Photo Courtesy Jan Tik
May 15 through 21st is National Dog Bite Prevention Week, established by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) to help stop the nearly 5 million dog bites that happen every year. Although dog bites clearly always an issue, a lot of articles have come out on the subject the last few days.
At the Houston, Texas, kick-off for 2011’s National Dog Bite Prevention Week®, the USPS announced the top-10 cities in which letter carriers were attacked most often. Seattle ranked #10 with 28 bites last year.
I also came across an eye-opening but entertaining post by blogger Ryan Bradford who is a mailman in San Diego. The post was titled “All the Dogs Want to Kill Me”. He took photos of aggressive dog’s he encountered on his mail route. The post goes on to say that owners often joke with him about their dog’s aggression saying “don’t worry, he is really harmless. He would probably just lick you to death”. You can see by the photos, big and small dogs alike can look very threatening.
Do strangers really know or trust that your dog will only lick them though? Do owners really know that is how a dog would treat strangers “trying to break into their house” by putting mail in the box? Sure, your dog may bark and carry on when you are around and calm down when they see you welcome the stranger but what if you are not home and they can’t go off your behavior cues?
All of this reminds me of something funny that happened last week. It may be funny but it proves a point. We ordered a pizza and when the delivery man came to the door Chester went nuts as usual. I scooped him up and answered the door. The pizza man looked at me in honest amazement and said “THAT is the dog that was doing all the barking?”He of course couldn’t see Chester behind the door and obviously assumed by his “large” bark that he was a big dog that would have eaten his face off.
All of the articles I have come across recently seem to focus on mail carriers. However, dog aggression, or perceived dog aggression, doesn’t stop with the mailman. Another thing I was reminded of this week was of a poster I saw taped to the message board at a trailhead. I wasn’t a blogger then so I wasn’t busily snapping photos of absolutely everything. I wish I could find it or would have taken a picture because it was so great.
All I can do is describe it in words. There were two simple, similar sketches with one major difference. One was titled “How You See Your Dog” and had a man standing there with a happy dog on a leash. The dog was sitting with it’s tongue hanging out, a smile on its face and a happily wagging tail. The other sketch was titled “How Others See Your Dog” and had a man standing there with a dog off leash in a forward lunging position. The dog back hair was raised and it was bearing it’s teeth. It’s true that people don’t always see fluffy the way you do.
I don’t know if there is a solution to the mailman issue because every dog I know, even the best trained ones, will bark when a stranger approaches the door. However, there are many dogs out there that need to learn some manners with people and other dogs. I get questions all the time through my dachshund group about how one tames their aggressive dog that doesn’t play well with others.
I think the first key is socialization. Dogs who are not socialized, tethererd or are confined for long periods of time are more likely to attack or use their protective instincts since they are not familiar with humans or human contact. So get your dog out to meet with other dogs and teach him or her the kind of behavior you expect. Start will small bits of contact with new situations and then work your way up to more challenging situations and longer periods of time.
Almost all dog trainers have some sort of program to address the reactive or aggressive dog. If you can’t afford a trainer you can also look online for many do-it-yourself tips like with Cesar Milan or Victoria Stilwell (who don’t asgree on methods by the way but one of them will work with your dog).
Remember, bites are real and can sometimes be very serious. Don’t let your dog become a statistic.
2browndawgs says
The problem of aggressive dogs is a big one, isn’t it? I agree that socialization is very important. But I also think a lot of the problems arise from people failing to put rules on their dogs. (If my dog looked as aggressive as the ones the mailman encountered, they would not be left unattended in the yard, fenced or not.) Another problem is that not all local trainers have the experience to work with an aggressive animal and can sometimes reinforce the behavior through their “training” programs, (sadly, I know of a recent case of this).
