I’m a pet expert – three reasons why we are facing a ‘perfect storm’ of deadly dog attacks… here’s how to stay safe
A PET expert has told how Britain is facing a “perfect storm” of deadly dog attacks.
Dog behaviourist Nanci Creedon believes vicious maulings are set to soar - despite the fact attacks are already at a 40 year high.
Two people have already died just this month - including four-year-old Alice Stones who was killed in her back garden in Milton Keynes.
And according to Ms Creedon things are only set to get worse.
She told The Sun: “It's all the perfect storm. I can see that this is going to continue to happen more and more frequently
“It is really about to kick off and attacks are about to become an even more regular thing.”
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Here she explains the three reasons why maulings are on the rise - and how Brit dog owners can keep safe...
Lockdown
We all have more dogs. Over lock down people who would have never even considered getting a dog before decided to get dogs.
These dogs weren’t properly socialised. They were stuck in their home - not meeting with other people and children.
Punishments
These owners know very little about dogs. They’re using punishment for training.
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They’re completely misunderstanding what their dogs are doing and why they are doing it.
Biggest reason dogs attack kids
The number one risk is when dogs and children are hyper together.
When kids are hyped up they will do silly things that they wouldn't normally do.
When dogs are hyper they stop thinking logically.
The part of their brains that would usually say ‘that’s a little girl I need to be gentle’ suddenly goes out the window because their body goes into fight or flight mode.
Even though they’re playing and they’re having fun their body doesn't know that because something intense is going on.
And because something intense is going on if a little trigger happens - like a child accidentally standing on a dog’s tail - that dog’s threat interpretation is reduced.
That dog can then think that it is under attack and then because of that it will attack defensively.
The way to fix this is simple - when dogs and children are hyper together they should not be in the environment together.
Separate the two of them and get things back to calm play.
Using punishment is only going to intimidate the dog and make them more aggressive.
If you’re out with your dog and it growls at a stranger and you wallop your dog - it may shut up but next time it won’t give the growl as a warning and will go straight for the bite.
Predatory behaviour
Dog attacks happen when the dog is afraid because it’s been punished and has finally gotten the balls to stand up for themselves.
The other reason it happens is fun. It is fun for dogs to do predatory behaviour. This goes for every breed.
This is why we buy our dogs toys. This is why they love pulling rope.
It is our job to understand this and give him appropriate outlets to do it.