Why Your Dog Bites - What to Do About It
More than 4.
5 million dog bite incidents are reported in the United States every year.
Approximately half are incidents involving the family dog.
A dog can behave unpredictably, become aggressive and bite causing injury, but why? The reasons can vary.
The possibilities include heredity and personality, prior difficult experiences, lack of proper socialization, fear, lack of proper training with regard to discipline, territory and boundaries, and lack of proper guidance from the ultimate pack leader or leaders, meaning the guardian or guardians.
Dogs that are not socialized with children can possibly react to situations by biting them, which is the most common reason children are bitten.
A dog that is fearful or wishes to avoid what it is not sure of can exhibit aggressive behavior in an attempt to make the problem or situation go away.
You do not want your dog to be afraid or become aggressive.
Therefore, socialization is very important from the earliest stages of life.
It is up to the dog's guardians to establish appropriate boundaries and behaviors in all aspects of living as a family pack unit through an education process without physical abuse by the guardian.
Physical punishment is the quickest way to erode the dog's trust.
A dog can love you almost unconditionally because of its loyal characteristics, but that does not mean it trusts and respects you.
Biting is often associated with rough play that is to be enjoyed with your dog, but there is a distinction between biting in play and biting that turns into an act of domination and disrespect for the guardian.
A dog is perfectly capable of being trained to grab enthusiastically and gently without crossing the line to aggressive biting behavior, a lesson that is naturally taught by its mother, littermates and other pack members.
Because we take the dog away from this environment before this learning process is completed, it is necessary for the guardians to take over and complete the training.
If the dog happens to bite too hard during a play activity you can mimic its yelp or give a stern OUCH and a NO BITING command with a pause from the activity to let the dog know that it hurt.
If you allow the dog to bite a bit too aggressively some of the time you will be sending an inconsistent message and biting will never be completely eliminated.
Under no circumstances do you hit.
5 million dog bite incidents are reported in the United States every year.
Approximately half are incidents involving the family dog.
A dog can behave unpredictably, become aggressive and bite causing injury, but why? The reasons can vary.
The possibilities include heredity and personality, prior difficult experiences, lack of proper socialization, fear, lack of proper training with regard to discipline, territory and boundaries, and lack of proper guidance from the ultimate pack leader or leaders, meaning the guardian or guardians.
Dogs that are not socialized with children can possibly react to situations by biting them, which is the most common reason children are bitten.
A dog that is fearful or wishes to avoid what it is not sure of can exhibit aggressive behavior in an attempt to make the problem or situation go away.
You do not want your dog to be afraid or become aggressive.
Therefore, socialization is very important from the earliest stages of life.
It is up to the dog's guardians to establish appropriate boundaries and behaviors in all aspects of living as a family pack unit through an education process without physical abuse by the guardian.
Physical punishment is the quickest way to erode the dog's trust.
A dog can love you almost unconditionally because of its loyal characteristics, but that does not mean it trusts and respects you.
Biting is often associated with rough play that is to be enjoyed with your dog, but there is a distinction between biting in play and biting that turns into an act of domination and disrespect for the guardian.
A dog is perfectly capable of being trained to grab enthusiastically and gently without crossing the line to aggressive biting behavior, a lesson that is naturally taught by its mother, littermates and other pack members.
Because we take the dog away from this environment before this learning process is completed, it is necessary for the guardians to take over and complete the training.
If the dog happens to bite too hard during a play activity you can mimic its yelp or give a stern OUCH and a NO BITING command with a pause from the activity to let the dog know that it hurt.
If you allow the dog to bite a bit too aggressively some of the time you will be sending an inconsistent message and biting will never be completely eliminated.
Under no circumstances do you hit.
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