Today we had a visit from a lady from the Dog's Trust. She did a special assembly to teach us some rules to remember to follow when we are around dogs, especially dogs that we don't know. We learned that we should always ask the owner before we stroke a dog as some dogs can be scared or unfriendly. When we stroke a dog we should stroke its back and not grab at its face or tail as this could frighten the dog and make it cross. If a dog comes running up to us, we should not run away or shout because this will make the dog think that we want to play. Instead we should stand still, cross our arms over our body to protect out neck and chest area and avoid eye contact. This makes us seem very boring to the dog and will encourage it to leave us alone. We listened really well in the assembly and remembered the rules very well back in class.
We then had a separate workshop just us and Year 2. Here are some of the things we learned;
"We shouldn't hug dogs because they don't understand hugs. We should stroke them instead." Matilda
"We shouldn't take a dogs toys away from them because we don't like having our toys taken away." Lola
"Dogs don't like loud noises, they can hurt their ears." Jax
"If a dog has something that they shouldn't have then give them a toy to swap." Dylan
"If a dog is sleeping leave it alone or you might scare it." Molly
"Don't go near a dog if it is eating or it will get frustrated." Willow