Abstract
Excerpts: Pets play an important role inchildren’s lives. Althoughrelationships with animalsbring much joy and numerousdevelopmental benefits to manychildren, not all encounters withanimals are positive. The U.S.Centers for Disease Control andPrevention report that each year,4.5 million Americans are bittenby dogs; the rate of dog bite-relat-ed injuries is highest for childrenages 5 to 9 years. While theseinjuries might involve an incidentwith stray or loose dogs, havinga dog in the household is alsoassociated with a high incidenceof dog bites, both among childrenand adults (U.S. Centers for Dis-ease Control and Prevention, n.d.).These statistics point to the needfor education about safe interac-tions with dogs for all children,especially for those younger than9 years old.