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aciesanimaLong-ass rant ahead on canine behavior and lack of understanding. You have been warned.
This is a very commonly asked question, especially when your dog looks like mine- she’s big, very fluffy and despite being quite lightly built looks like she belongs on the bonnet of a Mack truck in silver because of her fur. To make things a little more difficult, she’s also got a very good bark; a proper, big dog bark, and she uses it.
She can be a bit aloof and distrusting of strangers with over-exuberant pups but she just values her personal space and, like most beings, doesn’t like to be crowded suddenly.
This is balanced out by her overall personality: she’s friendly, willing, very intelligent, protective and above all, loves with all her heart. She remembers you even if you’ve only met her once and greets you with a fiercely wagging tail and a genuine excitement at being reunited. Despite never raising pups [she’s spayed, so it’s not going to happen] she has a very strong ‘mothering’ instinct and understands even human young need to be treated gently. I’ve taken her to many public places and she’s encountered many people in many different situations; and I guess this is where the origin of this rant comes from.
Often the first thing somebody says to me after silently indicating their intent to come and meet my dog is: “Does your dog bite?”
My answer is, predictably: “No.”
But every time I answer it, I’m lying.
Before you jump to any conclusions or assumptions, lend me a moment of open-minded thinking. Of course my dog bites. She has working jaws with the capability to crush bones, she chews burrs out of her fur [or tries to] and believe you me, she can demolish a chop in seconds flat. I classify all that as ‘biting’. So why am I lying?
The person is not really asking whether my dog is able to use her mouth properly, but rather “Is your dog likely to be overly aggressive or bite a stranger out of fear?” I don’t think many people know that’s what they are asking, so I’m going to take a moment to confess something that might alarm a few people: I have been bitten by my dog. My dog has bitten my father.
“She should be put down!” My grandfather would say.
“What in all hell for? You have no idea of the context.” Would be my reply.
And it’s true. Context, like any good English teacher will tell you, is worth everything. Without it, truths and facts alike can be warped to utterly disfigured ghosts of their pure states.
Here’s a little more context: I was bitten pulling my dog from a dog fight.
That’s not quite enough is it though? How about this: I was bitten pulling my dog from a fight over food.
Better, but to give you all full understanding of the situation: I was bitten pulling my dog from a fight started when another dog tried to steal her food. She was doing as any dog will: defending her meal.
She was defending. There’s the crux of the matter.
From day one, I have taught my dog that if I’m so bold as to pat her whilst she’s eating not to get defensive and to understand that I don’t want to take her food off her; as tantalizing as raw mince and an assortment of other things that make up her diet may seem. Her tolerance is almost impeccable: I can touch her almost all over her body whilst she eats- with the exception of her face. That’s perfectly reasonable. I don’t like to be poked in the face when I’m eating, do you? I can also call her away from her food or take it away mid-meal provided I give a moment’s warning. Though it may be frowned upon, I rough-house and rumble with my dog all the time. She ‘play-bites’ by gently touching her mouth to me, or at the very most gently putting her teeth around me. But I only do so because I’ve had her from day one and understand her; perhaps more importantly, trust her enough to do so. My mothers dog on the other hand I would never trust to do so simply because of her different personality, and so I don’t. I substitute actual rumbling with vigorous games of tug-of-war and other games.
The fight was started quite simply- the dogs we were living with at the time were two PoodlexBorder ColliexBelgian Shepherd rescues, one of which had a serious attitude problem and quite frankly bossed anything she could around. My dog [a labradoodle if you want to know] doesn’t mind sharing her space with other dogs, she loves the company so long as they are respectful. The other dog was not. She decided to muscle in on Chilli’s dinner and Chill reacted as is easily predictable: she defended her meal.
It was, really, quite spectacular and alarming. But never for a moment did I fear that Chilli would kill the other dog- and she was never doing to. All she did was throw the other dog away and then square off to enforce the fact that that was her meal. The other bitch went her again and the fighting thus ensued. I pulled Chilli out for fear that the other dog was not going to stop and in the moment of panic she felt at something unknown grabbing her, twisted around and bit my arm.
The change was instant: she saw it was me, she realized what she’d done and she took herself into the corner of the room and sat there without me saying a word. I didn’t scold her, not even slightly. The dogs were separated until the other bitch calmed down and then life went on. The bite broke the skin slightly but due to the fact I was wearing a thick jacket, did not require any medical attention. My father was bitten in exactly the same circumstance- the same dog tried the same thing again.
What is the point of all that ramble? To attempt to reinforce something that I fear is looked over by a lot of people: dogs bite for any number of reasons.
A nervous dog in a stressful situation will bite out of fear, a assertive dog will bite to put another in its place or defend what they perceive as theirs; a dog trained in protection will bite and hold on command, a hunting dog will bite a target to kill and a retriever will bite to complete its command and return the target to his/her human.
Perhaps the next time you go to ask “Does your dog bite?” maybe it might be better to ask something like “Has your dog ever bitten anyone?” and then, if so, “Why?”
Or even: “Is your dog friendly?” “Is your dog alright with me saying hello?”
You might even want to assess the dog yourself before thinking of asking those questions- does the dog look comfortable in its situation, does it look nervous or afraid? Does it have a toy or is it eating something it might want to defend?
All dogs bite. You just have to ask Why?
