{"id":34933,"date":"2013-05-23T20:44:32","date_gmt":"2013-05-24T00:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/miserybay.usanethosting.com\/wordpress\/?p=34933"},"modified":"2013-05-23T20:44:32","modified_gmt":"2013-05-24T00:44:32","slug":"pet-136","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/archive1\/pet-136\/","title":{"rendered":"Benny and Jessie's Pet Info"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nTop Five Dog Bite Prevention Tips
\nAs it\u2019s National Dog Bite Prevention Week, I feel obligated to share my top methods by which canine aficionados can avoid some of the personal, emotional, and financial trauma associated with incidents where our canine companions\u2019 teeth penetrate another animal or person\u2019s skin.
\nAccording to the AVMA Dog Bite Prevention webpage:
\n– 4.7 million people the U.S. are bitten by dogs on an annual basis
\n– 800,000 Americans receive medical attention for dog bites each year
\n– Children are most commonly bitten, as 400,000 receive medical attention every year (senior citizens are in second place)
\n– Dog bites to children most commonly occur with familiar dogs engaging in everyday activities
\nDog bites can have tragic consequences, including severe injury or death. They can also be costly and lead to a dog\u2019s banishment from its city of residence, as we all learned in the tragic tale involving celebrity DJ Samantha Ronson\u2019s dog Cadillac (see Settlement Reached in Dog Death Lawsuit Brought Against DJ Samantha Ronson on Pet360).
\nWhen it comes down to it, dog bite awareness and prevention shouldn\u2019t be merely a week-long endeavor, but a daily practice undertaken by all pet owners. Additionally, striving to prevent dog bites is a much better wellness practice for all parties involved than managing the post-bite trauma.
\nHere are my top five dog bite prevention tips:
\nProper Socialization and Training<\/strong>
\nGet your dog used to being around others of his kind by promoting consistent and positive socialization with other animals. If you are training a puppy or acclimating a new adult rescue pooch to your household and lifestyle, focus on training from a positive perspective as soon as you become the primary care provider.
\nTeaching the basic commands \u201csit,\u201d \u201cstay,\u201d \u201ccome,\u201d and others can help strengthen the canine-human bond and increase the likelihood that your pooch will respond favorably to interactions with other people.
\nIf you aren\u2019t confident with your technique or if your message is coming across as less than authoritative, then seek guidance from a trainer, veterinarian, or veterinary behavior specialist via the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists website.
\nLeash Restraint<\/strong>
\nAlways keep your dog on a short leash in public spaces. Avoid using an extendable lead, which doesn\u2019t allow for the same degree of control as a non-extending leash does, which keeps your dog\u2019s movement to the limited area that you allow.
\nKnow Your Friends and Be Wary of Potential Foes<\/strong>
\nDo not permit your dog to approach another dog with whom you are not familiar. Besides the concern for a bite, scratch, or other trauma, the owners of canine companions need to be aware that other diseases (ocular, oral, respiratory tract and other viruses, bacteria, etc.) can potentially transmit from nose to nose or mouth to anus (i.e., \u201cfecal-oral transmission\u201d) contact.
\nAvoid Potentially Stressful and Harmful Situations<\/strong>
\nIf your dog is socially-challenged, consider skipping the dog park all together. Any place where dogs congregate is a location where canine stress levels are high and normal behaviors are cast aside for more primordial patterns of aggression, anxiety, and a seemingly reduced capacity to pay attention to an owner’s commands.
\nA brief and seemingly safe interaction between two dogs can go quickly awry. What once appeared as a friendly meeting can escalate into a blood-shedding fight at a moment\u2019s notice.
\nConsider the Costs of Bite Wound Treatment<\/strong>
\nYou may be thinking \u201cthe first four recommendations sound great, but my dog is perfect and would never get into a fight with another animal.\u201d On more occasions than I can recall, I\u2019ve heard my clients say such things while sitting in the examination room and seeking treatment for a bite wound their dog received or inflicted.
\nThe average cost associated with treating a dog bite on an emergency basis can vary from hundreds to thousands of dollars and is typically relative to the amount of damage received (or inflicted). That is, the more serious the dog bite, the more expensive the veterinary bill.
\nThe degree of damage incurred is never fully visible to the naked eye at the surface of the skin. Therefore, it is often necessary to sedate or anesthetize an animal, open up the bite wound, assess and repair the damage underneath the skin’s surface, then surgically close the site with a drain (a rubber penrose drain provides an exit for bodily fluids that collect as a result of the crushing injury associated with a bite-related trauma).
\nAlways take preventative measures to ensure that your pooch will not be the instigator or the recipient of a dog bite. What do you do to help prevent dog bite trauma to or by your companion canine?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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