4 - They startle the dog by stepping on them, or waking them from sleep.

5 - They invade the dog's territory.

6 - They fail to recognize fearful body language. Fear turns quickly into anger and can provoke attack, especially if the dog is cornered.

7 - They get between a dog fight.

8 - They exhibit threatening body language, such as staring. Staring a dog down is dangerous.

9 - They run away stimulating prey behavior. Prey behavior is natural in a dog and the steps are eye, stalk, chase, grab, shake, kill. The domestic dog rarely goes beyond chase, but even so genetics will kick in and can lead to harm.

Statistics done between 1997 and 2008 show 23 to 27 people a year die from dog attacks. More people die from car accidents and fishing accidents. If you were to look at each of the incidents, you would find several factors jumping out at you such as, very young children left alone with the family dog (70% of bites occur with children); mistreatment of the dog; dog tied outside; dog not supervised ON property; dog not supervised OFF property; dogs feeding off the drama of multiple dogs reacting to a situation. All of this is preventable.

Non-fatal dog bite injuries are much higher. In 2001, according to CDC, 368,245 people were treated for nonfatal dog bite injuries in U.S. hospital emergency rooms. Children five to nine-years-old had highest injury incidences. While this seems frightening, there is something clearly wrong about this picture. It shouts parents need more education about combining dogs with children and there needs to be much stricter supervision when children and dogs are together.

Here is a glimpse of a Rhodesian Ridgeback mix, a redirected biter (meaning if he gets overly excited by an appearing trigger, he will redirect his bite to anything in the way - i.e. human skin). He has done this three times. Is he aggressive? Should he be put down? If we chose option two, he currently wouldn't have weathered a cruise to the south of France where he is now living a life of luxury in a little French town with his retired owners.

What about the Tibetan Terrier rescue who bit a trainer in class. A small dog who is also a redirected biter inflicting harm on human, couch, toy, curtains, chairs or anything that gets in his way. Should he be put down? If he were, then today he wouldn't be peacefully interacting with humans and a wonderful companion to a wonderful lady.

What about the German Shepherd who attacked and pinned a man in the hallway of a business and then proceeded to bite him or the Doberman mix and Rottweiler who inflicted 33 bite marks on owners arm that needed stitches? Should they be euthanized? Most would nod and say yes. Then today the German Shepherd would not be peacefully meeting and greeting people and the Doberman mix and Rottweiler wouldn't be living peacefully together in a wonderful home with caring owners.

I do believe for the safety of society a dog must be put down if a child is involved. Again, there are always reasons for attacks, even health reasons. With a child, no matter the reason, the dog must be euthanized.

If the dog is healthy, if one of the reasons above provoked the dog and the dog shows a good prognosis for improvement then I say give the dog a chance through a qualified behaviorist or behavior trainer or vet behaviorist. The answer is not always yes, but when NO is the answer, it comes with commitment and responsibility.

Resources:

Dog Bite Law

MMWR Weekly, CDC, USA.gov

Learn more about this author, Diane Garrod.
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