``And that is what small boys do with dogs, they jump at them.
A typical scenario goes like this.  The small boy is brought by his
grandmother into the dog's presence.  The boy stiffens, hides behind
a chair or Grandma's coat, peers at the dog from an upside-down
position, darts back and forth if the dog does something alarming
such as wag her tail or pant, and then: jumps straight at the dog
and pokes his finger into her eye.  Or waits until the dog is
asleep and then creeps up and blows in her ear.

``And gets snapped at, once in a while has the skin broken.

``Once in a long while needs stitches.

``Once in a very, very long while dies.

``Now, some small boys, after getting bitten or snapped at,
well report in later years, ``So that's how I learned that you don't
do that to dogs.''  Others grow up and become dogcatchers who
carry snare poles in sweating palms.  For the moment, the important
fact about a snare pole is that it is a pole, and that it is often
used the way small boys use their fingers - it is poked at dogs...'''

Vicki Hearne, _Bandit: Dossier of a Dangerous Dog_, p.207