Nursery World - Shirley King, dog trainer/behaviourist: 'Teaching children early on about dog behaviour will help prevent many dog bites'

Shirley King, who has been working with dogs for over 35 years, has been teaching children how to stay safe around dogs, how they communicate and what they do and don’t like, to help children stay safe and become better future dog owners.

Shirley King, dog trainer/behaviourist

Since lockdown, dog ownership has increased along with dog attacks. These dog attacks don’t just affect children on the day of the attack but can affect them for the rest of their life.

Many people assume it is always the dangerous breeds that bite, but this is not the case. In the UK the most common dog to bite is the cute Labrador. However, any dog no matter what breed can bite or attack at any time.

What can we do to reduce dog bites in children? What we are doing at the moment clearly isn’t working. More restrictions on dogs could make a dangerous situation even worse for children, as dogs will be more pent-up and frustrated if they are not given exercise and mental stimulation. More laws and training classes won’t have much effect.

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