June 2002

Dogs and kids meet Dr Harry

Dr Harry Cooper, host of Channel 7’s Harry’s Practice, has launched the Dogs ‘n’ Kids education resource at Royal Children's Hospital.

Dr Harry was joined by hospital staff including Executive Director Professor Glenn Bowes, children and a couple of the hospital’s Visiting Pets as Therapy Program dogs.

Dogs ‘n’ Kids is a nationwide multilingual education program for health professionals to educate parents of young children with safety messages about dogs and kids.

‘I'm excited to be launching the Dogs ‘n’ Kids educational resource kit at the Royal Children’s Hospital.

‘There are lots of benefits to owning a dog.

‘But it's important that families are taught about appropriate behaviour around animals,’ said Dr Harry.

‘Dogs ‘n’ Kids provides parents with a valuable source of information about safety with dogs and their children, as well as promoting responsible dog ownership in the community.’

Funded by the Petcare Information and Advisory Service, Dogs ‘n’ Kids has been designed by the Royal Children’s Hospital Safety Centre.

The project was first released in 1996 and last year was reviewed and updated.

The resource kit, consisting of an information booklet, a poster and brochure will be distributed through veterinary clinics, local councils, hospitals and child health services.

Visiting Pets as Therapy is a program involving 300 volunteers and their pets visiting hospitals, nursing homes and rehabilitation centres.

Program volunteers visit patients at the Royal Children’s Hospital once a week.