🐕 Please note: this blog, part 4, assumes that you have read parts 1, 2 & 3. 🐕 If you haven’t already done so, we would recommend that you read parts 1 - 3 first. 🐕 This series is tailored towards UK, Romanian & overseas originating rescue dogs.
In part 1 of this new blog series, "Honest Self Assessments Prior to Adoption", we explored some possible reasons for a dog being surrendered back to rescue & how we can better understand our new dog by considering & discussing these reasons.
In part 2, we focused upon helping you to assess your own personal circumstances, to include such things as finances, demands on time, & your future plans.
In part 3, we focused upon helping you to assess whether your family & home circumstances are best placed to adopt a dog.
In part 4, this part, we're going to pick up from where we left off in our discussion of family circumstances & look at children & dogs, with a particular focus upon canine body language. Please note: whilst these links are primarily aimed at families, we would suggest that they would also be a good learning tool for any adult to consider.
To start with, it's extremely important for us to teach our children how to act safely around dogs. Children act & move very differently to adults. Some dogs might have some difficulty with this. That's the first very important thing to acknowledge here.
Most dogs don't like having their body space invaded & most will try to tolerate some uncomfortable behaviours - to a point. But it's up to us to teach our children which behaviours are acceptable & which are not. For example, tail tugging, poking, cuddling tightly, riding or hanging off the dog & running at a dog fast &/or screaming should very much be discouraged.
Children by their very nature are most likely to be bitten by a dog. "Dog Sense Training & Behaviour" (via Facebook) say that up to 50% of children are likely to be bitten by a dog. In addition, the under 5's age group is the most likely to get bitten, & on the face & neck. Such bites are most likely to be inflicted by the family dog or a family friend's dog. "Dogs Trust" state that 91% of bites to children happen at home with a dog they know.
Dogs do warn us if they're feeling uncomfortable & those subtle body language warnings often occur before the growl, which is the precursor to a bite. It's important to understand that a dog won't always move away to create space. This is why it's so important that we understand body language & that we also teach our children how to read the dog's body language.
EVERY dog has their breaking point & EVERY dog will bite if pushed. Please try to be understanding should your child ever get bitten. Take time to understand the circumstances & context & use it as a learning tool for you & the child. Moreover, if your child should ever get bitten by your dog, it doesn't necessarily mean the dog is "aggressive" but that they have been pushed past their tipping point.
It's very much our job, as responsible adults, to learn how to read our dog & advocate for them so that they don't need to advocate for themselves.
So, why is it so important that we must focus upon this here?...
Well, just a few days ago, "the Kennel Club" published their findings based around this very topic. They found that nearly 9 out of 10 UK dog owners cannot recognise all or some of the key canine stress signals, with 1 in 10 unable to recognise any stress signals at all.
"The Kennel Club" concluded that this lack of awareness is putting people & children at risk, renewing calls for education campaigns that promote responsible dog ownership.
To view the main findings of this very important survey & to read more, please see:
You might now be wondering if you would recognise such stress signals yourselves...
"Dog Sense Training & Behaviour" (via Facebook) have produced an excellent short YouTube video that demonstrates some of the many subtle stress cues that a dog might communicate around us, specifically our children. The video makes for slightly uncomfortable viewing but is a necessary demonstration.
Please see:
So, what body language cues did you notice in the video?
... Some of the many stress cues shown were:
🐶 Tongue flicks
🐶 Stress yawns
🐶 Eye blinks
🐶 Ears back/flat
🐶 Whale eye (seeing the whites of the eyes)
🐶 Closed/tense mouth
🐶 Freeze/tense & stiff body language
🐶 Averting gaze/turning the head away
🐶 Shifting weight
🐶 Lifting paws
🐶 Appeasement licks (these are often thought to be loving kisses, whereas in this context they are space-increasing signals).
Beyond these more subtle cues, if ignored, a dog will often show their teeth &/or growl. If those more obvious signs are ignored, then a nip or bite may be next.
"Family Paws" have produced a wonderful free resource called "Dog Aware® Skills" which is suitable for both adults & children. The Dog Aware® Skills are broken down into four categories:
🐕 Body language,
🐕 Sensitivities,
🐕 Proximity,
🐕 Supervision.
"Family Paws" believes that these four categories are especially important for families with children. By increasing their Dog Aware® Skills, families can learn what to look out for & when to intervene BEFORE a situation escalates.
Please see:
You might also find the following 30 minute podcast useful which discusses insights into dog & child tragedies. This link also contains some very useful free links to some other resources/websites.
Please see:
Joanne Hinds (Dog Trainer & Pet Behaviour Advisor) has written a book on this very subject called "ASK THE DOG". The book is designed for adults & children alike & is all about giving dogs the choice to interact with us or not, giving them the choice to say “No”, to keep people safe & to be mindful that dogs do not always want to be touched or stroked. This book encourages children to make sure any dogs they encounter are happy to be stroked, & how to recognise signs that a dog may not want to be approached. This message is delivered in the form of a poem with colourful, eye-catching illustrations to draw in & engage younger readers.
Please see:
"Dogs Trust" are also currently running a free "living safely together" virtual masterclass, aimed at parents & caregivers, which contains expert advice on keeping dogs & children safe together, particularly in the home. In this virtual masterclass you will learn:
🐕 How to read & understand your dog’s body language.
🐕 How children can behave safely around dogs & the unsafe behaviours to look out for.
