How to be SAFE around a dog you don’t know
Children want to pet and rush up to every dog they see, and that is one of the least safe things a child can do. Not every dog is as tolerant of children as your family dog. This is the SAFE guide for the dog in the park, the dog behind the fence and the dog at the end of a stranger’s leash — what to teach your child to do with their body, and why it works.
Bite figures: American Veterinary Medical Association. Shelter figures: ASPCA, 2025 data from Shelter Animals Count.
Make dog bite prevention fun
Dog bites are scary. Dog bite prevention doesn’t have to be. It matters that you have a conversation with your children about how to stay safe around dogs they don’t know, and SAFE gives you materials that make the conversation something children enjoy.
Children want to pet and rush up to every dog they see, and that is a very unsafe habit. Not every dog is as tolerant or as accepting of children as your family dog, or as the dogs your children have already met. Children need to be taught to stay away from dogs they don’t know, and to stay away from any dog when there is no adult around.
Running, screaming and moving quickly can overstimulate a dog or trigger arousal. Teaching children calm body language around unfamiliar dogs defuses situations that could otherwise turn dangerous. And this has nothing to do with breed: any dog can bite, depending on their previous social experience or lack of it, their level of self-control, and how their owner has trained and handled them.
What to do to keep children safe around dogs
Teach your children dog safety and dog bite prevention with the SAFE game. It is easy, it is fun, and it promotes safe behavior around dogs. SAFE isn’t only for unfamiliar dogs either — it helps in any situation where your child is dealing with an over-excited dog.
Stay Still, and chill
Stop moving. Running, squealing and sudden movement are what turn a curious dog into an excited one, and an excited dog is the one that jumps, nips and knocks a child over. Standing still is boring, and boring is exactly what you want to be.
Arms Crossed, like a boss
Fold your arms across your chest. Hands tucked away are hands that can’t be grabbed at or jumped for, and crossed arms stop a child reaching out toward a dog they don’t know.
Face Away, like you don’t want to play
Turn your body side-on or away from the dog. To a dog, facing them head-on and staring is confrontational. Turning away says you are not a threat and you are not an invitation.
Eyes Down, on the ground
Look at the ground, not at the dog. Direct eye contact is one of the clearest challenges you can give a dog. Dropping your eyes takes the pressure off and lets the dog lose interest and move on.
The body cues your child practices during the SAFE game don’t only keep your child calm. They are calming signals for the dog as well. SAFE brings everybody’s excitement level down at once — which is usually the thing that needed to happen.
What can you do to help your children avoid being bitten by a dog they don’t know?
Supervise children
We are all busy and pulled in a million directions. Unfortunately, the reality is that most dog bites happen when an adult is not around. Supervise children around dogs, and around the places loose dogs turn up — a park, a neighborhood street.
Don’t approach a dog you don’t know
Teach children never to approach a dog they don’t know without an adult there. Ever. You cannot guarantee how an unfamiliar dog will respond to your child, so it is better to stay away.
Remind children of the rules
Make a list of your family’s rules about how to behave around dogs, and remind your children of the rules about unfamiliar dogs often. Going on a playdate? Repeat the dog rules every time you drop them off, even if your friends don’t have a dog. Better the occasional eye roll and “Oh Mom!” than the aftermath of a dog bite.
Don’t ignore body language
Dogs communicate with their bodies, and most dogs show particular postures and cues before they bite. A wagging tail does not mean a friendly dog — tail movement says far more about arousal than about friendliness. When adults and children ignore or misread body language, dogs sometimes escalate to a bite.
Body language of dogs
Dogs communicate with us every day. If you know the signals, you have a much better idea of what a dog is actually saying.
Dogs have stress and anxiety just as people do. They can’t come right out and tell us they are uncomfortable, but they do communicate how they feel and what they intend through their bodies. The signals range from posture to eye contact to tail height and movement, and they are warnings that a bite is possible. If you see a dog giving these signals around your child, it is your responsibility to step in and redirect your child or the dog.
As adults, we need to teach children to respect every dog’s space and every dog’s body. Each dog is different, and some won’t communicate their discomfort at all — especially if they have been ignored or punished for it in the past. One dog may tolerate being crawled on or ridden like a horse, but that doesn’t make it appropriate, safe or fair to that dog or any animal. A dog is not a toy. Don’t let your child treat any dog like one.
In any interaction with a dog, teach children that gentle touches and soft petting on the chest, back and sides are what most dogs enjoy — and let the dog decide when they have had enough. When the dog gets up and walks away, children need to understand that the dog is done for now and wants to be alone. Give your dog somewhere to retreat to, like a crate, that is a child-free zone.
Get this chart as a printed poster for the wall, or as a pack of 50 postcards to hand out. · How to meet a new dog
Practice it before you need it
The point of making SAFE a game is that a child who has practiced it twenty times in the living room can do it in the street without being told. Stay still, arms crossed, face away, eyes down — that is a trained response, not something a four-year-old works out under pressure.
Watch the video at the top of this page together, download the free kit below, and then play. The wall chart is there so the four steps stay on the wall after the conversation ends.
This one comes as a printed poster for the wall, or as a pack of 50 postcards to hand out. Same four steps either way — the poster is for the room a child is in every day, the postcards are for the people who only get one shot at telling them: a presentation, a school night, a team briefing, an adoption pack.
Get the free SAFE kit for kids
Children’s eBooks, printable wall charts and coloring pages, plus both SAFE videos. Nothing to buy — tell us where to send it and it is yours.
