
On September 2, 2015 Michael Burkey CEO and Dog Behaviorist at Michigan Dog Training in Plymouth, Michigan gave Dog Bite Prevention Tips to 40 plus United Parcel Service (UPS) employees. The training was arranged by UPS employee Muhammad Ahmed and was held at their Detroit, Michigan hub location. Burkey gave a similar presentation at the Livonia UPS Hub last July.

As Burkey arrived at the Detroit hub, he noticed Ahmed had laid out some clues that a dog might be present for his drivers to be aware of such as a dog bowl, dog bone, dog sign and even fake dog doo. Some of the tips Burkey provided included how to recognize a dog’s stress relieving behaviors before a bite occurs and a wagging tail doesn’t mean it’s friendly but instead its aroused.  And, an aroused state can be a good thing such as a friendly greeting but it can also be a bad thing if it is stress induced. Ahmed bravely put on a bite sleeve and received several bites from Burkey’s dog Kaboom, a Belgian Malinois. During the bite work demonstration, employees clearly saw that a wagging tail didn’t always mean friendliness as Kaboom wagged his tail while waiting to bite Ahmed on command.
Dog bite prevention talks
To arrange safety talks for your employees or to schedule dog training for your dog, contact Michigan Dog Training at 734-634-4152.
To learn more about the fallacy that a wagging tail means a dog is being friendly, see Burkey’s article, “What does a wagging tail mean?” written for the examiner.com.