The Estevan Public Library and the Estevan Humane Society teamed up to talk about dog safety during a presentation at the library on Saturday afternoon.
Humane society board members Sherri Lukye-Horrocks and Bonnie Gibson spoke to children and others about how to approach and behave around dogs. They brought Lukye-Horrocks’ dog Karma, a golden retriever-German shepherd cross, to the library as part of the demonstration.
To illustrate her point about proper behaviour around dogs, Gibson approached one of the children in attendance early in the presentation, cupped the child’s face and talked to her. It was a prearranged move to show how people often approach dogs in an unsafe fashion.
“Was that okay for me to do that to her? No, that wasn’t okay,” said Gibson. “That wasn’t very polite at all.”
Gibson told the audience that if they come up to Karma and grab her by the face, she might bark or growl as a warning, or even bite.
“They don’t like someone right in their face,” said Gibson. “That’s not right to do it to a dog or a person, even to a good dog like Karma. Karma’s very calm, Karma’s very trained but it would still scare her.”
Rather, Gibson said it’s better to approach the dog and its owner to find out if it is OK to pet the dog. However, there’s still a proper way to do it.
“You don’t go over their face, and you don’t grab their ears,” said Gibson. “You go around the top of the head or the top of the neck, or low.”
They encouraged the audience to make sure they dog’s hair is flat, the ears are back and the dog is smiling before approaching it.
“If the tail is wagging, she’s excited to see you,” said Lukye-Horrocks.
If the dog’s ears are forward and perked up, the hair is up on end and the tail is down, then a dog doesn’t want to be approached.
Once the presentation was finished, Karma performed a couple of tricks, and the children in attendance had the chance to meet Karma and practice proper techniques for petting the dog, since Karma was feeling relaxed and at ease.
