Bite prevention

So, it's been forever since I posted, and I apologize.

It's the end of Bite Prevention Week, so I thought I'd share some related resources.

This is the first part of a series on meeting a new dog, and how to judge the body language that you see.  This article talks about the "green light", or go ahead, signals that tell you that a dog wants to be greeted by you.  Here is the second part, which talks about "red light", or signals that should tell you to stop and be careful;  this dog probably doesn't want you to greet him/her.  Here is the third part, which talks about some more red light signals.  I really like that the author (Casey Lomonaco) talks about how we need to ask permission twice before we meet a new dog:  first from the owner/guardian, and second from the dog.  If we see red light signals, that is the dog's way of telling us to back off.  The final part of this series talks about how to greet a new dog, assuming you get the green light!

Dr. Sophia Yin also has some great bite prevention resources at her website.  These resources are all free, and include a PSA (public service announcement), a poster called The Body Language of Fear in Dogs, an article about how dogs bite when people greet them inappropriately, a poster of how to greet dogs appropriately, and some other articles about bite prevention.

There is also the classic site, doggonesafe.com, which is dedicated to bite prevention and teaching children how to be safe around dogs.

There are a ton of other resources out there on preventing dog bites, how to greet dogs appropriately and safely, and how to read dog body language.  I would really encourage everyone to learn everything you can;  dogs don't really bite "out of the blue", there are almost always signs that the dog is uncomfortable and wanting you to leave him/her alone.