Don't Leave Kids, Dogs Alone, Study Warns

This news item was in The Press-- front page of the weekend... And they never rang doglinks for comment. Well, I'm commenting now!

"They may be man's best friend, but 800,000 times each year in the United States, dogs bite someone, resulting in more than 380,000 trips to the emergency room, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Youngsters, especially, are at risk from dog bites, British experts say.

"Young children should not be left alone with dogs," warns Dr. Marina Morgan, a consultant medical microbiologist at the Royal Devon and Exeter Foundation Trust and lead author of a new guide on dog bites published in the Feb. 24 British Medical Journal." MORE>>

Why is it that dog bites are going up?

Why is it that 20- years ago, dogs were waiting for their 'master' when he got off the school bus?

Why is it that parents never scared their children into thinking "be aware of dogs"? Never pat a strange dog.

In 'those days' there were no 'strange' dogs because everyone in the neigbourhood knew each's other kids, kids' name, dogs' name. It was a community that cared about each other. Well, some communities were like that.

Putting dogs behind high fences and short leases (leads) are the reason for our dogs not being social. A dog that doesn't understand another dog's body language (ie, tail wagging hugely, etc.. submission signs) will not understand the difference between a dog and a child. They've never being allowed to.

Perhpas the article is right in stating that a dog shouldn't be left alone with a child because our dog's aren't socialised. That's sad. Very sad because we know the benefits that a pet as on the elderly, the blind, the deaf, the prison immates, and children.

The MAGIC of dogs is that they teach humans what it's like to be nice, considerate, and thoughtful. Humans are taught to understand that there is something else besides them that's important.

A lot of young adults in their 20's who don't have kids don't understand about caring for someone other than yourself. (high rate of graffitti, drug taking, etc) Dogs give them that gift, IF and ONLY IF they are taught how to read a dog's body language, how to teach a dog tricks (ie dog training), how to socialise a dog, how to...

What are YOUR thoughts about this article?