AdventureJess says
Thanks for your perspective. I agree. I was not implying that socialization was the solution but a really great place to start. In this socialization process you can “teach your dog how you expect them to behave”, whcich is where the rules you mention start to come in. If your dog is truly agressive I suggest getting professional help to avoid unknowingly “reinforcing” the behavior. It IS unfortunate that too many people don’t put boundaries and limits on their dog. This is expecially prevalent with small dogs. Fifi might be nasty but, hey, she’s small so she is harmless right? Um….no.
lexy3587 says
I haven’t met a people-aggressive dog, to be honest… plenty of dog-aggressive ones, though, which is just as scary from my perspective. And I know that my dog has intimidated a few people coming to our door with his deep threatening bark… they can’t see that he’s barking and backing away from the door at the same time. Luckily for our mailman, we have a mailbox on the outside of our house, outside of the fenced backyard.
AdventureJess says
I am sure our mailman hates coming to our house…..we have a mail slot in our door. However, Chester is just alerting and hot peeking through the mail slot waiting to bite like that one little dog looked like it was ready to do. I hope the owners of these dogs saw the photos 🙂 So much goes on when we are not home to see it.
snoopy@snoopysdogblog says
I don’t like aggressive Dogs either – I’ve met quite a few in my 1 year of being around – I just back off and won’t talk to them if they’re rude to me and hope that if they did bite me they’d get a mouthful of fluff before they could hurt me…..
As you referenced, Mum thinks there are lots of resources out there for owners, it’s just whether the owners use them?
Hope you’re having a great day,
Your pal Snoopy 🙂
AdventureJess says
Sadly, I know a lot of people don’t 🙁
jme says
oh goodness, being in animal rescue this is so important. the thing people tend to not understand is that they actually ENCOURAGE aggression by attemmpting to comfort their dogs when they get upset. you are trying to say “stop, don’t worry” what the dog hears is “good dog for being aggressive, growly and fearful”. i once “interveneed” with a young puppy and her owners at the vet and explained this (as the dog was getting worse just in the few minutes there- since every time she growled they petteed her and soothed her). i explained how this is encouraging the opposite beahvior. they looked like lightbulbs had gone on and what did they do- the dog growled and they went RIGHT BACK to petting her?! it was like they didn’t even realize they were doing it. this is especiallt a problem for puppies and one can quickly make a puppy fear aggressive in no time flat…it is really tough sometimes. anyway if you feel like your dog is doing something it shouldn’t be, something that you make excuses for, try and explain a way out of or are embarassed or confused by, ask advice! in rescue, sometimes our job is helping people keep their dogs- and that means nipping this kind of thing in the bud before one decides they can’t manage the problem anymore…at that point it is likely, no one else can, or should, either! an aggressive dog without a home is not in a good place…
AdventureJess says
Thanks for chiming in. I admit my first reaction when Gretel gets anxious and growls is to comfort her but I am getting better about sending the message that growling is not acceptable and then trying to more slowly introduce her to what she is growling at. Once she can sniff whatever it is she is totally fine with it. I think it has been working. She is a lot less timid and less apt to growl or bark now…although sometimes she just goes nuts. I think her first reaction will always be to get anxious but we are trying to minimize it. Attitude is a lot too (mine). I just walk her with the attitude that she just won’t growl because that is absolutely not acceptable. She still does it (although I think less) but she doesn’t sense I am anxious too and when I react to her it is calmer and firmer instead of a “freak out.”
According to Gus says
I’m enjoying all the dog bite posts this week – I had no clue it was this week until I started seeing all the posts. I feel like a bad dog blogger. 😉
Socialization is so very important with doggers. Unfortunately, since Gus was our first dog, there was a lot of mistakes we made along the way.
I’ve seen the photo you mentioned – if you find it, I’d love to see it again. It’s a great graphic!
AdventureJess says
Chester was my first dog and I think I just got lucky. I didn’t REALLY know what I was doing but I tried. Whatever it was I did worked. He is almost perfect. Almost. I know I let him get away with some things I shouldn’t.