Dog ownership provides so many benefits to humans, particularly children. And pet ownership is continually on the rise world-wide, especially since COVID-19 made us more available to accommodate a new pet. Yet with all good things in life, there are risks. Children in particular are most at risk of being injured by a dog and their injuries are more severe when compared to adults. The media provides biased accounts of a ‘savage’ attack, often directly or indirectly blaming the dog’s breed, and stating how it was seemingly ‘unprovoked’. Sadly, the real reason WHY is completely misunderstood. Only by correctly understanding the true ‘why’ can we prevent future similar disasters. But there’s another possibly greater benefit of understanding why. There is immense potential for enhancing the very rewarding human-animal bond which is the underlying reason that humans and dogs live together in the first place. It’s not only our children who will thank us but the dogs!

Why dogs bite is a complex issue yet the solution is often portrayed as being very simple. Behaviour is influenced by a very elegant interplay of genetic predisposition, learning from previous experiences and the environment in which the animal lives. All of these factors need to considered together but yet rarely are. The dog (or breed of the dog) is often blamed for the dog bite but it is not that straightforward.

Genetic problems can cause problems in our pets at any age and may greatly impact on their wellbeing. As a Pet owner, its is important to be aware of the potential genetic diseases know to occur in certain dog breeds and what early warning signs may be. While such problems may manifest at any stage during your pets life, early detection and prompt attention is often the most rewarding way to combat most of these diseases. The webinar won’t cover every genetic disease known in every dog breed, but we will aim to cover the common genetic issues seen in Veterinary practice and which breeds are most commonly affected, along with brief information on what these disease’s may look like to a pet owner