There have been many videos shared recently of children and dogs interacting. In most of these videos, the original poster thinks the interaction is cute/funny, but professionals who work with dogs have been bringing attention to the fact that the body language of the dogs in the videos show they are clearly uncomfortable and the child in the video is in danger.
If a child is not old enough to be involved in training with a dog, then to put it very simply, they should not be directly interacting with the dog at all.
Young children usually want to grab at dogs. They want to put their face in the dog’s face. They want to wrap their arms around the dog. They are not reliable at being gentle. They usually make sudden movements and noises. All the above will make almost any dog feel unsafe. At best, the dog will merely tolerate its personal space being invaded and its patience being tested. There is nothing to benefit the dog from directly interacting with a young child like this. Instead, both dog and child should be learning to simply co-exist respectfully.
If a dog is being made uncomfortable by a child, it will start to show body language cues, just like it would do with another dog invading its space. Tensing the body, turning the head away, pinning the ears back, lip licking, whale eye, etc. This is the only language they know to ask for space, but often humans do not pick up on these signs. If the signs go ignored, the dog will feel the need to escalate the communication to something less subtle. This will be a growl or a snap. It is at this point many people will blame the dog for being “aggressive” when in fact, from the dog’s perspective, the child is the one being aggressive. The dog is merely defending itself.
Please don’t celebrate kids being put in danger or dogs being put in impossible situations. If you see these “cute” videos circulating, think about the dog’s perspective of the interaction and how it likely feels in that situation. Let’s stop glorifying uncomfortable and dangerous situations before more kids get hurt and more dogs get rehomed or euthanized for defending themselves.
