Dogs Trust, the UK’s largest dog welfare charity, will be delivering dog safety workshops to children across Shropshire and Staffordshire next week (June 11 to17) as part of its second annual Be Dog Smart week.

The charity’s education and community officer for Shropshire and Staffordshire, Alison Donald, based at Dogs Trust Shrewsbury, will be visiting schools across the region reaching over 700 children over the course of the week, to ensure they understand how to behave around dogs, particularly in the home. So far this year Alison has held workshops in 64 primary schools across Shropshire and Staffordshire, reaching 12,700 pupils.

A survey of parents revealed that 35 per cent of children in the West Midlands come into contact with a dog every single day and 57 per cent of these dogs belong to their family or a close relative. 63 per cent of busy parents in the region admitted they have never taught their child to behave around dogs, but around 62 per cent have seen their child pulling a dog’s tail, lying or sitting on a dog and kissing a dog’s nose. The awareness week is just one of a number of initiatives the charity is putting in place to help ensure dogs and children live harmoniously together.

Alison said: “Be Dog Smart Week is an important initiative that will help us continue to spread fundamental dog safety advice to hundreds of children and parents across the UK. Whilst being around dogs can have so many wonderful benefits for young people, the simple fact is that any dog can bite or snap if they are worried or hurt. Be Dog Smart week allows us to reach even more children with our safety messaging.

“We can’t teach dogs to understand when and why a child might act in a certain way towards them, but we can teach children how to care for their dogs and behave responsibly around them. At Dogs Trust, we believe educating children, parents, grandparents, friends, teachers, gu

If you are a parent or guardian and would like further information about our Be Dog Smart campaign or if you’d like to book a workshop, visit www.bedogsmart.org.uk