Quote From: mvanbruggeHaving been involved in the animal welfare community since the age of 8, and being an experienced dog trainer, educator, consultant, and dog bite statistics expert, I have all sorts of reasons to be ashamed of many of the dog owners out there.
Reading these posts, I'm more ashamed than ever.
First, there was the idiotic, ignorant post about not understanding how behaviours are (or must be) learned.
Try poking a minutes-old puppy. Does it lash out and try to bite? Of course not. It merely recoils, away from the poke. Try poking a week old puppy. Does it lash out and try to bite? Of course not. Again, it recoils. Only once a dog has more experience learning its abilities, and which things it can control with which behaviours/actions, does it come to learn that teeth can effectively manipulate those around it. Puppies are not born knowing this. They L-E-A-R-N it. Sheesh. It's not rocket science! All dogs will learn to bite, as a means of manipulating their environments, IF PERMITTED. But not all dogs learn to bite, and certainly very few learn to bite as a means of controlling the humans around them.
(My own 7-year-old Great Dane, for example, has never bitten...and has never even growled. She is the picture of socialization - no surprise there, I suppose, given that I teach responsible dog ownership. But that means she uses all sorts of calming signals to diffuse tense situations; doesn't feel threatened in non-threatening situations; doesn't behave inappropriately with people; and knows how to communicate her intentions to other dogs. In return, I protect her from having to face any truly dangerous situations, thereby allowing her to continue to see everyone as potential playmates, rather than threats.)
In responsible homes, any kind of aggressive behaviour is redirected before it escalates to biting. But...of course...many people actively reward menacing barking, growling, etc., because it makes them feel "protected". Without accredited protection training, dogs who indiscriminately feel threatened by both the paper boy and a burglar are demonstrating precisely why dogs make very bad security devices.
In any event, every single dog can be raised to be a good canine citizen. All these stories of horrendously negligently-owned dogs makes me both sad and very, very angry.
In a lifetime of dog ownership, not one of my own dogs has bitten an animal, human or otherwise. In 30 years training dogs, and a decade specializing in re-training aggressive dogs, not one of the dogs I've trained has bitten during, or since, my training. And if I need more proof that I know what I'm talking about, even though I specialize in re-training already aggressive, adult dogs; I, myself, have never been bitten by a dog. Not once! All these stories of biting dogs just prove the incompetence of their trainers.
Dog owners bear the blame for the inappropriate behaviour they allow of their dogs, whether it's barking, digging, jumping up, or unwarranted aggression.
One of my favourite sayings is, "You get the dog you deserve."
This discussion proves the old saying is right on the money.
