Dog Behavior and Your Approach To New Dogs
If you don’t know a dog, you have to be careful on how to approach it. By understanding the right way it will ensure your safety and perhaps your children’s. Many dogs can be extremely well behaved in some instances but there only has to be a trigger, that you may not be aware, that can set that dog into another role, from being a well-behaved dog to a dog showing signs of aggression or biting.
You don’t want to be put into a situation where a dog may bite you. They normally bite for one of three reasons.
Indiscriminate Biting
Knowing which type of biter you are confronted with depends on the situation you are in at the time. For instance, if you are walking along the sidewalk in a residential street, minding your own business and a dog suddenly leaves its yard, runs directly at you and bites, this is indiscriminate biting or dog territorial aggression. This is a spoiled dog that is probably the dictator in its household. It is the type of dog that merely allows its family to co-exist with it in the house. It could be any breed, from a Toy Chihuahua to a Giant Schnauzer.
Fortunately, dogs that fall into this category are in the minority and are usually confined and restricted, because the owners are fully aware of the their bad behavior. Undoubtedly, they probably have been the recipients of occasional bites from their own dogs whenever the animals didn’t get their way.
Fear Biting
The fear biter falls into another category because its demeanor could be genetically inherited, or it could be a product of under-socialization with different types of people and situations when it was a puppy. It could be in a panic-stricken mind at the time of the bite.
A friendly but injured dog, could suddenly become a fear biter depending on the circumstances. If you stop on the highway to rescue a dog that has been struck by a car, the dog may think that you are the one who hit it, rather than understand that you are there to rescue it.
Protective Biting
Finally, a protective biter is one that’s unable to reason any farther than the fact that it feels the need to protect someone or something. Usually, the protective biter is in the group known as the working breeds. That is, dogs whose ancestors were originally bred to herd livestock or to protect properties and real estate. Most dogs have this protective instinct, but it seems to manifest more predominantly within the working group.
The main thing is to be aware that what may constitute for a well-behaved ‘looking’ pup, may not necessarily be the case.
Dog Growling Behavior – Is Your Dog Angry?
When a dog growls, it is an indication that he is uncomfortable in a specific situation, whatever reasons that may be. As a dog owner, you can observe this behavior and discover what types of things tend to bother your dog or puppy. This makes a great opportunity for you to condition him to better relax during these situations.
Many times it is the advancement of another animal or human being that will make your dog growl. And if this growl is heeded and the person does move away from it, the dog will drop the desire to continue its dramatic behavior because he appeared to have gotten his point across. It really is just another form of communication that canines use.
But this communication must be understood by people, especially children. If a child is approaching this same dog and the barking is ignored, the dog may then escalate its behavior and snap, or even bite the child.
What Would You Do?
Suppose for a minute that your child approaches your dog while it is laying down and it turns his head slowly away while growling at a low tone. Do you know what this means? What should you do?
Of course not all growling is considered bad and in such a situation it would appear that your dog is simply trying to communicate that it is uncomfortable with you approaching and would like to be left alone.
Don’t Take It Personally
Many dog owners take this behavior personally. They tend to punish their dog or puppy whenever it growls at them. This is a big mistake and could lead to potentially greater behavior problems down the road.
All you are doing in this situation is blocking the dog’s most important way of communication. If you continue this practice then sometime in the near future, the dog may not be courteous enough to give such a warning growl and may result in immediate snapping or biting.
Children should always be taught this form of communication. They must know that whenever these warning growls are given, it is always best to respect your dog and to move away from it.
Teach your kids to stop doing whatever they are doing when a dog growls at them. Running away is not advised. They should calmly retreat to a distance that is safe, but do it SLOWLY. Advise your kids to let you know exactly what happened so that you can use this information to continue training your dog the obedience skills it needs.
