Making our communities a safer and better place to live is the goal of For Pits' Sake. Three areas of specific concern are:
- Prevention of dog bites and attacks
- Responsible dog ownership
To address these issues, For Pits' Sake offers the following programs:
-- Click on the name for more information regarding each program --
Safety Around Dogs
Children make up more than 60 percent of all dog bite victims. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates half of all children 12 and younger have been bitten by a dog. The chances that a victim of a fatal dog attack will be a burgler are 1 in 177; the odds that it will be a child are 7 in 10. Just as children need to be taught to be well-behaved around other people, they need to be taught to be well-behaved and respectful around animals. They need to know how to touch a dog properly, how to interpret a dog's body language and to know when a dog is not to be disturbed. In addition, they need to know what to do if being attacked by a dog. The principles of positive interaction between dogs and children presented are important for teaching safety to all young children, whether or not they own dogs.
Hug-A-Tree
The Hug-A-Tree and Survive program was started in 1981 after a group of Search and Rescue (SAR) professionals searched for a nine year old boy who got lost and died in the local mountains near San Diego, CA. The Hug-A-Tree program is an assembly program for children on how not to get lost, how to stay comfortable if they do get lost, and how to be spotted and found. It is the sincere hope of For Pits' Sake that your children never need this knowledge, but it may help them to remember one or more facts that will keep them alive and make the search short and successful.
Responsible Dog Ownership
Being a responsible dog owner is easy, but it involves many things. It means making sure that your dog is not a nuisance. Basically this means being a "good citizen." It means making sure that your dog does not roam freely, destroy property, chase livestock, maul children or other animals, leave excrement behind in public areas, become a nuisance barker, or in other ways decrease the quality of life of others in your community. It boils down to proper control, good training, cleaning up after your dog's messes, and providing your dog with enough physical exercise and mental stimulation that he does not create his own "vices" out of frustration. For Pits' Sake offers classes to educate both children and adults about the joys and responsibilities of dog ownership.
