At some time in their growing up years, most children want a dog. They pester and promise until many parents agree; a dog is then picked out of a kennel, or a rescue site often based on size, how cute the dog is, and how friendly it appears to be compared to the other dogs at the kennel or rescue site.

But, what about avoiding dog breeds not generally considered the best choice for kids? This is not to say they aren’t great dogs, many are nice, but they are typically known to be better for adults, not children.  Energy level is also a consideration for most families.  Dogs who are extremely powerful, protective, or have high prey drive are best suited to be owned by responsible adults.  Dogs may be scared by the erratic movements and noises of children.  “It’s all in how you raise them” is a common thing you hear, but this is not entirely true.  Temperament depends a lot on a dog’s genetics.  Not just the breed itself, but a combination of the genetics, training, and how the owner raises and socializes the dog and teaches the children to interact properly with the dog.

This list was compiled based on experience and opinions of  trainers, veterinarians, breeders of dogs, and statistics from the Center for Disease Control (CDC).

1. Chow Chow– may not like to be touched, aloof, independent
2. Terriers (Rat Terrier, Jack Russell)– bred to kill vermin, often avoided due to tendency to nip, sometimes too hyper
3. Chihuahua– any toy breed is too small and delicate for kids, ex. breaking a leg falling off a bed, and may be intimidated and snap
4. Belgian Malinois– like many herding/protection breeds, they are too high-energy, high-drive and too impulsive to be suitable as a child’s pet
5. Cane Corso– Large, very powerful, and may not tolerate children well
6. Border Collie– any herding breed is not the best choice, may try to “herd” children by nipping, some have fear/anxiety issues and may bite, very energetic
7. South African Boerboel– can be dominant, too over-protective, and are very large and powerful
8. Siberian Husky– the CDC considers them high risk for bites
9. Doberman– territorial, and some may be too protective over children
10. Shar Pei– guard dog instincts, independent

Other breeds of dogs that might also not be the best choice for young children are:  Rottweiler, Dachshund, Presa Canario, Akita, German Shepherd, and a St.Bernard.

Whatever the breed, never leave your children unattended with dogs. Children need to understand that dogs are not toys. Children need to be taught to respect dogs.

If you are going to get a dog, make the commitment to get the dog obedience training, which is essential for all dogs.

Sources:

 Dynamic Dogs Training & Behavior, The CDC Dog Bite Prevention

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued this bulletin on 02/05/2014 regarding child passenger safety.

Little kids and shopping carts can be a bad combination, especially if a child doesn’t understand the dangers of standing up in or trying to climb out of a cart. It only takes a few seconds, while a parent or other adult is intent on picking a product off the shelf, for an accident to happen. The following news release states that new, U.S. research finds a child is being seen in an emergency room every 22 minutes because of an injury related to shopping carts.

Falling from shopping carts caused 70 percent of the injuries, followed by running into/falling over a cart, cart tip-overs, and fingers, legs, or arms getting trapped in a cart.

The study in the January issue of Clinical Pediatrics, found that more than 500,000 children under the age of 15 were treated at emergency rooms for shopping cart-related injuries between 1990 and 2011, an average of more than 24,000 a year.

Seventy-eight percent of the injuries were to the head. Soft tissue injuries were the most common type of head injury, but the annual rate of concussions and internal head injuries rose by more than 200 percent during the study period, from 3,483 in 1990 to 12,333 in 2011. Most of this increase occurred in infants and toddlers.

Voluntary shopping cart safety standards introduced in the United States in 2004 have done little good, the researchers noted.

“The findings from our study show that the current voluntary standards for shopping cart safety are not adequate,” Dr. Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, said in a hospital news release.

“Not only have the overall number of child injuries associated with shopping carts not decreased since implementation of the safety standards, but the number of concussions and closed head injuries is actually increasing,” Smith said. “It is time we take action to protect our children by strengthening shopping cart safety standards with requirements that will more effectively prevent tip-overs and falls from shopping carts.”

Suggestions include improved restraint systems, placing child seats in shopping carts closer to the floor, teaching parents about shopping cart safety and having stores promote the use of cart safety belts.

Researchers added that there is even more that parents can do to keep their children safe around shopping carts. These include not using carts that lack safety restraints or have broken wheels, staying with the cart and child at all times, and not putting infant seats on top of shopping carts. Parents would be better off putting their infants either in strollers or in carriers that strap to the front or back of the parent’s body.

“It is important for parents to understand that shopping carts can be a source of serious injury for their children,” said Smith, a professor of pediatrics at Ohio State University College of Medicine. “However, they can reduce the risk of injury by taking a few simple steps of precaution, such as always using the shopping cart safety belts if their child needs to ride in the cart.”

SOURCE: Nationwide Children’s Hospital, news release, Jan. 21, 2014

A new research study demonstrates that there has been a drop in children being admitted to the ER since drug manufacturers voluntarily withdrew cough and cold medications for infants and young children from the market in 2007, and after labeling changes advised that  over-the-counter cough and cold medications were not for use in children under 4.

