10/28/2025
PSA: If you are supervising children and dogs together, the first sign that a dog would like space is typically just the dog moving away, and we need to start teaching kids to respect that.
I was at a kid's soccer game recently, and someone brought their very cute toy poodle to the game. The poodle seemed happy to be there, enjoying getting to say hi to most people and loving being with her owner. At one point someone approached with their toddler and began chatting with the owner. The parent told the child to "be gentle" with the dog, and the toddler was doing her best, being as gentle as a toddler can be, but the poodle, after the initial hello, started to walk away and go behind her owner's legs in polite avoidance.
As the two adults spoke with each other, the poodle continued to circle the owner's legs (wrapping them up in the process!) while the toddler followed, hands outstretched.
Once the poodle hit the end of their leash and went between the owner's legs the parent looked down and moved the toddler away from the other dog. Nothing happened, other than the little dog not seeming too happy, but something certainly could have happened, and both parties in that equation walked away learning something that we'd probably prefer they hadn't.
The toddler learned that pursuing a dog as it moved away was an appropriate choice. And the poodle learned that little humans don't take hints and may need to be told "no" more firmly next time (which sometimes mean teeth start getting involved!)
I understand that interactions like these happen all the time and nothing bad happens, but I often think about how many dog bites to kids could be prevented if we did pay more attention to situations like these, and encouraged our kids to let dogs move away and not follow when interacting.
