Here’s a scary statistic: Dog bites occur every 40 seconds, and 3.5 million U.S. children are bitten by dogs each year.

“Nothing is more seemingly harmless than a child and a dog,” explains Dr. Michael Sims, a professor at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine. “Yet, before you can blink, that image can go from something warm and fuzzy to tragedy and change a child’s life forever.”

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To combat this problem, Sims helped create UT’s dog bite prevention initiative, which began in 2000. In 2009, the program distributed educational DVDs, which are centered around a friendly spokesdog named RUFUS, to all first-graders in Knox County. These measures and more help teach kids how to act safely around man’s best friend.