CHILDREN AND DOGS
Kids carry routine. Adults carry risk.
Most bites to children come from a dog the child knows, in their own home, on an ordinary day. The advice everyone gives is right — never leave them unsupervised. It is also almost impossible to follow in a house with school mornings, work calls and tired parents.
Children can carry real responsibility with a dog. They cannot carry risk, and they should never be asked to. The difference between those two things is the whole system.
What’s in it
- What an adult owns, and what is never a child’s decision
- Two roles, so two children are not giving one dog two instructions
- Reading the dog before anything goes wrong — green, yellow, red
- What children can do, and what they must never do
- Telling an adult early is part of caring for him, not getting someone in trouble
- Doorbells, deliveries, visitors — where it usually goes wrong
- When it slips, freedom comes down before anything happens