Imagine yourself minding your own business and taking a nice walk with your children or going for a run down the street?
Up ahead, you see a family playing with their two large breed dogs, and you smile. The fun and excitement touches your heart.
All of a sudden, you hear barking. The family starts calling out a name which isn’t yours!
You see in the periphery of your vision that same dog who was happily playing with his people is now running full steam ahead at you!
Barking all the way!
The next steps are crucial.
You know this already.
You’re not scared, because you learned how to be safe.
You plant your legs.
You stand tall, holding your arms down by your side with your fingers laced in front of you.
You give a slight head turn away.
You are calm.
The dog jumps up from the momentum of coming forward and then returns with all four paws on the ground.
The dog stops barking and his people catch up to him.
Your actions just prevented the behavior of the dog from escalating.
You kept yourself safe and prevented a bite from occurring.
How do I know?
I just had a little practice with this the other day.
Living in a pet friendly hotel lends itself to some surprising situations. This was for sure one of them.
The action of Standing Like A Tree is the best thing you or your children can do when a dog whether it is a familiar or unfamiliar dog is running towards them.
Yes, its scary.
But, the more empowered you or your children are in being able to respond rather than react with freezing, fleeing or fighting (stress responses), this can become an automatic response and a huge life skill to have and share with others.
Time is running out to enroll in the G2G: Kids Virtual Game Series.
This is the last week to get your school aged children signed up for a fun and interactive 4 week session.
They will not only learn how to stay safe, but have fun with their dog with kid and dog friendly play sessions.
Four Paws & You Dog Training 