The best way to keep children safe around dogs is to keep them constantly supervised while they’re in each other's company, a vet has advised. 

Children are significantly more likely to be bitten by dogs than adults and Pete Wedderburn AKA ‘Pete the Vet’ said that is because kids have yet to understand animals’ body language: 

“The main reason is that dogs are dogs and they react as dogs do,” Mr Wedderburn explained to The Pat Kenny Show. 

“And children don’t recognise dog body language and so they don’t understand what dogs are saying to them.

“Children presume the dogs are people because that’s how we have dogs in our society - we have them as part of their family.”

Warning signs

Scientists who have watched back videos of dogs biting children have concluded that there are almost always warning signs: 

“In nearly every case, dogs had shown signs that they were getting a little bit anxious and agitated and humans kept on moving into the dog’s personal space - despite the signs the dogs were giving," Mr Wedderburn added.

“Finally, the dog snapped because the human wasn’t listening to them.” 

Often children go into to hug an animal - a gesture that takes many pets by surprise: 

“Some dogs are absolutely fine with that,” he continued. 

“Other dogs, you’ll see that their eyes will narrow, their ears will flatten, they might even growl a little. 

“Young children especially aren’t aware of that. They don’t see that. So that’s the problem.” 

Nine-year-old Pitbull cross Pluto. Image: Dogs Trust

Supervise them

When meeting a new dog it is important to ask them about how their dog behaves near kids and Mr Wedderburn says children should never be left alone with them: 

“Children should never been unsupervised around dogs. Never,” he emphasised. 

“And most bites happen when children are unsupervised, so you might have a child going up to a dog they don’t know or trying to pat it. 

“Or you might have a dog at home and a child crawls up to the dog and tries to interfere in its food. 

“And that is the real red flag. So if you have a child and there’s dogs anywhere in the vicinity you have to watch them continuously.”

Main image: A dog attacks a tennis ball. Picture by: Zoonar GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo