Dog Behavior

Dog Behavior and Why Dogs Bite

As the old adage goes, “Dogs are man’s best friend.” However, there are times when people just can’t understand why their beloved dogs behave in a different manner. Hence, it is extremely important to know the underlying reasons why dogs sometimes behave differently.

You can teach your dog appropriate behavior. Experts say that dog behaviors can be controlled through proper training.

Dog behavior are actually responses that are mostly triggered by environmental and social factors. Hence, to control these responses, the owner should teach his dogs the proper way to respond to such elements. Let’s explore a few of the methods:

The Dog Bite:

If you are living in the U.S, statistics have show that every year almost 6 million people are victims of dog bites. That is a shocking 2% of the total U.S population. It is no surprise that dog bites rank as the second most common cause of hospital emergencies cases.

The question is, Why do dogs bite?

According to the animal experts, the main reasons why a dog bite are:

1). Excitement

When somebody plays with their dog, the tendency of their dog getting excited is almost certain, and because dogs don’t have hands to use when playing, they use their mouth to grasp things. When this happens, that over thrilled ‘excitedness’ get to him and very often, the dog might accidentally hurt people unintentionally.

2). Protection

Dogs are creatures of possessiveness, so, whenever he wants to protect something that belongs to him, his animal instincts take over rapidly and he will bite whoever threatens to take away his belongings. Never take away a dogs belongings if you don’t know him well enough.

3). Pain

When the dog is not feeling well, he does not understand why he is feeling that way. Therefore, when a person, even if it’s his master, touches him, he may think that it’s the person who causes the pain and so his tendency is to fight back by biting.

4). Fear

Dogs are sometimes afraid just like humans. That is why when somebody startles him, the dog’s only known protection for itself is to bite back.

The best thing is to avoid these situations and leave the dog alone. Although dogs may be cute and nice to play with, the problem with so many people especially strangers is they never leave the dog alone. A dog with a wagging tail may not always be friendly. If you are a stranger, always ask the owner if you can play with his dog if you are in doubt.

Like humans, dogs have feelings too. When these feelings are all mixed up, their only known protection for themselves is to bite back because they cannot understand and process these situation in a logical manner.