Two shifts spent the entire day at Conejo Creek Field (South) and enjoyed the great weather, and a good amount of specialty chili from a dozen different competitors.
With events like this, there are a few lessons learned:
Petting Zoos
Animals, although docile, can hurt small children, ranging from scratches and bites to full on allergic reactions. They stay in farms, love to roll around in the dirt, and especially the furrier varieties, keep all sorts of allergans that can be harmful to small children if breathed in or even touched.
We had more than our share of instances where children came with hives and scratches from animals that would be thought harmless… It is always our recommendation to be gentle when touching these animals but very importantly WASH YOUR HANDS.
ALL DOGS BITE
They are at many events we service, and although they are cuddly and docile in the care of your own home, animals, when put in a situation that they are uncomfortable can react randomly and out of character.
The old adage of “my dog doesn’t bite and loves kids, until he bites a kid” is true, and rather take a risk, we always recommend, to use conventional wisdom and be weary of your child touching an unknown animal. Especially for younger children, then tend to ‘pat’ rather than ‘pet’ and unintentional smacks to the head might anger an animal causing random and abnormal response.