Having a pet teaches responsibility, provides companionship, a social network and a stimulus for exercise. For these reasons, pets are critical to our wellbeing. The point of this blog post is to raise awareness of the potential injuries associated with pets so you can avoid them and maintain that essential bond with your favorite fur-person.

Avoiding Leash Walking Injuries

Taking your dog on a walk helps increase your level of exercise and expand your social network. Injuries from leash walking your dog are rare, only 1 in 10,000 walkers experience an injury. Most of the leash walking injuries were falls because the dog was pulling on the leash. These falls caused finger, wrist, arm and shoulder injuries. Based on the falls some of my clients have experienced, I think many could have been prevented if the dog was well trained to walk on a leash. The American Kennel Club has a number of dog training programs and your local community organizations are another good source of dog training programs.

Cycling Accidents Caused by Dogs

When I walk in Central Park, I often see dogs on a flexible leash 20 feet or so from the owner. I thought this would be a common cause of injury to cyclists, but I was wrong. The top injury to cyclists was being chased and bitten on the leg. Cyclists under 20 years of age were most commonly bitten. The most severe injuries to the person occurred when a cyclist accidently hit a dog. Other injuries happened when a cyclist swerved to avoid hitting a dog or while their dog ran alongside the bicycle.

Can a pet injury send you to the ER?

Physicians in a Bologna, Italy emergency room, recorded injuries to humans from dogs and cats over a three-year period. The most common injuries were bites and scratches. Dogs caused more injuries than cats and male patients were more likely to be injured by a dog. Feline injuries were more common in older individuals and women. Even pocket pets such as rabbits, Guinea pigs, hamsters, rats and mice caused emergency room worthy injuries.

Preventing Pet Related Injuries

Keep in mind any pet can cause an injury. 

Supervise pet-child interactions.

Watch for dogs when cycling and slow down if you see one.

Think twice before biking with your dog.

Take your dog to basic obedience training.