Teaching Dog Safety Skills to Children via Remote Technology

Abstract

Behavior analysts have been effective in teaching various safety skills (e.g., Dancho et al., 2008; Himle et al., 2004; Miltenberger et al., 2009); however, few studies have evaluated dog safety skills. Over 4.5 million people are bitten by dogs each year and more than half are children (American Humane, 2019). Additionally, children often engage in behaviors that may increase the likelihood of dog bites and injuries (Patronek et al., 2013). Therefore, it is important to develop effective dog safety skills trainings. In Study 1, we conducted a survey to identify the prevalence of dog bites, common behavior of children around known and unknown dogs, and the importance of teaching dog safety skills to children as reported by their caregivers. Results of the survey suggest that children are more likely to sustain bites and injuries from known dogs, engage in behaviors that increase the likelihood of bites and injuries, and caregivers find dog safety skills important. In Study 2, we evaluated the effects of remote behavioral skills training in teaching three children to engage in safe behavior in the presence of unknown, off-leash dog videos. Remote behavioral skills training was effective for all three participants, and generalization occurred for two of the three participants to novel videos of unknown, off-leash dog videos.