Attitudes of caregivers to supervision of child-family dog interactions in children up to 6 years-An exploratory study

Dog bites suffered by young children are often inflicted by the family dog and preceded by an interaction. As poor supervision of child-dog interactions may be a key cause of these incidents, we set out to investigate dog owners' attitudes to supervision of everyday interactions of their children with the family dog and whether interactions with family dogs were judged differently than those with unfamiliar dogs. An online survey was conducted over a 4-month period. To take part, respondents had to live with a child (≤6 years) and to own a dog. The questionnaire contained sections about demographics (participant, child, dog), supervision and daily management of the child and dog, intervention in interactions, and awareness of risks of interactions (all scored on a scale from 1 to 6). Questions about intervention included 5 pictures of child-dog interactions which were chosen based on concordant expert ratings. Respondents' average level of tolerance of unsafe behaviors was in the middle of a scale from 1 to 6 (3.05, standard deviation [SD] 1.29), and their level of attentiveness they reported during supervision of child and dog was similar (mean 3.12, SD 1.47). Environmental control of interactions, in particular by giving the dog a resting place separated from the child, was reported on a low level (mean 2.83, SD 1.47). However, respondents rated the need for an intervention in child-dog interactions very differently than experts (U = −13.52, P < 0.001): on average, participants agreed with experts on only 2 depicted situations involving the family dog and on 4 encounters with an unfamiliar dog. Overall, many dog owners need to improve their supervision of child-dog interactions. It is vital to educate caregivers about potentially unsafe behaviors and safety measures to use with the family dog.