The week of May 21 to 27 has been designated as "Dog Bite Prevention Week", through a collaborative effort of several organizations, including the U.S. Postal Service, the American Veterinary Medical Assoc. (AMVA), and Doggone Safe Inc.

Doggone Safe, a non-profit organization dedicated to dog bite prevention through education offers the following tips to prevent dog bites...

The 3 Most Important Things to Teach Your Kids

1. Dogs Don’t Like Hugs and Kisses – Teach your kids not to hug or kiss a dog on the face. Hugging the family dog or face-to-face contact are common causes of bites to the face. Instead, teach kids to scratch the dog on the chest or the side of the neck.

2. Be a Tree if a Strange Dog Approaches – Teach kids to stand still, like a tree. Trees are boring and the dog will eventually go away. This works for strange dogs and any time the family dog gets too frisky or becomes aggressive.

3. Never Tease a Dog – and never disturb a dog that’s sleeping, eating or protecting something.

The 2 Most Important Things Parents Can Do

1. Supervise – Don’t assume your dog is good with kids. If a toddler must interact with your dog, you should have your hands on the dog too. Even if your dog is great with kids and has never bitten – why take a chance?

2. Train the dog – Take your dog to obedience classes where positive-reinforcement is used. Never pin, shake, choke, hold the dog down or roll the dog over to teach it a lesson. Dogs treated this way are likely to turn their aggression on weaker family members. Involve older children in training the family dog while supervising. Don’t allow children to punish the dog and don’t punish the dog yourself. Condition the dog to enjoy the presence and actions of children using positive experiences.

The 3 Most Important Things Dog Owners Can Do

1. Spay or Neuter Your Dog – Neutered pets are calmer, healthier and less likely to be aggressive. Neutering prevents unwanted dogs that may end up in shelters or in less than ideal conditions where they may grow up to be poorly socialized or aggressive.

2. Condition Your Dog for the World – Give your puppy lots of new positive experiences. Train using positive methods e.g. clicker training.

3. Supervise Your Dog – Supervise your dog at all times around children. Do not allow children to hug and kiss the dog. If visiting children are bothering your dog, put the dog away or send the children home.

Visit Doggone Safe for access to more complete information on dog bite prevention.