The risks posed by family dog to children.

A survey of dog owners shows that people underestimate risky situations involving the family dog.Dog bites suffered by young children are often inflicted by the family dog and such incidents frequently occur despite the presence of an adult. Children love petting dogs, playing with them and crawling after them. They especially love to hug or cuddle the family dog. This unwanted close contact causes most dogs to feel harassed and they respond by snapping at the child. Many cases of dog bites involving small children happen in everyday life as the result of an apparently friendly interaction on the part of the child. When a dog feels harassed by the child or restricted in its freedom, it will communicate through body language. The signs include body tension, growling, frequent licking of the snout and yawning. Small children cannot interpret this behavior,e.g a growling dog or one baring its teeth is often described by children as smiling. Bite incidents often occur despite supervision,dog owners should recognize situations in which their dog may feel harassed and they should intervene in time to prevent accidents.Many dog owners put trust ahead of attentiveness. Dog owners often leave their children with the family dogs unsupervised,they allow the child to play or cuddle with the dog as much as they want without battling an eyelid .This attitude is never observed with an unfamiliar dog, this healthy distrust of unfamiliar dogs does not appear to exist toward the family dog which is a wrong assumption. People trust their own dog and exclude the possibility of a bite incident. This not only reduces attentiveness, but dog owners also assume that the family dog is more tolerant and more patient than other dogs. Dog owners should be aware of the dog's need for rest and space and such should be communicated to children and other members of the household .Dog owners appear not to know that a dog needs undisturbed resting periods away from small children, and that the resting and feeding place for the family dog must be out of the children's reach. The lack of adequate resting areas and resting periods for the dog may create situations in everyday life that could lead to a bite incident. Dog owners must be instructed in proper child-dog supervision. The following habits should be inculcated to prevent bites,attentive observation, guidance of the child's interactions with the dog and separating the dog from the child at rest time of dogs.