Dog Breed - How to Choose a Dog Breed That is Safe For Children

Many people have no idea of how to choose a Dog breed that makes a great addition to the family as well as being toddler or child-safe. By choosing the wrong Dog, you not only put your children or baby in danger, you also put the Dog's life at risk. Dogs with bad behavioral problems often get "put down" for biting people.

So what breeds are more suitable or unsuitable for children? Pomeranians, Yorkshire Terriers, Chow Chows, White Terriers, Miniature Schnauzers and Scottish Terriers have all seen a good amount of coverage in the press for biting children. These breeds of dog are also more difficult to put through obedience training compared to other breeds.

Dog-biting cases tend to happen mostly to younger children aged 15 years and under, with the highest risk category being boys between 5 and 9 years of age. Funny enough, little girls tend to not get bitten as much. In most of these cases, studies have shown that the dogs were provoked prior to attacking the child,

There are also some cases where a dog would attack a toddler for no reason but these situations are the least common of all. In most cases it is due to the children playing competitive or rough games with the dog or trying to pull things away from the dogs mouth that provokes the aggressive behavior.

The smaller the children the less dominance they have in a dog's mind. Size, height, tone of voice and confidence all get factored into it. Most children who have received dog bites to the face are usually under the age of 4 years old. As they grow older and taller, the risks are lowered tremendously.

It is important that you are able to train the dog you are about to buy or inherit well and keep them under control. Dogs by nature are pack animals and in every pack, there is an alpha male or leader. Through proper training, you will be able to show the dog that you are the leader of the pack and get them to behave accordingly.

Problems arise when an owner does not establish this leadership quality with the dog. The dog then takes its position as the leader of the pack (your family), and thus becomes impossible to control. In addition to that, if the owner is not considered the leader in the dog's eyes, children of the family will rank even lower in pack status. This must not be allowed to happen because when a dog does not see children as having a similar leadership level as an adult, it is prone to displaying higher aggression levels toward them.

So in conclusion, we have come to understand the nature of dogs and that they still carry many traits of their ancestors as wild predators. So the following are a few important things to note. Do not leave your children unattended in a dog's presence and teach your kids to properly handle dogs. Make sure you correctly train or put through dog obedience school, any dog that you bring home.

Amy Chan is an author and publisher for several online blogs and websites which focus on children's and women's health, shopping and nutrition. She also writes content for house and kitchen decor magazines. Check out some of her new topics about modernizing your kitchen with electronic kitchen scales and also how futuristic digital bathroom scales can help you build more muscle and lose fat.