I grew up with big dogs and later raised my two girls alongside two adult Dobermans, Logan and Chase. Later came our Anatolian Shepherd, Cruz, a dog we chose as a family when the girls were older and all shared responsibility for caring for.
Writing my latest article for Australian Dog Lover made me wish I’d written this story before I brought my first child home! There are definitely things I would have handled differently. I remember yelling at Chase when he growled as I let my baby crawl towards him. I shouldn’t have put him in a position where he felt uncomfortable in the first place. I totally missed the signs of stress he would have been showing me.
We did get some things right. One firm rule was that the dogs weren’t allowed near the family while we were eating. But there was so much about canine body language I didn’t know then. For this article, I spoke with Companion Animal Network Australia (CANA) Ambassador and dog behaviour specialist Lara Shannon and Mel Ritterman, Family Paws Educator and certified Family Dog Mediator from Cooper & Kids, about recognising the subtle signs dogs give us, preventing dog bites and creating safer interactions between people and dogs.
You can read my article in Australian Dog Lover here.
