A dog bite is something you must take seriously for your family's safety.

Today, we help you to understand the reasons why a dog might bite.

  • Pain: a dog in pain, for example if he has arthritis, and might become aggressive, even biting if you touch the part of his body that is in pain. They are unpredictable and might bite even if they never have done so before. Be very careful with children and their sudden moves.
  • Fear or something that is bothering them: a dog afraid or bothered by something will at first be threatening. If the fear doesn't go away, they might bite. Also, if your dog is afraid of something they cannot reach, they might bite something else reachable. Thus, if you are trying to calm them down, they might bite you. Also, if you are doing something your dog doesn't like, they will become threatening and if you don't stop, bite you.
  • Protecting his territory: a dog feels the need to protect their territory. Indeed, if an intruder (dog or human being) comes in their territory, your dog might threaten and bite them.
  • A socialization problem: if your dog isn't socialized enough with other dogs, they might become aggressive with them in order to assert their domination. Read our advice on how to stop a dog fight in case it happens.
  • Hierarchical issues: if your dog does not understand that they're not in the dominant position, they might bite. Indeed, as the owner you must impose yourself in the dominant position. That goes though 3 fundamental stages: your dog must eat after you do, you must be the origin of any action (it means that you always go first), and your dog must not sleep in the same room as you. A dog who doesn't understand this hierarchy will tend to bite.

Remember, a dog doesn't bite for no reason. Try to understand the cause of a bite in order to fix the underlying cause. It's a shame to get rid of a dog because they bite when this unwanted behaviour can be managed.

Bite inhibition

From their 4th week, puppies start to nibble their brothers and sisters. When one of them is hurt, they will scream and the other puppy will understand that what they did caused pain. They will stop, and this is called the bite inhibition. If your puppy nibbles you, you can scream to make them understand that what they did is wrong.

After the bite

After the dog bite, your dog goes through a calming phase. They can, to make you understand that they're not aggressive anymore, lick you or put their paw on you. It doesn't mean that they're trying to apologize, but that they don't have a reason to be angry anymore.

You need to have a Yummypets account in order to comment on this article.
Create your Yummypets account in less than a minute.