310 N. Haywood Street
Waynesville NC 28786
35
KEEP YOUR CHILDREN
AND PETS SAFE
With the dog days of summer upon us, the festival season in
the mountains is in full swing. Small town festivals are a huge
part of what makes our beautiful mountain community so
great to live in but with them comes a clash of personalities.
Children and fur babies are drawn to each other through
mutual fascination. This can lead to unhappy circumstances
that can easily be avoided through proper teaching and
preparation.
Chances are your fur baby will be confronted with a child at
some point in time whether you intend to have children or not.
The younger you start training and socializing them to be prepared
for these times the better. Most fur babies react to body
language more than anything else. On the other hand, people
are mostly oblivious to what our body language is saying.
The sudden bursts of movements and high-pitched voices of
children are often viewed as aggression by our fur babies. We
recommend taking your pet to functions and areas where they
can hear and see children play at a young age. Starting with
short visits and gradually working up to long trips so they are
more accustomed to interacting with our not so furry babies.
The next step for a happy meeting is eliminating possible
aggression triggers. Food and toy aggression is easily preventable
and will dramatically lower your chances of having a bad
experience venturing out into the world with your fur baby.
By regularly taking food or chews away while they are still eating
and then returning it to them you build trust. As they learn
the food will be returned and not eaten the aggression will
fade. Toys are no different. Changing our own mentality
to allow us to be the owner of the toy and we allow them to
play with it can help with this training. The more you handle
toys the less possessive the fur baby will become. Always give
praise when the desired reaction is perceived. Dogs thrive on
positive reinforcement.
With ever-expanding and inquisitive minds, children learn
by grabbing and tugging at the world around them. Gently
tugging on the ears and tail of your fur babies while petting
them can desensitize these areas to what Is likely to happen
when around children. Rubbing and tugging on the paws of a
developing fur baby will also help and allow for less dramatic
visits to your local vet or groomer for manicures.
Parents who allow their children to feed and walk their fur
babies foster stronger bonds between the two and prepare
both for encounters with the outside world. Dogs get excited
that children are at their level and all too often show this
excitement through jumping. You can remedy this behavior
Editorial by
Hunter Wyman
with a stern no and a treat when the desired behavior is displayed
as well as not showing attention when they are jumping up. No
matter how well behaved your two and four-legged babies are
you should always provide proper supervision when they are
interacting.
Proper education goes both ways and while we should train
our fur babies to be prepared for children, we parents should
educate our children on how to interact with pets and nature.
Stay tuned for tips and insights on how to have your child
loving animals in a respectful manner. Festival season is one
of my favorite times of the year and I look forward to seeing
all the two and four-legged babies out there enjoying life!
The Dog House
We Specialize In:
•Pet Grooming
•Pet Sitting
•Dog Walking
•Self Dog Wash
•Premium Dog, Cat, & Bird Supplies
Retail: 828-452-9573
Grooming: 828-456-3753
When your babies need the right kind of pampering or supplies ...