came out of the meeting with a MUCH better attitude than going in.

It's a good thing!

Keep those ideas coming!

So far, the only "party trick" Deiter knows is "puppy's got your nose" (he sucks face), but I'm thinking that might be a little intimidating to the youngsters.....lmao.

Thanks all for contributing to this.

Elisabeth

[poohbearsmom]

Does the AKC have pamplets already geared to kids that you could utilize?

I have already received a VCR tape, and minimal paperwork that supports it.

State Farm has a wonderful dog safety program, they provide lots of free materials...

I also want to tailor this to include some major issues, and present them in an entertaining way - importance of spay/neuter, veterinary upkeep, breed specific legislation and why it doesn't work, training responsibilities, the ongoing cost of maintaining a dog properly, dogs as gifts, and so on.

Of course all this will need to be presented in an age appropriate manner, which can make it oh so interesting to put together, because some of these issues are not suited to the young youngins - so I would need to alter the program depending on the age range of kids I intend to meet with on any given day. Which means, the older the kids, the more I'd like to hit home on certain topics.

e

[JonandMichelle]

Elisabeth,

Sorry it has taken me so long to get into this....Mommy had to call me last night about this Topic:o Been a tad bit busy myself;)

Yes, as you know pooh, I do teach a Dog Bite Prevention course at my sons Elementary School. I teach all grades k-5 and Eiko does accompany me to every one as demonstrator and mascot. I dress him up in either his clown suite or I put on his American bandanna. I too receive my material from the AKC and State Farm. I structure my presentation according to the class. For instance I can go much more in-depth with the fourth and fifth graders then I can say with the first and kindergartners. This is where Jon helps me greatly. Jon used to be a DARE Instructor, so he knows the ropes and understands the attention spans of these children:D I like to keep the instruction portion to about 20 minutes for the older children. For the Kindergartners, I like to keep it to about 10. I have made an outline to follow (but after you teach one or two classes, you won’t need to follow it anymore). I found that you can play the tape then do a Q and A session or structure your class off the tape (this is what I’ve done and what works best for myself) plus I’ve added my own material into the program. I have added 1) talking about staying away from dogs while they eat, sleep, have toys. 2) Staying away from chained dogs. 3) Rough housing around dogs. I also go into a bit deeper with the older children about always having adults around during certain times. In my neighborhood (base) a lot of the older children have younger brothers and sisters. So I hope the more in depth I am able to go into with them, will trickle down. I have combined both materials from the AKC into the program. I give both Dog Safety AND Dog Care material to the children to take home. By doing this, hopefully this material gets into the hands of the parents. I will be working down the road to spread my wings to hit the parents on base about Responsible Dog Ownership. I will be working on this project while Jon is deployed and hope to have it kicked off by spring. There is just a Gawdly amount of good old fashion Air Force red tape to cut through.

As far as getting it started. I drafted a letter to the School's principle basically stating who I was. Why I was writing. What my background was. I stated the same reason as another member stated above; we teach our children about bike safety, stranger danger, and walking across the street but we don't teach them about dog safety. Yet (in my case) we had five bite cases last year on base involving school age children. I also enclosed all copies of my material for him and his staff to review. I requested an interview with him and his immediate staff to go over my material and to have a Q and A session. I honestly thought I would receive resistance but to my amazement, I received open arms! And that’s all she wrote! I was in the school a few weeks later teaching my first class with Eiko! At first I was scared that I would be cut short from doing. Mainly because I thought for sure that a child would be telling their Mom or Dad that he/she had petted a “Rottweiler” today in class. Then that would lead to an up rising. But knock on wood, nothing has happened yet. Eiko has been greeted with open arms and I am always complemented on how well behaved and beautiful he is.

I can get in depth with you about my course...but we will have to go that over the phone....Call me, we'll do lunch:D


Michelle