🐕 How to create routines & habits that keep dogs & children safe & happy together.
You can book your place here:
This page also contains links to other useful & free resources.
So, there is a lot of useful help, advice & support out there. We're sure if you perform a search on the web, you will find even more useful resources.
The point of this blog is to help you to think further about whether a dog might be right for your family at this point in time. There is a lot to consider but safety considerations must be made as a part of this decision making process. You & your family must be willing to learn to read the dog & be willing to take an understanding & considerate approach, realising that a bite doesn't necessarily indicate an aggressive dog - but one who is feeling fearful, uncomfortable or stressed.
This in fact extends to the early days of having a new dog - the 3, 3, 3 rule. We have already discussed this rule at much length but, remember, how a dog appears in the first three to several months or longer - however long it takes for your dog to decompress, acclimatise, unpack their baggage & settle in; doesn't necessarily indicate the true character of the dog or how they'll be once they've settled in.
Dogs do sometimes, sadly, find themselves homeless quite soon after adoption because they have growled, nipped or bitten within the initial settling in period (three to several months or longer - the settling in period is determined by the individual dog). We must remember to take a patient & understanding approach. As we have stated above & throughout our blogs so far, context is everything. Consider if YOU missed any valuable stress cues, what YOU did that caused the dog to react & consider why it caused your dog to react. Put yourself in your dog's shoes, not forgetting that everything is new to them, which is likely very scary & stressful for them. Like any human relationship, trust is earned & built over time, it doesn't happen overnight. This may be harder still for some Romanian & overseas rescue dogs who have been poorly treated by people in the past. This is why you shouldn't be too quick to judge a dog or surrender them.
Here at Patchwork Paws H.Q, we've witnessed the most amazing changes in our dogs. After having nine Romanian rescue dogs, ten overseas rescue dogs in total, plus numerous UK rescue dogs between us, we can safely say that the 3, 3, 3 rule is a real thing. Some of our dogs have settled in within three months, others after several months, & our girl from Thailand actually took about a year. This just demonstrates the point that every dog's journey is unique & they take all the time THEY need.
Of course, not all body language signals discomfort. Get to know your new dog on an individual level. Once they're settled, observe their body language when they are calm, happy & relaxed. Learn to understand their unique vocalisations - the "is it dinner time yet" chatter, the asking to go out in the garden dialogue... You can learn to understand your dog's unique language & what they are communicating to you.
We went off on a slight tangent there but I hope you will now understand why learning a dog's body language & stress cues is so important. Not just because you might have children, but also because it directly corresponds to the dog's initial settling in period, too. Obviously, having this understanding of your dog will help you throughout your lives together, too. After all, we aren't in a position to directly communicate with our dogs in the same way we do with each other. Consider learning your dog's body language like you would a second language.
We hope this discussion and all of the links have helped.
In our next blog, we will move on to consider your home environment.
So please, keep checking back...
*** PLEASE NOTE: To our knowledge, all information & website links provided here, & throughout our blogs, are current, up-to-date & relevant as of the publication date, which is the 11th September 2023, & are provided strictly as a GUIDE & for EDUCATION PURPOSES only.
We always promote no harm, fear free, force free & non-aversive training methods based on mutual respect, trust & positive reinforcement. We cannot be held responsible for any errors or inaccuracies found within the website links provided. We always recommend that you do your own additional research.
We don't profess to be experts in this area, just very experienced & enthusiastic dog owners.***
Please feel free to post in the comments section below, should you feel we have missed off any important information that other new adopters might find useful.
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These reasonably priced courses & webinars start from just £25 (& some are even FREE, no catch 😱🥰) & are specifically tailored towards Romanian & Overseas rescue dogs, however some of these courses might also prove useful & relevant for U.K. rescue dogs too, so well worth a look.
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Some topics covered include:
🐶 fearfulness & social shyness,
🐶 prey drive,
🐶 building calmness & confidence,
🐶 techniques to rebalance & calm,
🐶 reactivity on walks,
🐶 reactivity with visitors,
🐶 the quirky nature of Romanian dogs,
🐶 how to set yourself up for a successful adoption.
The course & webinar content has been carefully constructed by Meesh Masters, who is an Holistic Canine Behaviour Consultant specialising in working with Romanian & Overseas rescue dogs. 'The Dogs Point of View' is committed to following the latest scientifically proven fear free methods.
Thank you so much for being here & for supporting Patchwork Paws U.K. 🐶
We always welcome your feedback, so please feel free to leave us a comment or email us. 🥰
📣 Please remember to always choose no harm, fear free, force free & non-aversive training methods based on mutual respect, trust & positive reinforcement. Please always consider that a behaviour that YOU might find undesirable might be quite normal behaviour to your dog, the behaviour might be motivated by a past trauma/fear, or it might be motivated by your dog's emotional response to something. Always treat your dog with love, patience, empathy, understanding & kindness - even if they do have toileting accidents or if they chew your favourite slippers. 📣🙏
📍 The dog behaviour & training world is largely unregulated here in the U.K. & not all are equal. Please do your homework & always choose a behaviourist or trainer carefully. Look at the methods of training they use & the stance they choose to adopt. Always check their qualifications, accreditations & references/feedback carefully. 📍
🐶 Pictured is our Gracie in dinner time chatter mode with a wagging tail. Dear Gracie was rescued from a public shelter, in Romania, where she had been left to starve. Without rescue, she would have likely have passed away there. 🙏
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