Kids learning how to be safe around dogs

The wave of stories about kids being taught how to be safe around dogs leaves me ambivalent. I never needed any training except my sensible mother’s advice to keep my distance from dogs. Seems to me it’s up to dog owners to keep their animals leashed and train them not to lunge at people – especially kids.

Dog owners should not go around expecting kids to have been dogproofed like this. This is a bit like teaching kids to duck and cover during an atomic bomb attack, or hide when an armed intruder enters their school.

In any case, it’s not likely to be a fuzzy little dog like the one shown in the CTV photo that half rips a kid’s face off, is it?