I remember reading about this in DW, I think that dogs can bring so much pleasure to people that positive news stories are what the general dog press needs to balance the scare mongering.

Well done Stumpy - I thought about doing this just a couple of months ago - Louie is a bit scared of children, mainly because they don't know how to approach a dog - they go straight for his back or his head. Sometimes without me knowing. So it would be nice to see more schools providing this scheme - well allowing it.

As for the H&S issue - my last year of 6th form (I was 18 and classed as a responsible adult in the eyes of the school) I asked if I could take Sadie on the sponsored walk. It was a no - mainly because I wasn't going to fill in several hundred pages on how big my dogs teeth were and how long her lead was and other daft questions. I get that it was in place to protect the others - but where we were walking - was a country park, frequented by hundreds of people and dog walkers. I knew for a fact that the dog I had walked, for then 8 years, wasn't going to bite anyone or get in the way. Yet I had to fill in this silly amount of pages and they were allowing the children (year group 7 - 13) to walk around a park where there were dogs offleash, on leash, out of control etc.. (the year before someones dog followed the children around the park refusing to recall to the owner) So as with all things - H&S gets in the way a bit. I mean my reasoning for Sadie going - was that I was walking her there that day anyway, I might as well do it at the same time. But alas my reasoning fell on deaf ears. And anyone who had met Sadie would tell them that she is the biggest softie ever.

But thats gone off on a tangent. Well done Stumpy - maybe you could do it with the breeds the media loves to portray in a bad light too? Staffies and Rotties - you've already got the GSD's lol. Get the media involved in it too - so the world gets to see that they aren't bad dogs - just a thought

Thanx all for the nice comments but I do take on board genuine concerns also. A long time ago I trained as a H&S Inspector and since being in legal practice I have a working knowledge/awareness of H&S legislation. As Smokeybear stated, this is very different to the potential for claims of personal injury.
That's why I have a basic and very obvious risk assessment in place backed up by dynamic risk assessments which can change as time goes on etc to reflect the risk and our methods to deal with them as they arise.

Also, the insurance costs reflect the level of risk. We've managed to get it down to quite a cheap level which should, with extra training or more assessments come down further - although with living, breathing animals there will always be an element of risk; but then, there is with everything we do anyway.

Also, I think that taking GSDs into schools is enough at the moment. The dogs we use are used to children, including those with special needs and it would take a good while to train up other dogs. Also, I have my 4 dogs now and wouldn't take on another. I may have read this wrong but I wouldn't get a SBT or Rottie just to prove the point that they are not any more aggressive than other breeds.

GSDs are "my" breed and when I lose the ones I have, I will have more. I may well have other breeds, but I wouldn't have SBTs or Rotties. They're just not my thing. But there's nothing stopping anyone else with these dogs doing what we're doing with these breeds if they have them.

Oh no I didn't mean you personally get a rottie or a staffie, but if you have friends who have them sort of dogs you could perhaps persuade them. It's not because they are more aggressive or anything - it's so that parents don't move their children to the other side of the street due to what they've read - if you understand. I have walked my neighbours rotties down the road and mothers have crossed the road with their children because of them..

Do the parents sit in on these kind of things?

I think is is a brilliant thing to be teaching young kids. It is a shame we did not have something like this when I was younger (14/15 years ago) back when I was in primary school (Ooooh I am starting to feel old now lol!)

I had shepherds growing up, and many parents and children I knew were scared of them, until they learned more about dogs/body language/approaching animals etc. Many of them now have dogs.

Keep up the good work!

Sorry SBT, I misunderstood your post.

We have had schools that have invited parents in but only when there's a child who is genuinely afraid of dogs generally.

Maybe we should suggest to school that parents may like to see what we do and they can continue the teaching at home, whether they have their own pet dogs or not. Never too early to learn and can never learn too much!