Children learning about animals in school

I thought of this from an other post. Many animal owners are found to be respondsible if thier pet bites a child even if the child was playing with the animal wrong. Unless you have a video camera running, you don't have proof that the animal was pestered. A parent may not tell the child how to handle an animal, or how to know when it wants to be left alone. Some animals are called "viscious" because they bit a child once or twice and are forced to be put down. I thought this was unfair to the owner and was wondering about how many people thought it would help if a teacher was told to teach kids how to handle animals and how to know what they are feeling.

I think it might be a good idea. Children should be taught not to hurt animals and not to pull on them. Maybe then they would grow up to respect them alittle more. Children should also be taught about spay and neutar when they are at an age that they would understand. Maybe it could be included in there science class.

They should most definitely be taught that in school! Just respect for animals in general, how to treat animals you don't know, how to pick up puppies and kitties, and about the rodents (gerbils, hamsters) that their parents will most likely allow as their first pets. They should learn about spay/neuter, and about why they should adopt from a shelter, and what to do when they see a stray dog or cat around their home.

Maybe the kids could educate the parents, because a lot of parents sure aren't educating their kids!

Yes absolutely!

When I'm out with my dogs kids will just rush up & grab them to give them a hug. Which is fine with my dogs, they love the attention, but there are a lot of dogs (and cats!) out there that would be threatened by that & bite. I always try to point out to the child that he/she should ask first, that not all animals are so friendly.

I love it when a child comes up and asks first if they can pet the dogs...you know they have responsible parents.

And I love the spay/neuter education idea, too!

I think that a class trip to a shelter would be great, provided the kids aren't allergic. I know when I was in elementary school, we had trips to the fire department, police department, even to McDonald's. A trip to learn about animals would be great for lower grades, and older students could learn about animal cruelty and spay/neuter issues.

I know high schools are getting into Community Service requirements for seniors; how about volunteering at a shelter?

Kids should be taught how to hold animals correctly, animals are part of everyone's life even if they don't own one, you still see them flying round or at the zoo you see many animals
-Sam

Some kids who love animals aren't allowed to have pets, so I think it would be a good idea to teach children how to respect them in school. It's best if a parent teaches this, but school is also a good place for learning lessons that aren't taught at home.

I used to go to schools with several different animals. I would bring a snake, tarantulla, mouse, millapede, tree frog, and guinea pig. The animals would change from time to time as I worked at a pet shop and the animals belonged to them.

I would allow the kids to "soft touch" the snake, mouse, milipede, and gunia pig. The spider would be in a clear container so they could see the fangs.

I would tell the kids about the care requirments of each animal and what made them a good pet. Most children had never seen these animals up close, let alone touch them!

I loved that part of the job! It was fun and I got paid for it! After I finnished all the kids got a free goldfish certificate. That would bring them in to buy stuff.

Ohh Neat as Teresa!!!!!

I agree that children should be taught in school and at home how to approach an animal. There are children on my block who will run up to me when I walk my Husky and my MinPin. Nemo(husky) loves all of the children and welcomes their attention, even though we had to do obedience training so he wouldn't hurt them by knocking them down.

Ceasar,my MinPin however,is an entirely different story. He does not like to be handled by strangers and will bite them. I have a hard time with the children on our block wanting to pick him up and love on him since he is a little dog. One of the children is deaf on our block and it took me a couple of times to make her understand that he will bite her if she picks him up.

I said yes!!!!

U'm glad to see this has gotten such a response. My cat is afrain of new people and things. She isn't that keen on people picking her up to begin with, so when a friend comes over I usually just put her on the other side of the house. I don't think that she would bite them, but if they picked her up, she wouldn't appreciate it. She will come out every so offten, but normally avoids new people altogether. The dog I'm trining is a golden retriever. She is so lovable, but is strong enough to knock someone over (she did it to me once). I'm working on her jumping on people, but if a kid just rushes up to her before I have time to get her to sit and behave, then she could just jump up and they would be on the ground. Do you think the class would be more successful if parents brought in their own pets to teach the kids. Also, do you think that some parents think that just because they don't have a pet, they don't have to teach their kid to handle one? Just looking for some opinions.