Strategies to protect your child from a dog attack

With the spate of dog attacks featuring in the news, the TODAY show looks at how some of these tragedies could be prevented.

Despite popular belief, canine trainer Brad Griggs says there’s no such thing as safe and unsafe breeds – it comes down to training.

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“There’s no evidence anywhere in the world and no peer reviews to support the idea of safe or unsafe breeds. It’s all about responsible ownership and good training,” Griggs explains.

The danger of thinking in terms of 'safe' and 'unsafe' breeds is that you could get complacent into thinking a certain dog is ‘safe’, but if it has been at the hands of an irresponsible owner, it’s actions can still be unpredictable.

While there are a number of reasons why a dog may display aggressive behaviour toward a child, the most common is because they simply feel they need to.

Griggs explains the dog may feel trapped in a situation they can’t get out of, or the dog may have reacted with aggression in the past to get the result they wanted.

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It’s for this reason that positive social exposure is such an important part of a dog’s training; where the dog can be taught both actions and abstinence.

Because Griggs describes dog attacks as ‘dynamic situations’, there’s certainly no one-size-fits-all approach.

But, he suggests that if a dog is attacking a child, the most important thing is to try and control the dog’s head to prevent any damage and possibly straddle the dog to try and control its body.

“By the time this stuff happens, it’s too late,” Griggs says.

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“People need to become better at observing their dog and spend time training them so they understand things. Also, never leave your child unsupervised with a dog.”