Dog Bite Prevention

[Nienke]

DOGS ARE DOGS ARE DOGS!

Through thousands of years our man’s best friend transformed from the wolf, its ancestor, into the dogs we know now. Since they have lived with us and served us in many different ways. Pretty much where ever we go we will come across dogs. Dogs suit in our life-styles because they, just like us, are social animals and need companionship. Dogs have similar emotions to those of humans through which a deep mutual bond is possible. No other animal in the world is capable to start such a unique relationship with us as dogs can. Dogs belong to our lives.

Due to our selective breeding, where certain structural and behavioral traits were accentuated and others eradicated, many varieties and sizes of dogs were created and most, unlike their ancestors, can’t survive in the wild any more. Nevertheless, dogs are physically and mentally still very much like their ancestors. Research has shown that from the 90 different behavioral patterns in wolves, 71 are still present in our dogs!

Unfortunately, many people treat dogs more as little human beings, often as a surrogate child or partner, rather than according the species they really are, that is dogs. Many of us assume that dogs understand what we say to them and what we feel. That they can distinguish right from wrong, can think in the past and in the future, can feel guilt (thus having a conscious) and sorrow, and that understand and will live according our norms and values naturally. However, this is not the case. Dogs are NOT human, they can’t think human, they can’t feel human and they don’t have a verbal language as humans have. Although dogs are capable to learn to associate a specific word with a specific behavior, they do not have a verbal language where they can express their thoughts into words. They communicate mainly by means of body language and ceremonial rituals. This is the way they communicate with each other, with other animal species, and with us.

Furthermore, dogs can not distinguish right from wrong, but they do distinguish safe from danger, and will act accordingly. Learning they do mainly through conditioning (Classical and Operant).

Wolves are predators, and the dog has inherited this instinct. Meaning that much of the predators behavioral chains are strongly rooted in each dog’s behavior, no matter the size or the (mix)breed. Behaviors we find back in our dogs are:

- Search (look for the prey for which they often use the nose)

- Stalk (trying to get as close as possible to the prey without being noticed)

- Flush (suddenly rush forward to make the prey run or fly out of its hiding place)

- Chase (run after the prey)

- Bite/Hold/Shake and Kill the prey

- Tear the prey into pieces and eat it.

Most of these behaviors we can observe when our (puppy)dogs are playing, but then we think it’s cute, and many are accentuated through selective breeding in our hunting and guard dog breeds. In the fighting dog breeds, such as the Pit Bull Terrier, the Bite/Hold/Shake//Kill trait is accentuated (one of the reasons why this breed and its mixes are banned in so many countries. Although, often very sweet to the family, it’s a walking time-bomb, especially when under-socialized and under-trained, which is quite often the case in my experience. In Thailand many Pit Bull Terriers are imported and sold as American Staffordshire Terriers).

Many times dogs are punished for things that they are unable to understand what was wrong in the first place, because for them it was complete natural behavior. They do not understand that this natural behavior in human society is inappropriate and sometimes downright dangerous, unless the dog owner has taken his/her responsibilities seriously and has taught the dog our norms and values.

It is for these reasons why so many unnecessary misery, cruelty and dog bite accidents occur, because many humans do not recognize what the dog is communication to them , do not acknowledge their real being and do not properly educate them.

It just can’t be stressed enough: dogs are dogs are dogs!

SOME BASICS ON DOG COMMUNICATION

Dogs can’t tell us with words what they think and feel. But they do tell it through a combination of body language (position of tail and ears and body posture), facial expression and sound. Therefore, it is important to look at the dog as a whole and not only at one thing only.

Some basics on how to recognize in which mental state a dog is:

A happy and relaxed dog can do one or more of the following:

- Gives an overall relaxed impression

- Can wag its whole tail widely from one side to the other

- Can hold its head up in a relaxed way

- Can smile with its tongue hanging out

- May want to play

A scared or nervous dog can do one or more of the following:

- Carries its tail between its paws

- Wags the tip of the tail low to the ground in short little wags

- Has its ears back or flat on its head

- Looks away from the ‘scary thing’ with slightly closed eyes or stares at it with enlarged

pupils

- Licks its lips from

- Makes itself smaller by crouching down

- Rolls over and shows its tummy

- Shows its teeth including the pre-molars and molars

- Growls in a high pitched voice

- Has the hair on the top of its back and neck standing up

- Has a backward movement

An angry dog or one that wants to fight

can do one or more of the following:

