Dog Talk in Primary School

Woo hoo! We're off this morning (it's always more popular in the summer) to conduct a dog safety talk at a local primary school.

We're taking my friend's 2 dogs (white GSD, black GSDx) to demostrate what to do and what not to do.

I can't wait. I get really excited when I do these. It's like Christmas.

We're doing 2 sessions of 45 minutes with about 45 children in each session. During this time we teach the children how to stay safe and behave in the presence of dogs and those that want to. will get the opportunity to meet them. Any that are afraid or don't want to, are not forced to. But it's quite surprising when atr the start of the talk there are quite a lot who say they're afraid but then when they see their classmates meeting/greeting the furries, they find the confidence to do the same.

Hopefully, the good weather this morning also means the talk will go well. They usually do, but I always feel better about things when it's nice outside.

Wish us luck!!

Laura xx

Good Luck i think that is a brilliant idea and think may be more schools should do it well done

Debs
x

That's fantastic, hope it all goes well! How do you get into doing that? It's lovely that it can help educate children young, gives more hope for the future

good luck well done for encouraging some children if only it was done more.

I decidede to do it after a little boy got bitten outside my Son's school for running up behind a dog and grabbing it around the neck. Fortunately even the boy's Mother acknowledged it wasn't the dog's fault. So I decided to train up my own dogs, get the relevant insurance and risk assessments in place, contact the KC and then set about contacting different lcoal authorities in and around the Midlands. That's basically how it all started.

Anyone/everyone can do it. It's only basic stuff on what to do or not do, how to behave and remain safe when there are dogs present - whether in the home, in the park off lead or during a street walk on lead.
If you fancy doing it, give it a go. I started off by using the KC Safe & Sound Scheme as a template. They have no objection to anyone using it but if you do, you have to use it in it's entirety and it cannot be changed.
Or, you could do as I do and work from it to compelte your own format for the talks.

The ones I do last about 30 minutes with about 15 mins afterwards for a few children to come up and meett hte dogs. We ask them to put into practice what they've just learned so they actually get to approach the dogs properly.

Most schools we go to like to take photos which iss fine by us. The school we went to this mroning had a staff member who took photos (as I said, this is fine) but it had a flash which she either couldn't or wouldn't turn off. One of the dogs with us is absolutely crazy about light - whether sunlight through the window, camera flashes, laser lights etc. But both dogs did exceptionally well, as always.

Personally, if I could get someone in every city or at least every County to do this, then every primary school aged child in teh cCountry could be reached before they get to secondary school. Well that was my aim/purpose originally when I started it all off. Hopefully there will be a generation of children who will grow up with a healthy respect for dogs which can be passed along to their own children.

id love to give it a go

Nothing to stop you. Have a look at the KC S&S Scheme and that should at least give you a starting point if you want to do your own.

Then look online for your local authority (and/or the surrounding ones too) and you should be able to find school lists. You may find central e-mail addresses but down here I've had to contact individual schools.

Good luck if you decide to go for it.

Also if you ARE going to deliver your OWN programme, it should do the following:

a) the training provider shoudl meet the legal definition of competency, they should have the required skills, knowledge, ability, training and experience to do this.

b) CRB checked

c) have public liability insurance

d) preferably have their programme verified by a relevant body etc.

PAT can also help out.

Good luck with the talk It's a brilliant idea i wish more schools would do something like this, there seems to be so many children frighten of dogs these days,

Totally agree, know that this is the case with the charity under which umbrella Stumpywump does her talks. they were going to link with PAT dogs but they like to arrange the talks themselves & after a friend of theirs was told by PAT dogs she could no longer visit a hospital she had been attending for several years until they wrote & arranged it through PAT dogs they decided not to go down that line.
The Kennel Club have been very helpful with advice, but Laura has the advantage of having not only the dog knowledge & an associate with even more, but also having a child of the relevent age &, as a teacher, I know getting the information in the right format for the age & environment of the children is the hardest part.