Children and Dogs
If you have children, or children visit your home, you should NEVER EVER leave a child unattended with ANY dog regardless of its breed or size. It is your full responsibility to supervise your dog's interaction with children at all times. Your dog cannot reason like a human can. It is important to respect your dog's TEMPERAMENT and its SPACE. Do not let children bother your dog while it is sleeping, or eating, or chewing on a bone or treat, or when it indicates it wants to be left alone. You may want to have a kennel or crate you can put your dog in while it is engaging in these types of activities so that it cannot be inadvertently bothered at these times. You can also put your dog in a crate or kennel if you know you are not going to be able to supervise the dog around children at a particular time. Your dog needs a place to go where s/he will be safe and will not be bothered. Do not let anyone, particularly children, poke or prod at your dog, pull its ears, tail or other parts of its body, or lie or jump on your dog. If you are not willing to follow these guidelines then you should not get a dog. Please keep in mind that there are approximately 4.5 million dog bites in the United States per year and the vast majority of them occur to children ages seven and under, including infants (source: Dog Bite Law - Statistics).
Note: We recommend that you have a kennel and a crate that you use whenever you cannot supervise your dog around children e.g. at parties, while it is eating, etc. You can responsibly protect both your dog and children by using the kennel or crate at these times. Just remember that if your dog bites a child, not only will the child be traumatized for life, but your dog will likely end up losing its own life as a consequence.
Even if you have a tolerant dog who does not mind being bothered while it is eating, or who does not mind getting poked and prodded at, it is your responsibility to train your own children, other children, and their parents how to act responsibly around dogs if they do not otherwise know how to. By educating them how to behave around dogs you can save them from getting bitten by other dogs they encounter that are not as tolerant as your own.
