CHILDREN at Holy Cross Catholic Primary School are now ‘Dog Smart’ thanks to a visit from the Dogs'Trust.

South West Education Officer at Dogs Trust, Jane Boundy, travels all around the country, including Scotland and Ireland, and paid a visit to the school in Queen's Drive yesterday. Wednesday

She presented a colourful interactive presentation to the KS1 children to talk about the correct ways to approach and deal with unknown situations surrounding dogs.

Head teacher at Holy Cross Catholic Primary, Mr Tony McAteer, said: “I think it’s important for children to learn about this. You hear in the news and the media all the time of tragic incidents occurring involving dogs and young children.

“It’s a simple message to get across but it’s an important one.”

The children in reception class were eager to learn, continuously putting their hands up to answer questions and volunteer their ideas.

Although it is now common for families to have a dog as a pet, only a handful of the children raised their hand when asked if they had one at home.

"These children may have been unaware about what the right thing is to do when approaching a dog - especially one by itself," said Mr McAteer.

Jane showed the youngsters a variety of images with dogs and ask the children whether it would be safe to approach them or not.

For example they were told not to approach a dog while eating as it may think you are trying to steal their food.

They were also told not to run up to one or crowd around it as it may become scared and aggressive.

Jane said: “The scheme is all about getting children more comfortable around dogs and teaching them responsible dog ownership.”

And she said: “It is essential information for children even if they don’t have dogs. They can always come into contact with a dog and they need to know how to behave in a positive way.”

Jane brought ‘Dexter’ along with her, a life size practice dog, so the children could have a go at role play.

One child acted out the role of the owner and the other asked questions such as ‘Can I stroke your dog?’ and ‘Where does he/she like to be stroked?’

The Dogs Trust has run the education programme for 12 years regularly visiting schools, young offenders and people at risk of offending to highlight the idea of being ‘Dog Smart’.