CamBay kids learn how to stay safe around dogs

Denise LeBleu of Cambridge Bay greets a dog April 20 in Cambridge Bay where she held a nail-clipping clinic and offered 20 paro virus vaccinations to local dogs. LeBleu also visits schools where she helps kids learn how to act around dogs — and stay safe. (PHOTO BY RED SUN PRODUCTIONS)

Cambridge Bay’s Denise LeBleu is on a mission: she wants to help prevent kids from getting bitten by dogs.

During a recent presentation at Cambridge Bay’s Kullik elementary school, LeBleu helped kids learn about how to approach dogs and what not to do when a dog or a pack of dogs comes towards them.

Her advice usually applies to stray dogs “because if a dog is trained properly, it’s not going to bite,” LeBleu said.

But if a stray dog is approaching, it’s important to stay still — “like a tree” — she tells them.

LeBleu also tells the kids not to run from a dog because “a dog will always outrun you.”

And if a dog knocks them down, she suggests they “be a turtle” and tuck their head in, using their arms to protect their ears from “being torn off.”

Among LeBleu’s other safety tips: “always be bigger than the dog” and don’t go down to its level where you could get bitten in the face.

And it’s also important not to make eye contact with a dog when meeting it for the first time, she tells them.

“When you first meet it, let the dog come to you,” because it is not advisable to go marching up to a strange dog.

She also advises against petting a dog on the top of the head — dogs can find that intimidating.

It’s better to pet them around the chest area.

And before petting a dog, LeBleu says kids should ask the owner if that’s okay first.

Hannah, LeBleu’s yellow Labrador retriever and a therapy dog that’s certified by St. John’s Ambulance, comes with her to schools.

When kids are scared of dogs, LeBleu lets them sit behind the teacher’s desk.

That way, the kids can “see that not all dogs are bad.”

A lot of children think that all dogs are friendly, LeBleu said. But in some communities, loose dogs can get together and run in packs.

“That’s when they become dangerous… it’s more extreme,” she said.

Many in Iqaluit say they’re now worried about stray dogs, especially large stray dogs, so LeBleu’s advice could come in handy in the city.

“I’m hoping that one day one of these dogs, some of which are large ones, don’t suddenly attack any kids waiting to go to school one day,” one person said on an Iqaluit Facebook news page.

On the same site, people recently said a group of huskies has been running around the Coast Guard beach area, sometimes chasing people on their snowmobiles.