BITE PREVENTION

 Here is my article on BITE PREVENTION.

I vividly remember the first time I was bitten by a dog.  It was a dog chained outside his owner’s house, and I was a very young child. I went there with my Mother, and was told it was okay to pet the dog.  As I had been instructed I bent down, and slowly reached out my hand for the dog to sniff.  He lunged foreword without warning and bit me.  My hand was bleeding and I was horrified. Why would this cute little dog do such a thing when I obviously meant him no harm?  Unknown to me at the time, I had broken several of the basic rules that dogs live by. 
1- I made direct eye contact.
2-I misinterpreted his wagging tail as a greeting.
3- I moved straight towards him.
4-I leaned slightly over him.
5-I put my hand into his personal space.
6-The dog was restrained, which likely activated his fight response. 

It’s a common belief that by walking up to a strange  dog and putting your hand out for the dog to sniff is the proper way to introduce yourself to them.  Nowadays more than ever this belief is getting people bitten, and healthy dogs euthanized. 

The majority of dogs naturally have a personal space area, a “bubble” per say.  Inside of that bubble their genetic survival instincts respond to perceived threats.  This area will be different for every dog, and every threat.

Dogs instinctively rely on four actions when they feel threatened.  Those are fight, flight, fidget, and freeze. 

Years ago we didn’t have the amount of nervous, anxious, and fearful dogs that we often see today in modern society, which adds to the problem.  Dogs were not as mass produced in puppy mills, and few came from other counties with little to no social skills.   
Many owners today are hesitant to advocate for their dogs, which in turn causes the dogs to deal with the situation.  Some breeds have also been intentionally bred to be more submissive overall, which unfortunately can cause them to be very insecure and easily stressed.

Resource guarding can also come into play.  To a dog a resource can be many things including food, a home, a toy, or even a person. 

With the necessary increased leash laws across the country we are seeing more dogs restrained by cables, chains, and leashes than ever before.
When a dog is restrained their flight response is removed, and very often their drive response is increased.  The added stress of spacial pressure from a stranger moving toward the dog is often all it takes for the dog to react.  Some dogs will freeze, and hope the situation resolves itself by the threat backing away- when the stranger continues to advance toward the dog is often when the bite occurs. This can cause long term behavioral issues with the dog, as well as being a huge legal liability for the owner.

Dogs sense of smell is up to 100,000 times better than ours. They can interpret our scent and intention from several feet away, there is no need to pressure the dog by getting into their personal bubble and forcing them to sniff our hand.

DO:
- Let the dog have the choice to come up to you, if they aren’t interested- so be it.
-Always ask first if you can pet a stranger’s  dog.  Be respectful and accept “NO”,  if that is the answer.   Personal dogs are NOT public property.  
-Learn to read the dog’s body language, looks can be very deceiving.  A wagging tail indicates arousal, NOT necessarily that the dog is friendly.  A dog with a stiff body stance should  be left alone. 
-Move slowly, don’t lean over them, nor stare directly into their eyes.
- Turning your body to the side is less threatening to the dog than facing them straight on.
-Stay relaxed and calm.
-For dogs who are elderly, deaf, or blind take extra time so as not to startle them.
-Any time the dog backs away from you immediately stop what you are doing.
-Teach children NOT to run up to dogs.

DON’T:
-Don’t  reach over the dogs head to pet them, a scratch under the jaw is  much less stressful for the dog than patting them on the head.
-Don’t come toward a dog with your arms open and outstretched.  The dog may interpret  this as you are going to grab them.
-Don’t ever hold a dog’s face, and force them to look into your eyes.
-Don’t reach out and hug a strange dog, this can easily be taken as a life threatening   intention by the dog.  Every year many children get bitten in the face by hugging dogs.

Advocate for your own dog- other than the Veterinarian and their staff no one “needs” to touch your dog.  Dogs can be and are socialized very well by just learning to co exist around new people and other dogs without physically interacting with them.
It’s okay to tell people NO they can’t pet your dog. 
If the person continues to advance, I get my dog behind me.
I put my hand up like a traffic cop toward the person, with a firm verbal “NO”, which works for most.  I can also look at my dog and firmly say “LEAVE IT”, totally ignore the person, and walk away.  I don’t engage in conversation with them if they cannot be respectful.  The safety and well being of my dog must come first.

For information on how to correctly introduce personal dogs to new dogs please see my Acquainting Two Dogs article.

Many more dog training articles are available at my link below, including Fear Aggression, Muzzle Conditioning, Deterrents for Aggressive Loose Dogs, Dog to Dog Reactivity, and Restraint Training for Dogs.  The site is open to the public, and free of charge.❤️🐺❤️

https://allbasics-dogtraining.blogspot.com/