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| Kurt F. Suss |
One of the most serious dog bites I have ever experienced was when a lady almost lost her arm. I was training police dogs with four departments, and we were done our day’s training. The dog was a well-trained and experienced police dog.
The handler was yours truly, and the dog was mine, “Muffy.” He was well-trained and “street hardened.”
The lady walked up to my dog and asked if she could pet it. I said: “No, and please step back.” She
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This was a professionally trained and experienced biting dog, with a professional handler that understood everything about their dog. The irony of this is that this very scenario happens extremely often with untrained civilian pets — daily!
This is what I refer to as the “approach bite” and the number one cause of this style of bite is stupid people. I would have to say this style of bite is the most common and usually is a hand bite.
The approach bite
People get bitten when approaching the dog with an outstretched arm, open palm and leaning forward over the dog. These approaches are static and squared off, while using a frontal slow approach. In a dog’s world, this is a defensive approach making a lot of dogs uncomfortable and unsure. These bites are generally one quick snap in the direction of the hand. In more severe cases, the dog can bite the hand, causing extreme pressure and damage.
My hand-bite investigations usually have two interesting points. The dog has bitten the owner or a family member. Secondly, the bite has been caused by the human and instigated by people who should have known not to walk up to a dog, and in many cases, it’s a strange dog.
Hand bites
The four most common scenarios with hand bites are: petting the dog, feeding the dog, greeting and playing with the dog.
This happens when the hand is in the direct safe space of the dog. In the dog’s world: “You are too close to me.” Similar to the face bite, the simple fix to that is to get out of the dog’s face. Most dogs see a direct and imminent threat, even from young children.
Ultimately, it is the owner’s fault no matter the circumstances. Generally speaking, it is a strict liability situation. More often, it is a shared liability scenario. The complexity of the dog bite is frequently determined through legal proceedings or agreements between dog owner and victim. Much depends on the seriousness of the bite and the questions that need to be answered. For instance: “Has the dog bitten before?” “What is the likelihood of the dog to bite again?” and “How serious was the bite?”
Every case has its individualities; I am all for saving the dog, of course. It is my personal opinion, based on 40 years of dog training and dog bites, it will always reflect on the human doing something wrong and not understanding the dog.
If I were a judge overseeing dog-bite cases, I would regularly be ordering that both parties complete a dog behaviour program and obedience course.
Enjoy your dog!
This is the second part of a two-part series. Part one: Who is responsible when a dog bites?
Kurt F. Suss is a corrections officer with Correctional Service of Canada and a retired dog handler and trainer consultant. He is the author of Dogman: The Trials and Tribulations. He is currently at work on his second book Why Dogs Bite. He can be reached at isiscanine@hotmail.com.
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