Sandi’s K9 Management

Do you know the safest way to approach a dog?  Most people don’t, and you may be surprised to learn that perhaps you don’t know the safest way, either.

The first and foremost thing to keep in mind is that if the dog is with its owner, you should always ask permission to pet the dog first.  Approaching an unknown dog on a leash is not always a safe bet, and you never know if that dog will guard its owner.  Your best bet is to ask the owner if it is okay since the owner probably knows how the dog will respond.  If the dog is without an owner, do not make eye contact and do not approach the dog straight on.  Dogs approach each other to the side.  This is your best approach if you feel that the dog is safe enough to approach at all.  And by all means, if you see a dog without its owner then call your local animal shelter to help get him/her back to its owner!

So now that you are going to approach the dog, how do you safely go about doing that?  What most people do as it is our natural human instinct is to look directly at the dog, approach straight on, and reach over the top of the dog’s head to pet him.  This is threatening in three ways:  1) Staring directly at a dog is threatening to that dog.  This is how dogs communicate with each other that a fight is about to engage.  Think about it, how often do you see dogs staring at each other?  Not very often! 2) Approaching a dog straight on is also threatening because it is also viewed as the dog as you being very dominant.  It’s anyone’s guess on how that dog will respond.  The best approach is to once again, do as the dogs do.  Approach the dog to the side.  Approaching to the side in a curved pattern is even less threatening to the dog than any other way.  3) Please don’t ever reach over the top of the dog’s head!  In the world of dogs, and the way they perceive it is just plain rude.  Instead, pet the dog under its chin to make it feel more comfortable.

A couple of other things to keep in mind:

1) Don’t ever approach a service dog.  These dogs are busy working, helping their owner.  It is what they live to do, and these dogs are among the happiest dogs in the world.  Distracting a service dog by petting him may put his/her owner in danger. 

2) Don’t ever approach a law enforcement k9.  These dogs are also working dogs, and unless you have strict permission from his law enforcement handler, these dogs should be left to work. 

3) Don’t ever reach into a car to pet a dog. Dogs left in vehicles tend to feel it is their job to protect their owners car.  Every year, there are many bites to humans reaching into a car to pet a dog.  Just don’t do it.

It is so important that we as adults teach this to our children.  Children have an even tougher time approaching dogs than we do.  A child should never be left alone with a dog under any circumstance, ever.  Most dog bites happen for reasons that could have easily been prevented, if only we’d known how to approach the dog in the first place!

Copyright 2007  Sandi’s K9 Management.  All rights reserved.