At DogFest 2022, the Dogs Trust Village will be featuring the amazing Dogs Trust Education and Community Officers. These dedicated educators spend most of their year delivering fun, interactive dog safety sessions in schools across the UK to children aged 7-11.
These classroom-based workshops are packed with engaging dog-themed activities, designed to teach children how to behave safely, to ensure both children and dogs reap the many benefits of the human-canine bond.
Sadly, the majority of unsafe incidents between dogs and children happen in the home, with the family dog. Without close adult supervision, children often lack the knowledge to know when a dog has become worried by the interaction and how to behave accordingly. An unsafe response from a dog is simply their attempt to communicate they feel unsafe in that current situation and require some space.
By teaching our children about how dogs communicate, and what behaviours from us might cause them to feel worried, we can help prevent these incidents and instead focus on playing fun, safe games and snuggling on the sofa together and truly enjoy the loving relationships that can be so special between dogs and children.
What’s on at DogFest
At DogFest the fantastic team at Dogs Trust will be running a treasure hunt, where kids can hunt down hidden clues to learn all about dog safety – with a prize for everyone who takes part!
They also have an interactive body language game where, as a family, you can test your knowledge of how much you can ‘talk dog!’.
Finally, there will be a Q&A session each day at the Dogs Trust Village Green where you can hear all about the educational work they do year-round for children across the country.
If you and your family want to join in the fun, you can come and say hello and get involved all weekend in the Dogs Trust Village.
Other family activities
Dogs Trust love helping children understand their four-legged friends better so much that they even work in the holidays! They run 90-minute face-to-face sessions that will help your dog-loving children learn how to behave safely around dogs and how to build a loving bond with their furry friends, so everybody feels happy and comfortable.
You can find out more and enquire for your nearest summer holiday workshop by clicking here: Free Family Workshops
They also offer online sessions dedicated to helping families learn what their pooch needs to be happy and healthy, as well as how to help dogs and children live safely together.
You can find out more about their online family workshop and book today by clicking here: Workshops for Families
If you’d like to learn more about the education work they do, and find all kinds of useful resources, check out ther website here: www.learnwithdogstrust.org.uk
Whether it’s enrolling onto one of their workshops or joining in the family fun at a DogFest near you, Dogs Trust hope to see you soon!
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