title: The Blue Dog: evaluation of an interactive software program to teach young children how to interact safely with dogs.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Pre-post-randomized design evaluated The Blue Dog, a dog safety software program.
  
  
  METHODS
  76 children aged 3.5-6 years completed 3 tasks to evaluate dog safety pre- and postintervention: (a) pictures (recognition of safe/risky behavior), (b) dollhouse (recall of safe behavior via simulated dollhouse scenarios), and (c) live dog (actual behavior with unfamiliar live dog). Following preintervention evaluation, children were randomly assigned to dog or fire safety conditions, each involving 3 weeks of home computer software use.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Children using Blue Dog had greater change in recognition of risky dog situations than children learning fire safety. No between-group differences emerged in recall (dollhouse) or engagement (live-dog) in risky behavior. Families enjoyed using the software.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Blue Dog taught children knowledge about safe engagement with dogs, but did not influence recall or implementation of safe behaviors. Dog bites represent a significant pediatric injury concern and continued development of effective interventions is needed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA. schwebel@uab.edu
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Schwebel
authors.forename: Barbara A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Morrongiello
authors.forename: Aaron L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bell
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001733:Bites and Stings / Q000517:prevention & control; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction / Q000379:methods; D004285:Dogs; D004493:Education / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012449:Safety; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires