Kids
For three years, Justice for Bullies has provided a free, fun, and interactive dog bite prevention presentation to the children of Calgary and surrounding areas. To date, we have taught over 1000 children how to safely interact with dogs. Each child that attends our presentation receives a Justice for Bullies Dog Safety Coloring Book to ensure the learning doesn’t end with the session. These are also available online to download or as a hardcopy.
We teamed up with The Family Dog to offer the I Speak Doggie and Dog Stars programs designed specifically for school-aged children. They aim to increase appropriate child-dog interactions and encourage the comfort of dogs during these interactions. Children learn basic principles about whether a dog is giving consent to be touched, and how to read body language to ensure the dog is comfortable. Signs of canine stress might not be obvious to children (or even many parents) and when they are ignored, this is when dog bites occur.
The presentations are about 45 minutes long and feature a music video with lyrics that are appealing and easy to remember, so that this important message is clearly understood by the children. While most bite prevention programs focus on what to do when a stray or aggressive dog approaches a child, I Speak Doggie and Dog Stars provide a more holistic approach to dog interaction and body language.
With 50% of children being bitten by the time they are 12 years old, and 77% of all bites coming from the family or a friend’s dog, the importance of teaching kids how to behave safely around the dogs should be a priority.
Justice for Bullies covers all costs for program licensing, equipment, and supplies, thanks to our donors and sponsors. We only require a suitable space and some coordination around logistics, especially now that Covid-19 precautions are a consideration.
We would be thrilled to offer this program to more schools, or discuss other ways this program could be made available to more children in our communities. We can be reached at justiceforbullies@gmail.com for more information.
Areas where we provide dog bite prevention:
- Calgary, Alberta
- Chestermere, Alberta
- Indus, Alberta
- Langdon, Alberta
- Strathmore, Alberta
- Anahim Lake, BC and area
- Vancouver, BC and area
- Winnipeg, Manitoba and area
- Denver, Colorado and area