In a News13 special report, we want to show you how to teach your children to avoid potentially dangerous situations when it comes to dogs.



Danielle Pellicci, Director of Training at A Dog’s Way Inn in Murrells Inlet says, don’t make any assumptions, that’s the number one thing you need to remember if you come in contact with any animal.

But when it comes to dogs and children, Pellicci says the biggest mistake is assuming man’s best friend, is friendly.

Pellicci says,”A very common mistake that parents make is to assume that if a dog is wagging its tail that the dog is approachable, but there are many different signals dogs send to one another and assume that we will understand them.  They can be misread by the dog and then the dog could maybe feel like it needs to defend itself or could get into an offensive state where it feels like it needs to challenge a child.”

Pellicci says children should not approach a dog head first, avoid direct eye contact, and don’t hug the dog.

”That direct approach and eye contact can be perceived as a threat, one dog will do that to another dog when it’s probably going to pose a fight, so children can send those messages to a dog without the dog really understanding that the child is being friendly.” says Pellicci.

The best way to approach a dog is to first meet its owner, then approach the dog from the side and if the dog is relaxed, you can pet its side.

A relaxed dog will wag its tail in a big, sweeping motion, not low or tucked between its legs or in a high flicking motion, those are signs of nervousness and fear which cause dogs to bite.  The ears should be erect and forward, not flat on the back of the head.

And if you are still not sure, but feel comfortable enough to let your child meet the dog, let the dog approach your child, never let your child approach a strange dog first.

Pellicci says the number one time a dog will bite is when it’s on a leash, because they feel constrained.

It’s best to say hello and move on don’t overwhelm the dog…

But there are resources available for people who want to retrain their aggressive dogs.

Harris Willard, owner of A Dog’s Way Inn says training an animal to be sociable with other dogs and people, plus being obedient to people can sometimes be confusing and lead to problems.

Willard says, “The common problem with most dogs are, dogs are living in people’s world and they don’t quite get it, so they need a little education to help them understand what people are all about.”

Willard says there is a way to make an aggressive dog more sociable.

”It is through training that you bring the dog back to the beginning and ask him to do the simplest of things and those simple things are easily comprehended.” says Willard.

Commands like sit, stay, and wait can be taught to almost any dog and Willard says,”As they do those things you reward them for it and then teach them how being more obedient will get them more freedom so they don’t have to fight for the freedom, they actually have the freedom given to them.”

Willard says the biggest mistake he sees people with an aggressive dog make, is they treat the dog like a human being, but then, the dog doesn’t get the guidance its needs and that’s confusing for the dog.

The key is to start when the dog is a puppy, with the owner as the leader so the dog will learn what you want it to do.

Willard says, ”That keeps them from acting on their instinct so when you go back to like pit bulls and rotweillers and bulldogs and all, you’ve got to remember what they were bred for so if you allow them to be themselves then they’ll act out the way they were bred.”

Early training and recognizing what triggers a nervous, fearful, or timid response in your dog may help you to have a happy, healthy, and well-trained family pet for a long time.

Willard says through training, most dogs with bad habits can be turned around, but everybody needs to remember that all animals have teeth and they may bite, it’s why they bite that the question.

Thema Ponton