Pet and Child Safety

We can help you to prepare your pet, or to solve a problem

Dogs and cats can be upset by and afraid of children. New smells, noises, shared attention and change can cause stress.

Regardless of how you think your pet will react, a professional assessment can help. Reducing the stress to your pet can make the changes easier and enjoyable.

We help

combining families
separating parents/pets
new baby coming
adoption/fostering cases

We test and assess your pet, give advice on parasite control and stress management, explain how to introduce the new child, what to change now in preparation and general safety.

Don't assume things will automatically be fine, ask for help.

Your child needs good manners too and should not be teasing or sitting on your dog.

Don't leave dogs and children unsupervised and have a safe space to put your dog out of the reach of children if you are busy.

There's lots of advice out there for teaching kids to be safe with dogs, such as the Kennel Club's Safe & Sound scheme.

Here we look at the dog and the preparation or training needed to help your pet adjust.

STOP

Prepare your dog or cat for living with children, help us to STOP dogs biting children.

Test your dog, train your dog, help your dog to enjoy a life with children.

Here's some of the things to test and consider to make their relationship safer:

Kids bring new smells and sounds that your dog could be attracted to or frightened of. Some dogs need desensitising to screams or high pitches, or bangs and loud noises.

S

smells and sounds

Is your dog happy to be groomed? Moved by its collar? Petted everywhere? Examined? Children enjoy petting and investigating pets, your dog may need some help to understand this is not a threat

touch

obedience

Does your dog jump up? Get off the sofa when asked? Walk nicely on a lead? Steal your food? It's worth a few lessons or a behaviour visit to make sure your dog has good manners.

posture

Did you know that stretching and yawning can be signs of stress in a dog? Can you recognise the posture that means your dog is unhappy in a situation and may feel there is no choice but to snap or bite?

We can help you to read this and understand how to help your dog.