Today is National Kids and Pets Day and was created by celebrity family and pet lifestyle expert, mother and pet lover, Colleen Paige in 2005. According to the webpage, this day is “dedicated to furthering the magical bond between children and animals to help bring awareness to the plight of pets in shelters awaiting new homes and educating the public about safety between children and pets.” The idea of guiding children to treat pets with compassion and teaching them responsible, safe interactions seems like a no-brainer to me yet we’ve all heard horror stories about caregivers leaving small children in particular unsupervised with the family pet.
Sam loves little kids. His gait quickens to check out any stroller along our walks, his tails wags furiously and he’s always patient letting kids pets him in our neighborhood and at the hospital. Being eye level with children, it’s especially my responsibility to make sure his interactions are closely supervised for everyone’s comfort and safety and I’m ever vigilant at watching his body language around them, checking for any signs of distress or unease. Too often adults leave children and pets vulnerable by not staying close by or by not seeing signs of distress in pets by ensuring a chubby well meaning hand doesn’t grab an ear or nose and pull too hard. It’s too easy to view the family dog as a 4-legged TV to ‘watch’ the kiddos. Supervision is necessary for both the child’s safety as well as for the family pet. We all know that children raised with pets tend to be more nurturing and compassionate and make better parents and pet owners once they’ve grown up but it’s our duty to make sure it’s done safely for both kinds of kids.
So celebrate the bonds between kids and pets today but know it’s your obligation to keep your pup or kitty safe around children. Diligence in that regard keeps our 2 and 4 legged kids safe and happy. So what special tips do you use to keep your fur-kid safe around children?
Live, love, bark! <3
I think this is a wonderful program, I’ve said for a while you will see a real change in the treatment of animals in the next 10 to 20 years if we start with the children.
I’ve personally seen the damage a dog can do to a child when left unattended and I never want to have to see that again, which is why I monitor my grandchildren with the dogs whenever they are around.
Amen, Jodi. I’m always surprised and aghast at parents who leave small kids unattended with family pets. Seems like a recipe for trouble for both.
Bilbo, our Border Collie, is a great watch dog but it takes him about ten minutes to cool down after there’s a knock at the door so I put him outside until he’s calmed down and adjusted to the person being here. He is quite an introverted dog and so I make sure he has space. Being so fluffy, people can mistake that for being friendly whereas he needs time to get used to people and always needs an exit point. He has improved a lot lately though and has welcomed a second dog in the family so old dogs can learn new tricks. xx Rowena
Thanks for reminding us of this day. I get such a joy out of seeing the kids with my dogs.
Ottie loves kids, and their smell, so much he tends to lick their faces…which, needless to say, doesn’t go down that well with many toddlers. Now I warn them before letting them pet him.
just discovered your poodle blog… and it’s all true!! I have Cole the standard poodle so I loved reading lots of your posts especially the resolutions. How’s that going? ha
I think I signed up to get posts by email… we’ll see if technology gods are with me
Leeanna at not afraid of color
Welcome and thanks for barking by, we definitely love standards here! 😉 we’re also on Bloglovin is that helps you out getting notices.
Sounds like a good day to celebrate.
Great advice! Happy National Kids and Pets Day!
K-dog adores kids too and gets particularly excited about the little ones. But he’s so clumsy and has no awareness of his size, so he often knocks them over inadvertently. As for Lulu, she can’t be trusted with ANY creature less than 100 lbs!
And I can just see him do his slinky wiggle-waggle thing around the stroller brigade. 🙂
Choppy loves kids – though I am convinced it is because they always have food on them, and she can come up and lick it off!
Love this! We have a youth humane education program and talk to kids in the community about things like animal care, spay/neuter, how to approach dogs, and even animal-related careers.
Max is the world’s most gentle little animal. But there’s a wee one at the condo – maybe 3 years old – who is afraid of him. When we meet in the elevator, she hides behind Mommy or Daddy’s legs and won’t even make eye contact. I tried to encourage her to get closer and touch him but she adamantly refuses. I asked why and she said because he was ” a big dog.” I guess from her perspective Max is indeed a large canine, all 16 pounds of him. It certainly boosted Max’s self image. He now walks around spitting at the pit bulls.
Oh Maxwell…such a studly boy. 😉
I wish all children had the chance to grow up with a pet… it’s the best way to learn a lot about life :o) Happy National Kids and Pets Day :o)