by Melanie Cossey

Created on: April 05, 2011   Last Updated: April 06, 2011

There are several reasons why children are more prone to being bitten by a dog than adults. Knowing the reasons is the first step in helping you to protect your child against this scenario. Armed with this knowledge, you can then teach your child how to respect dogs and prevent any injury.

Pack Instinct

Dogs are internally governed by a pack instinct. Even after thousands of years of living with humans, this has not sufficiently been bred out of domestic dogs. One must become familiar with its workings to understand why children are more at risk for dog bites.

Within a pack there is one leader, called the Alpha male. All the other dogs are under subjection to the Alpha male's authority. The lower dogs constantly compete for pecking order and the one who can establish this among the lower ranks may one day compete for the position of Alpha dog. When a dog lives in your family, you are essentially its pack. It will look to an adult to assume the role of the Alpha male. This doesn't always have to be the husband or male in the household, but whomever can dominate the dog and gain its respect. Sometimes the female human of the household or even another pet dog can fall into this role. Also two or more people can fulfil the role of Alpha, but they must be consistent in their ability to dominate the dog.

Once the role of Alpha male has been established, your dog will see the other members of the family as pack mates with whom to challenge or compete with for authority. Most times the children are pack mates because they lack the ability and dominance to put the dog in its place. When your dog is on an even keel with a child, it will think nothing of trying to dominate it through aggressive play or behaviour in the form of nipping or biting. To prevent your dog from seeing your children as pack mates, you must teach them to be firm and make the dog obey.

Inability to Read Body Language

Another reason why children are more prone to dog bites is that they are usually uneducated in reading a dog's warning signs. Dog's are born with an innate language that allows them to communicate with each other through body stances and positioning. This language can reveal when a dog is happy, playful, curious, cautious, nervous, fearful, ill, injured, submissive or aggressive. Other dogs recognize these signs and know when and how to approach another dog or when to keep away. Many adults can recognize these signs too but a child will be generally oblivious. When a child can't respect

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