- Keeps its tail straight or raised over its back and may wave it slowly and stiffly

- Stares with its eyes wide open

- Sticks it tongue out a little while staring at the same time

- Shows you its front teeth and canines

- Growls in a low pitched voice

- Holds its ears raised up and forward

- Makes itself look as big as it can

- Walks stiffly

- Has the hair on the top of its back and neck standing up

- Has a forward movement

HOW TO PREVENT DOG BITES

The Do’s and Don’ts for children (and also for adults)

Don’t:

• Allow the child to crawl or walk towards the dog, and especially not when the dog is in its own place (it’s dominating to the dog).

• Allow the child to bother the dog when it is eating (in the dog’s mind it has the right to guard its food).

• Allow the child to put its little fingers in any hole of a dog (ears, eyes, mouth, nose, anus, penis, vagina).

• Allow the child to suddenly pet the dog, hang around its neck, pull the tail or hair, take away its toys (the dog may get startled or guard its possessions).

• Allow the child to stare a dog in the eyes (dogs receive this as a challenge).

• Let the child walk the dog unsupervised. (the child is physically and mentally incapable of controlling the dog)

• Allow the child to embrace the dog (its scary to the dog).

• Allow the child to ‘hang over’ the dog (it’s dominating to the dog).

• Allow the child to give commands to the dog unsupervised by an adult.(it is dominating to the dog)

• Allow the child to approach or touch a dog that is strange to the child. (the dog may feel challenged or frightened. In both cases the dog can snap or bite)

• Make the child scared of dogs. (dogs are excellent body language readers and see immediately when someone is scared or confident)

• Allow the child to scream or run away when a dog is approaching or is in the neighborhood (the more the child screams or runs, the more interesting it becomes for the dog).

• Allow the child to (have the intention to) hit the dog with the hand or an object, or to raise it hands into the air. (the dog may feel challenged or frightened)

• Allow the child to corner a dog (when there is no escape route, the only thing that’s left for the dog is the attack)

But above all:

NEVER LET CHILDREN AND DOGS TOGETHER UNSUPERVISED!!!

Do:

• Allow the dog to eat out of the hand of the (bit more older) child, unless the dog shows aggression or is very tense when eating

• Let the child play games with the dogs such as search games, where the child can hide a tidbit that the dog has to search. Both child and dog usually enjoy this game very much. It is non threatening to the dog, and both dog and child will grow a closer bond.

• Allow the dog to join when together with the child. It will give a pleasant experience to the dog, making it appreciate the child more.

• Give the dog some special attention when together with the child. Also this will give a positive experience to the dog, making it appreciate the child more.

• Teach the child to look pass the dog and not in the eyes.

• Take the dog out for a walk together with the child

• Teach the child to pet the dog in a slow and quiet manner under the chin, on the shoulders and the sides, never on top of the head or withers which is dominating to the dog.

• Teach the child how to interact properly with dogs.

• Teach the child how to recognize the dog’s body language.

• Teach a (scared) child to stand still quietly (like a tree) when a dog is approaching, and look the other way.

• Teach the child the keeps the hands in the armpits or in the pockets. Most dogs know out of experience that in hands there is often a nice treat, thus that it’s the first thing they will investigate. With hands stuffed away dogs may sniff for a short while but then loose interest quickly.

• Teach the child the following three rules for petting a dog:

The child asks first its accompanying adult for permission, then both (adult and child) ask the handler/owner of the dog for permission. If that’s ok, then ask the dog if it likes to be petted. This can be done as follows: the child slowly moves its hand forward and let the dog sniff the back of the hand (not the palm of the hand!). If the dog is ok, then the child can pet the dog as describe above.

But above all:

ALWAYS SUPERVISE CHILDREN AND DOGS WHEN TOGETHER!!!

And then last but definitely not least:

there are more children bitten by the family dog or dogs they know than by strange dogs, such as soi dogs.

[thaigerd]

Great stuff!!!

Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us.

Gerd

[sbk]

Excellent post --thanks again.

Something all dog owners should read as these rules also apply to adults as well.

[udon]

Dog bite prevention

[bina]

i've posted that stuff so many times but still......~~~ there is the attitude of 'to me it willnever happen'....

have translated to hebrew to post on our bulletin board in kibbutz dining room, there was a site once with pictures and everything.... but people never learn...

will do it again....