Manufacturers of over-the-counter oral infant cough and cold medications voluntarily withdrew these products from the market in 2007 amid concerns that the drugs were causing significant numbers of emergency department visits — and in rare cases, infant deaths.

“The change [in ER admissions] was associated with those two events,” said study author Dr. Lee Hamilton, a medical officer in the division of healthcare quality promotion at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“We saw that in children under 2 years old, adverse events from cough and cold medications dropped from one in 25 of all emergency department visits for adverse drug events to about one in 40 [such visits],” Hamilton said. “In the 2- to 3-year-olds, adverse events from cough and cold medicines dropped from one in 10 of all emergency department visits for adverse drug events to about one in 15.”

Parents need to be vigilant about where medications are stored. Dr. Bradley Berg, medical director of Round Rock Pediatrics at Scott and White Healthcare, in Texas shared about accidental ingestion of these medications, saying, “ Over-the-counter medications may seem benign to the average person, but they can be dangerous, especially in small children.

The highest number of unsupervised ingestions seen in our study was in 2- to 3-year-olds. These are kids that are beginning to be mobile and may start climbing and getting into more. And, these medications are sweet and good-tasting. This is the age group that parents really need to be monitoring,”

As for the parents who still choose to give their young children cough and cold medications, Dr. Allison Bartlett, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at La Rabida Children’s Hospital in Chicago, said “Many people think these medications are safe because they’re sold over the counter, and many parents may have taken these drugs when they were young, or they may have older children that to whom they gave the medications.

Kids get so many colds; it’s a frustrating problem. The temptation is there to give them over-the-counter medications that promise to make your kid feel better. But, under the age of 4, these medications are no better than giving a placebo and they carry a number of additional risks.

While these medications can ease symptoms in adults and older children, the nasal passages and airways in young children are so small that the slightest bit of inflammation from a cold or respiratory illness makes it harder to breath, and it also makes it harder to make an impact with any treatment.”

Texas pediatrician Berg shared that for children over 1 year of age, a teaspoon of honey several times a day can help quell a cough. “You can put it in tea or in water with lemon juice;” he advised. “The reason that children under 1 year old can’t have honey is a risk of botulism in infants,” he added.

Results of the study were released online Nov. 11 in the journal Pediatrics.

Source: Womenshealth.gov.

The following study is geared towards those who have a young child using a high chair. If you don’t have child in this age group, you might want to share it with someone you know who does.

A new safety study documents that high chair accidents have increased 22 percent between 2003 and 2010; U.S. emergency room physicians are seeing almost 9,500 high chair-related injuries each year. Most of the children seen are under one year of age.

In the study, published online Dec. 9 in Clinical Pediatrics, the authors analyzed information collected by the U.S. National Electronic Injury Surveillance System. The data concerned all high chair, booster seat, and normal chair-related injuries that occurred between 2003 and 2010 and involved children 3 years old and younger. Data demonstrated that high chair/booster chair injuries rose from 8,926 in 2003 to 10,930 by 2010.

“We know that these injuries can and do happen, but we did not expect to see the kind of increase that we saw,” said study co-author Dr. Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

“Most of the injuries, over 90 percent, involve falls with young toddlers whose center of gravity is high, near their chest, rather than near the waist as it is with adults,” Smith said. “So when they fall… they topple, which means that 85 percent of the injuries we see are to the head and face.”

“Because the fall is from a seat that’s higher than the traditional chair and typically onto a hard kitchen floor, the potential for a serious injury is real,” he added.”This is something we really need to look at more, so we can better understand why this seems to be happening more.”

Roughly two-thirds of high chair accidents involved children who had been either standing or climbing in the chair just before their fall, the study authors noted. Their conclusion: Chair restraints either aren’t working as they should, or parents are not using them properly.

“In recent years, there have been millions of high chairs recalled because they do not meet current safety standards. Most of these chairs are reasonably safe when restraint instructions are followed, but even so, there were 3.5 million high chairs recalled during our study period alone,” said Smith. “However, even highly educated and informed parents aren’t always fully aware of a recall when it happens,” he noted.

According to the study, the most frequent ER diagnosis after a high chair fall is a concussion or internal head injury, otherwise known as a “closed head injury.” This type of head trauma accounted for 37 percent of high chair injuries, and its frequency climbed by nearly 90 percent during the eight years studied.

Nearly six in 10 children experienced an injury to their head or neck after a high chair fall, while almost three in 10 experienced a facial injury, the study found.

Injuries related to falls from traditional chairs were more likely to be broken bones, cuts and bruises.

“For now,: Smith said, “the top three things parents can do to ensure their child’s safety: Use the restraint, use the restraint, use the restraint!”

“The tray is not meant to be a restraint. Children need to be buckled in,” he added.

“Also, supervision is a must. Stay with your child during meal time and make sure he or she doesn’t defeat the restraint,” he said. “Even if a chair does meet current safety standards and the restraint is used properly, there’s never 100 percent on this . . . Parents will always need to be vigilant. Also, if the high chair has wheels, lock them in place. Make sure the high chair is stable, and position it away from walls or counters that the child can push against.”

SOURCE:  HealthDay News, 2013 Clinical Pediatrics, online