Training Dogs Around Children: AU Safety Guide

There are two kinds of dog-and-child households in Australia – the ones who treat training dogs around children as a daily habit, and the ones who treat the dog as a babysitter that should just cope. The first group reads a growl as information. The second reads it as a problem to punish, and that’s where most child dog-bite hospitalisations in this country actually start.

Most Australian dog bites to children happen at home, with a dog the child already knows. The fix isn’t a tougher dog – it’s active adult supervision, body-language literacy for kids and parents, a retreat space the dog can use freely and a rule that children never approach eating, sleeping or unwell dogs. Start before the child can crawl. Don’t wait for a near-miss to start training.

Why this matters

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare publishes dog-bite injury data each year, and the pattern has been stable for more than a decade: children aged 0 to 9 are hospitalised for dog bites at higher rates than any other age group, and most of those bites come from a dog the child already lives with or visits regularly. We’ve seen this in our group classes too – the bite that ‘came out of nowhere’ almost always had warnings the adults missed. The training mistakes we see at intake aren’t usually the dog’s fault.

The body language adults miss

Dogs warn before they bite. The signals are often subtle, and most adults aren’t trained to spot them.

• Whale eye – the white of the eye showing when the dog isn’t moving its head.
• Lip licking with no food in sight.
• Yawning at odd times.
• A still body and a closed mouth when the child gets close.
• Turning the head away from the child while staying in the same spot.

A growl is the last polite warning a dog gives before it bites. Never punish a growl – punish the growl and you teach the dog to skip straight to the snap. Thank the dog quietly for the warning, then change the situation.

Active supervision vs the version most parents do

‘Watching’ the dog and child from the couch isn’t supervision. Active supervision means three things, all at once:

• You are within arm’s reach.
• Your eyes are on the dog, not your phone.
• You are ready to intervene before the dog has to.

If you can’t actively supervise for the next 20 minutes, separate the dog and the child. A baby gate, a closed door or a crate in another room – whatever works. Most household bites happen in the 90 seconds an adult left the room to answer the door.

Set up the home for both of them

Your dog needs at least one space the child can never enter. Not a punishment space – a retreat. A crate behind a baby gate, a laundry, a quiet bedroom with the door closed. Teach the dog the space pays well: a Kong, a long-lasting chew, the best meals of the day all happen there. Teach the kids that when the dog goes there, the dog is off-limits. No reaching in. No coaxing out.

The eating and sleeping rule is non-negotiable: a dog eating, sleeping, recovering from illness or chewing on something high-value gets no child interaction at all. Most ‘out-of-nowhere’ bites are about a child approaching a dog in one of those four states.

The 5 rules in any kid-and-dog household

1. No hugs. Most dogs tolerate hugs. Tolerating isn’t enjoying. The body language during a hug is almost always stress – ears back, lip lick, head turn, whale eye.
2. No looming. Adults and kids approach a dog from the side, low, with the dog’s permission – never from above.
3. No taking. Children never pull anything from a dog’s mouth, ever. Use a ‘drop it’ trade with food, or wait it out.
4. No riding, sitting on, pulling tails or ears. Common in cartoons. Rare in healthy dog households for a reason.
5. No ‘say hello’ approaches with unfamiliar dogs – on a walk or at the park. Most dogs in Australia are on lead because they don’t want strangers in their face. Always ask the handler. Always wait for a yes.

Age by age – what kids can and can’t manage

Under 2. Zero unsupervised time with the dog. Treat the dog and the toddler like two reactive animals in the same room, because functionally that’s what they are.

2 to 4. Short, scripted interactions. The child can drop treats on the floor (not feed from the hand), brush gently with adult guidance and call the dog over. No solo time, ever.

5 to 8. Can start to learn the recall and a basic ‘settle’ cue under adult supervision. Can help with lead walks if the dog is steady. Still cannot be left alone with a dog of any breed or temperament.

9 to 12. Can be the primary trainer for low-stakes cues with adult oversight. Still doesn’t take the dog to an off-lead park alone, and still cannot supervise the dog around younger siblings.

Training the dog around the child

Start before the child arrives if you can. A dog that already settles on a mat for 30 minutes, walks past a pram without reacting and has been desensitised to baby noises (low-volume recordings work well) has a much smoother adjustment when the baby comes home. A trainer accreditation check on whoever you bring in matters – there’s no industry-wide licence for dog trainers in Australia, so credentials are how you sort the safe operators from the rest.

If the child is already in the home and the dog is reactive to them, that’s a force-free trainer or veterinary behaviourist conversation, not a DIY project. Get help early – the gap between ‘nervous around the toddler’ and ‘first bite’ is shorter than most owners think.

When this approach isn’t enough

If your dog has bitten a child – any child, any context, broken skin or not – book a veterinary behaviourist. The same goes for redirected aggression onto a child during a dog-dog interaction, or any history of resource guarding food bowls, beds or toys from a child. The 5 rules above are for prevention. Once a bite has happened, you’re in management territory, not training territory, and you need professional help.

What Australian guidance says

The AVA position on responsible dog ownership specifically names children as a higher-risk group and asks for adult supervision of all child-dog interactions. The Delta Institute and the Pet Professional Guild Australia both publish trainer codes of conduct that ban physical correction and aversive tools – which matters here, because a dog trained with pain around a child is the wrong dog around that child.

Council registration also matters in this conversation. Most Australian councils class a dog as ‘menacing’ or ‘dangerous’ after a reported child bite, with mandatory muzzling, secure-yard requirements and substantial fines. Prevention is cheaper than declaration, and it’s a lot easier on the dog. The animal welfare strategy outlines the principles most state regulators draw from.

FAQ

Final tip

Trust the dog less than you trust the child, and trust the child less than you trust your own eyes – that’s the household rule that keeps everyone home from emergency.

Sources & References