SUBMITTED NEWS RELEASE
This is National Dog Bite Prevention week and the Children’s Dog Bite Prevention Charitable Fund based in Nevada wants to help teach children in the Silver state how to avoid getting bitten by a dog.
The group is donating 148 copies of the DVD “Bow Wow Ow!” to Nevada Elementary Schools to support school-based dog bite prevention programs.
“Every 40 seconds, someone, somewhere in the United States seeks medical attention for a dog bite related injury,” said Dr. Ron Anderson, DVM, MPH Nevada Department of Agriculture, Animal Industry Division, Retired. “Nevada statistics show one out of every 350 children will suffer a dog bite sever enough to seek medical attention.”
Originally produced as a video designed to appeal to children in grades K-3, “Bow Wow Ow!” has been transferred to DVD’s to facilitate distribution to a new group of school age kids.
The Children’s Dog Bite Prevention Charitable Fund was organized in 1998 to develop a school based dog safety program in Nevada. The group received grants from the Nevada State Legislature and State Farm Insurance Company to develop educational materials and to produce an 8-minute animated live action teaching tool.
The produced video addresses more than 12 common situations where children could become a dog bite victim and illustrates the proper behavior they should use to avoid being bitten.
The updated DVD format replaces the videos originally distributed to Nevada schools in 2003.
“Bow Wow Ow!” and its accompanying educational materials have been adopted for use by a variety of educational facilities in 29 U.S states, British Columbia and the Galapagos and Virgin Islands.
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 4.7 million people suffer dog bites in the U.S. each year.” Dr. Anderson explained. “Of those, about 800,000 receive medical attention and some require intensive treatment if the bite becomes infected.”
The Nevada based Charitable Fund hopes to take a bite out of those numbers in the Silver state.
The DVD version of the program along with educational materials is available for free download at www.BowWowOw.com .
Educational materials included in the free download are:
- A Lesson Plan
- Fun Pages activity booklet (in both English and Spanish)
- A Certificate that reinforces the teaching points
“Dogs are man’s best friend and if children learn how to interact with them properly at a young age, they can enjoy dogs all their lives,” Anderson said.
The creative mix of animation and a real-life setting in “Bow Wow Ow!” hold children’s’ attention and it helps them remember key points to preventing dog bites. The video won a “Telly” (the non-broadcast equivalent of an “Emmy”) in 2004.
For more information on the DVD, contact Eileen Gay at WAAAHOO Productions at 775-688-6278 or e-mail [email protected].
