What is it ?
The “Be a Tree” program is a dog bite prevention seminar program for school age children. This program focuses on fun and interactive activities to teach children how to read dog body language and how to act safely around their own dog and strange dogs.
The main message from the presentation is "Be a Tree" if strange dog comes near or any dog is too frisky or is making you uncomfortable. The session is 45-60 minutes long.
Why have this program? Half of all children are bitten by a dog by the time they are 12 years old. Dog bites are considered to be a serious public health problem by the American Veterinary Medical Association and by the Canada Safety Council and by New Zealand medical Journal.
Most dog bite injuries in young children occur during everyday activities interacting with familiar dogs.
You can verify this by conducting an informal survey within your school. Visit a few classrooms and ask for a show of hands of children who have been bitten by dogs. Then ask how many were bitten by their own dog, or another dog that they know. You will be shocked by the response.
The “Be a Tree” program is an innovative and interactive program created by the non-profit organization Doggone Safe. Children will learn to read dog body language and how to act safely around dogs by looking at large format photographs and by playing interactive games.
The “Be a Tree” program is unique in its use of several different teaching strategies, its focus on physical activity and its emphasis on positive messages. Instead of telling children “don't do this and don't do that”, the “Be a Tree” program empowers them with the knowledge they need to make safe decisions based on the body language and the actions of the dog and the situation at hand.
“The Be A Tree program is fun and terrific. The kids and teachers loved it.”
Jennifer Shryock
– Dog Bite Prevention Educator and Dog Behavior Specialist – Family Paws - North Carolina |
“I believe your program [Be a Tree] is the best dog bite prevention program available.”
Sherri Utter
– Retired Elementary School Teacher, Animatch Volunteer - Quebec |
The “Be a Tree” presentation will help your primary teachers meet the injury prevention education goals set out in the curriculum. The program includes a set of suggested follow-up activities designed by teachers and related to dog bite prevention education that are consistent with math, reading and language components of the curriculum. These can be reviewed at the Doggone Safe website
Cost of presentation
We would love to offer this for no cost, but unfortunately we don't get any funding from the community to do this (at the moment). We might find some at a future time, but at the moment, we are financing all cost of materials printed, postage, time, etc ourselves.
How much are you willing to pay to help prevent your child and your student from getting bitten by their dog? How much is the social cost of having your face ripped off, or your leg bitten?
All we ask is a small donation that goes towards our time, petrol, photocopy and postcard cost.
A gold coin per child is a great investment into undertanding what to look for in a stressed dog!
Material used in the program
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“The presentation informed our Grade Two and Three students on how they should act around
dogs. It told them the signs to look for when approached by a dog and gave the steps that
they should follow in dealing with dogs. I thought the presentation was excellent and Tonji
did a great job of keeping it interactive and interesting. I strongly recommend this
presentation to other schools. Our teachers and students felt they learned a lot”.
-- Robin McGrath, Principal, Holy Cross School – Holyrood Newfoundland
Endorsed by the Ontario Association of Veterinary Technicians |
The Ontario Association of Veterinary Technicians (OAVT) sanctions the “Be a Tree” program.
Veterinary Technicians are encouraged to take the program into their communities. To further
demonstrate the importance of this program, the OAVT will assign two Continuing Education
Credits to any Registered Veterinary Technician each time they deliver the program.
“Technicians will find the “Be A Tree” kit gives an outstanding opportunity to raise awareness
of the veterinary clinic and the Veterinary Technician profession to the whole community. It’s
a great way to increase the profile of Veterinary Technicians and demonstrate how helpful
animal health professionals are!”
-- Julie Jones, Community Outreach Coordinator, OAVT |
The Saskatchewan Veterinary Medical Association promotes the Be a Tree program and
veterinary technologists in that province receive continuing education credits for presenting
sessions to children. “I believe dog safety education for everyone can have a dramatic effect
on the number and severity of dog bites. There is a non-profit organization based out of
Ontario called Doggone Safe whose mandate is to promote dog safety. They have excellent
information on their website and I encourage all members to read this material. Doggone Safe
has also developed a classroom program for schools. The program is designed for Grades 1
through 4 and is an excellent way to teach children dog safety. Our goal is to eventually have
all children in Saskatchewan exposed to this material by the time they reach Grade 4.”
-- Tracy Fisher DVM – President SVMA |
“We would like to recommend the “Be a Tree” program and its founding organization,
Doggone Safe. We are impressed by both the goals of the program and the methods used for
teaching dog bite prevention. It is an engaging and positive program that uses sound
educational strategies to teach easy-to-remember techniques that children can understand.”
-- John Facelle MD MPH, Commissioner of Health, Rockland CO NY and Thomas Micelli PE, Director Environmental Public Health, Rockland CO NY |
“I was totally impressed… and saw the children respond in a manner which reflected their
understanding. The information was delivered in a clear, engaging manner and even the
adults learned from it. Thank you!”
-- Grade 2 Year 3 teacher – Holyrood Newfoundland |
“The children were very captivated. The use of pictures really added in the children’s
understanding and the games helped reinforce the program. It was Fabulous!”
--Year 3 teacher – Holyrood Newfoundland, Canada |
“Excellent presentation. It was very appropriate”.
-- Year 5 teacher – Dana Point California |
"I really enjoyed doing the actions like the tree. I am kind of afraid of dogs, but now I feel
much safer.”
-- Mckay – Year 6 student– Dana Point California |
“I learned a lot from that presentation it was very interesting. I told my Mom a lot and she
was amazed. I saw this mean dog one day and I did the tree”.
-- Walker – Year 6 student– Dana Point California |
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Although this incident happened in Canada, we have our own stories in New Zealand...
The family dog is usually the one that bites children as we haven't been taught to look for the signs that a dog is getting stressed. How to read your dog's body language will help with lowering the statistics!
Dog's Do Not Like Hugs and Kisses - we cannot stress this strongly enough. Say it over to yourself 1000 times. It doesn't matter if your dog is a Newfoundland or a Yorkie. Don't think that your dog is an exception to this - because you are wrong and you are setting your child and your dog up for potential tragedy. Teach your kids not to hug or kiss the dog on the face. Hugging the family dog or face-to-face contact are common causes of bites to the face. Teach your kids to scratch the dog on the chest or on the side of the neck - most dogs do enjoy this. If your child is a toddler or does not follow instructions, then do not allow access to the dog unless you have your hands on the dog.
Read Stop your puppy from biting
Get one of us at Naked Dog Training to come and give you some advice about your puppy, or better yet, come to our Kinderpuppy Class.
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