by parabuteo78 » December 19th, 2009, 1:05 am
I'm involved with dogs, dog training and dog owners professionally and I own four dogs at the moment.
Unfortunately I come across the subject of dog agression, attacks and biting incidents (whether against dogs, other animals, people and even the owners themselves) regularly. And it will always be a controversial, difficult and emotional subject. And every situation is different.
I have been bitten by a friends dog when I was a teenager. Now I was someone who was familiar with dogs and I knew it was my fault the dog bit me. But not everyone understands dog behavior and can understand why the dog bit them. Even the most docile dog can be provoked into biting someone.
Most people don't know that staring straight into the eyes of a dog or that petting a dog on top of his head is threatening and could provoke a reaction from the dog. Most dogs will not react violently but if you meet the wrong dog, you could provoke it.
I feel strongly that every biting-incident should be evaluated individually. Every dog can bite.
Owners of the breeds most often associated with biting, are often the first to say that the popular family breeds (Labradors, Goldens, German Sheperds etc.) are higher on the ranking of biting incidents. This is partly true, the fact that there are more dogs of those breeds, by percentage (spelling?) is usually not mentioned.
A recent study showed that three smaller breeds, the Dachshund, Chihuahua and the Jack Russel are the three breeds responsible for most biting incidents.
But have you ever heard of someone being maimed or killed by a Chihuahua? What use are those rankings to someone who has been horribly bitten or perhaps even lost a loved one to a dog? Should we put restrictions on all Chihuahua's, Dachshunds and JRT's because of this or even ban these breeds?
My point here is, evaluate each incident on its own. Don't put a dog down after biting someone just because it is of a certain breed.
I once read about a dog which bit a child. Horrible of course, especially considering it was the family dog that did it. The dog was taken to the vets to be euthanised. The vet examined the dog before he would agree to put him down. 13 staples were found in the dog's ear...
The poor thing only reacted when the child stapled his ear for the thirteenth time.
But I also read about two dogs who had killed several dogs in a neighbourhood and injured people. The owner was aware this obviously but couldn't be bothered to make sure his dogs were locked in his garden.
The dogs from the two situations above were from the same breed...
Almost in every incident the owner is to blame, whether it is by making sure his dog is safe or otherwise can't do harm. And if you have children, you have to teach them how to interact with dogs and more importantly supervise the child and the dog at all times. It only takes a second to destroy someone's life, whether canine or human.
We want to keep dogs and so we are responsible for their care, behavior and well-being. We are therefore also responsible at all times for keeping other people, other dogs and other animals safe from our own dog(s).
If all owners realised this, the number of attacks and biting-incidents might be a lot less.
Whew, I didn't mean to write something this long. I hope I haven't bored or offended anyone...