Our dog walks make dogs social. world-wide 25,000 humans are killed by dogs.
I recently viewed a cnet article about " the-24-deadliest-animals-on-earth" I found it remarkable that they ranked the domestic dog at Number 4 most deadly with 25,000 estimated human deaths per year.This sounded massively over estimated, but of course it includes all dog related deaths around the planet. In many developing countries dogs are not cared for as they are in the developed nations, and there are a lot more strays roaming the streets, a hungry and non socialised wild domestic dog is obviously much more likely to attack for survival.
Even in America there are a lot of dog caused human deaths each year. I won't discuss breed here, because I have quoted statistics from the CDC before and incurred the wrath of owners of those breeds.
Regardless of what some dog trainers will tell you, a big powerful unsocial dog is much more likely to kill or injure a human than a small non powerful unsocial dog. But all non social dogs are much more likely to cause dog bites.
Dog training can assist dogs overcome phobias and particularly bad (negative behaviour) actions, but they are usually an intervention 'one off' thing, that an owner is supposed to reinforce. Only regular dog walks can train and keep a dog social.
Dog walking is about health of a dogs mind and body on a continuing basis. Dogs don't learn from a dog walker as such, though a good walker will give considerable guidance to the dog and owner. They will however observe how social dogs behave and how a social pack works together in play and simulated hunt (directed walks).
A big part of what we do in helping dogs become more social, is going to have the dogs be more social to humans at home and when the owners take their dogs out. We don't walk 'red zone' dogs that are highly anxious or aggressive - a dog trainer or dog behaviourist deals with those outliers.
We however get dogs to a social level where they are having fun on their outing with us, and with reduced stress and anxiety comes a lot lower likelihood that a dog will resort to a bite when confronted by an emergency situation.
We get that people in developing countries don't all have time to walk their dogs. We get that dog control of wild dogs isnt probably their councils priority either. However in developed nations, with very few stray dogs on the street, it is incredible that there are any dog bites or dog deaths caused to humans at all. If you walk your dog regularly off lead, and it is a relaxed happy dog then you will know what I mean. If you don't walk your dog regularly and need a professional to do it for you, give us a call ..
