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“The whole model is about responsible pet ownership ... In North America, we don’t really have an animal problem: we’ve got a people problem. I think that’s the first realization you’ve got to come to. It’s not about the animal, it’s about the people.”
There is no individual characteristic, or combination of characteristics, that reliably explain why a dog responds with a bite. An injurious dog bite is the rare co-occurrence of multiple circumstances and variables, both past and present.
Many dog bite studies have attempted to analyze these incidents on the basis of dog-specific characteristics. This area of research has been unsuccessful, yielding no consistent findings from study to study. The characteristics explored have included: reproductive status (altered vs. unaltered), presumed breed, sex, and size.
Attempting to isolate dog-specific characteristics has resulted in salient circumstances being ignored, in favor of the factor previously deemed the factor of interest. Consider the case of an intact, male dog chained to a barn, without food or water for 2 days, and suffering from cancerous tumors. The dog bit a 4-year-old boy.[1] A report attempting to isolate “dog-specific factors,” could then attribute the incident that had occurred to an unaltered, male dog, at minimum ignoring this particular dog’s illness and mistreatment.
Mistaken beliefs about dog-specific characteristics have often diverted us from a consideration of critical factors pertinent to the discussion of community safety and dog ownership.
There are at least two parties involved in a dog bite; a dog and one or more humans. Dogs behavioral responses cannot be adequately understood apart from humans, or the situations in which humans have placed them.
Research has shown that dogs that live in close contact with their owners are more likely to look to their people to help them solve tasks.[2]
Most U.S. jurisdictions have policies to address dog owners who allow their dogs to become a nuisance or cause injury. Prevention involves more than addressing incidents after they occur. Each human-canine relationship develops out of public view. Most dog bite-related injuries occur where the dog lives and involve either someone who lives there, or who is there by invitation. Wherever they occur, dog bite-related injuries are characterized by factors potentially within the control of dog owners. Prevention involves raising the standards of pet keeping, and persuading dog owners to integrate their dogs into the life of the family with daily opportunities for positive interactions.
If we want better outcomes in our communities, we need to promote responsible pet ownership: the humane care, custody and control of all dogs.
Advance your understanding with the updated edition of “Dog Bites: Problems and Solutions”
