Dog Awareness Signs Get Yours Today!

The Liam J Perk Foundation has created a terrific sign that is very reasonably priced for parks and playgrounds to remind kids to be safe around dogs. If your community group is looking or a fund raising project, this would be a terrific project that will benefit the community for years to come. With Dog Bite Prevention Week coming up in the 3rd week of May, this is a perfect time to get started raising funds to get one of these signs.

Click here for more information about the sign and for an explanation of what all the symbols mean.

The sign will have a QR code so that people with smart phones can scan it and go directly to the Liam J Perk Website for additional information. Doggone Safe supports the Liam J Perk Foundation and is pleased to partner with them to help spread our messages about safety around dogs and educate about dog body language.

The sign comes in two versions. One is complete with a stand that you can mount in concrete and the other in an insert that you can attach to your own existing stand or to a fence or building.

You can customize the sign with the following information:

• Park/location name w/logo
• Donated by/event name or what ever you like to put in this area
• Frame Color  - you can choose the frame color from a variety of choices

The cost of the sign with arch frame is $500 (price subject to change)

The cost of the insert is $375 (price subject to change)

Shipping cost is extra and will be quoted to you when you inquire about ordering a sign.

There is also a mini versions available in poster size for dog trainers, shelters, vet offices, pet stores, and groomers.

To order a sign, please contact Carrie Perk: carrie@liamjperkfoundation.org

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Tip of the Day Dogs Dont like Hugs and Kisses

A different kind of love

One of the most important things you can teach your children is that dogs dont like hugs and kisses. This is a tough lesson, because many (if not most) dog owners simply do not believe it themselves.

Children learn early on that giving hugs to parents, siblings, and stuffed animals is a way to show love and affection. The desire to show affection extends naturally to the family dog. To a child, the family dog is just an animated stuffed animal.

Sadly, this desire to show affection to the family dog is a major cause of facial bites to children. Dogs may tolerate hugs from kids, but few actually enjoy this type of attention. If a dog does more than tolerate this inappropriate handling, it is only on the dog’s own terms—when the dog comes to the child for attention, and only if the child does not hug tightly or hang on too long. There is no dog that loves hugs from kids anytime, anywhere, anyhow.

Listen to the experts, including the dogs!

How do we know this? In part it is because every dog behavior expert tells us so. For example, world renowned expert and author Patricia McConnell in her wonderful book "For the Love of a Dog" says that she has at least 50 photos of kids hugging dogs and in not one of them is the dog happy about it. We also know because dogs tell us and dogs dont tell lies.

If your dog is enjoying a hug he will do one or more of the following:

• Ask for more if you stop
• Lean into you
• Relax and close his eyes
• Pant and wag his tail with a loose body

If your dog is not enjoying a hug he will do one or more of the following:

• Turn his head away from you
• Lick your face repeatedly
• Lick his lips or flick his tongue out
• Yawn
• Lick or chew at himself
• Sneeze
• Wriggle to get away
• Hold his body tense
• Shake off vigorously when you let go
• Show a half of moon of white in his eye
• Wag his tail stiffly

Here is a video of a nice dog showing a typical reaction to a hug from a child. He is tolerating, but not enjoying the interaction. 

This is the type of dog about whom the owners will say "he just loves the kids, they can do anything to him". If you hear yourself saying these words, then take a close look and see what the dog is really saying. In the vast majority of cases, the dog will be saying (at least some of the time), "I dont like this, please make it stop".

Prevention is the key

When the dog tells us and we dont listen, eventually he may come to the point that he just cant take it anymore and his only recourse is to use his teeth to say clearly "stop that".

Be an advocate for your kids and your dog, intervene and allow only interactions that the dog truly does enjoy.

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