My dog injured the neighbor girl when she tried to hug and then kiss him. Our nieghbors said it is just an accident but I feel horrible, our dog has never done anything like this before, any suggestions on what we should do?

The first thing you should work on is being an advocate for your dog and be proactive in stopping people/kids from getting in your dog’s space. In a dog’s world, a non pack member running up and getting in their face is NOT ok. I don’t allow anyone to touch, kiss, pet or command my dogs to do anything. My dogs are expected to behave nicely around people but not interact physically with them. When you didn’t get the child to back off, the dog told her in the only way he knew how to get out of his face.

I think MANY dogs would react the same way when put in this position. I am not saying it’s ok to bite anyone, especially a child, but if you do your part as the dog’s leader and stop interactions like this from happening the bite would never have occurred.

The parents of this child need to teach her how to behave around dogs as well. Have them read this section on preventing dog bites in kids.

We also have a number of eBooks, which include topics that may help you.

I hope this helps.

Cindy Rhodes