I came across this really sad story recently.
It is about a rescue Siberian Husky, Chinook, who is going to be put down because he attacked some children.
As with most of these sad situations, the people most to blame are not the victims, or the dog, but rather the dog owners.
Why do dogs attack?
There could be a variety of reasons, but most dog attacks can be avoided with proper management and supervision. Dogs do much for us; the least we can do is to always keep them safe and happy.
1. Keep your dog secure and safe
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Only leave your dog in the backyard if it is very secure, or if you are around to supervise. If you need to leave your dog alone for a short period of time (< 3 hours), then crate him or keep him in a secure and safe room. Remember to leave him with many interesting chew toys and food toys to keep him occupied.
If you need to be away for long periods of time, then put him in a dog daycare or hire a pet sitter/dog walker.
In Chinook’s case, he has escaped many times from the backyard. To keep him from further escapes, a shock collar/electronic collar was used.
Obviously the collar was ineffective, and may have even exacerbated the situation, because the dog had to endure a large dose of pain as he was escaping. Do not use electronic collars. There are other safer, more effective methods, for training a dog.
2. Keep your dog well exercised
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Most dogs, especially energetic breeds (such as Huskies) need interesting mental and physical stimulation for a large part of the day. Otherwise, they will get bored and escape, or use your house and belongings as chew toys.
It is important to walk your dog everyday, so that he gets to explore and smell the great outdoors. If your dog goes out regularly with you, he will be less interested in escaping to find adventure on his own.
Mental exercise is also important. Make your dog work for all of his food in interactive toys rather than just serving him his meals in a silver dog bowl.
I also play tug, and flirt pole with my Siberian; and do fun obedience exercises with her every day.
Even the most friendly, socialized, dog may sometimes “attack”. Maybe someone accidentally stepped on his tail, maybe he just wanted to play and accidentally knocks over the child, maybe …
there could be lots of maybes.
That is why a dog, no matter the size, should always be supervised when interacting with young children. A dog should only be allowed off-leash in off-leash parks and only if you have good voice control over him.
Dogs naturally interact a lot with their mouths. What we do with our hands, a dog does with his mouth.
In addition, a dog is not born with a full understanding of all the rules and laws of our very human society. It is up to us to teach those rules to our dog.
Teach your dog bite inhibition, and teach him that it is unacceptable to bite on humans.
Why do dogs attack?
Frequently because of human error and negligence.
The dog is a gentleman; I hope to go to his heaven, not man’s.
~~[ Mark Twain, letter to W.D. Howells, 2 April 1899 ]
Heeyy,
I have two beagles a female and a male. roxy the girl loves very one and doesn’t bite. but Toby the male dog is friendly to me but he doesn’t like my friends and he grows a lot when there here. What can I do to make it stop
And barks* I meant not grows
How long have you had Toby? Has he always shown this behavior? Does he only show this behavior when people approach him or you? Does he only bark or does he also air snap? Has he mouthed on anyone? What is his body language like with people? Is his tail up or down? Is he standing in a forward upright position or more crouched low? Does he try to hide? Is he guarding you? What type of training is he used to? What is his daily routine like?
With my dog, I do people desensitization exercises to help him be more calm and relaxed around people.
However, dog behavior is very context dependent, so the temperament of the dog, his routine, environment, training, past experiences, and more will all play a role. This is why, especially in cases of aggression, it is usually best and safest to get help from a good professional trainer or behaviorist.
https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/finding-professional-help
https://apdt.com/pet-owners/choosing-a-trainer/
I just read that scienceblogs article – fascinating – thanks. It must be a bit daunting when a larger dog, like yours, suddenly wants to go on the tear after some “prey.” Fred, at 18 pounds, is absolutely the most I can handle, but I weigh only 98 pounds. I had an Aha Moment a few days ago, telling me that I was being extremely foolish not to muzzle my darling at every outing. Fred considers human toddlers fair game (ouch!!!). It’s only by the grace of God and some good luck that Fred has not had an incident to date in and around my apartment building. So now, on goes the muzzle. Fred is a good sport about it. I am investigating roomier “basket” muzzles now. Shibashake, if you know of any such muzzles you’d recommend, I’m all ears.
Take care, and all the best also to your pooches.
Kim
My darling little terrier, Famous Fred, is also one of those dogs who are creampuffs inside, and terrors outside. He has improved quite a bit with training and with months of acclimatization to his new home in the city (transplanted from the suburbs). But deep down, when we pass small, fast-moving beings, he still yearns to chase and attack – and he will often lunge to give it the old college try. This is disturbing to me, of course, but I’ve had a no-slip chain Martingale on him since May, which stops him very well in his violent little 18-pound tracks.
I saw a NOVA TV show last night that talked about how dogs evolved from wolves, and there was a segment on how some European researchers had bred foxes for generations both for tameness (1 set) and aggressivity (the other set). Wow–impressive results. Genes really do play a big part. My dog seems to have innate aggressivity. Terriers, of course, were bred to be vermin-hunters, and Fred does very much live up to the role. I wish he had a nice home on a farm somewhere instead of having to live in the big bad city! Our huge park is wonderful, and walks there keep us both sane, but Fred really is out of his element. As you know, ShibaShake, I adopted Fred from his owner who died; ideally, this would not have been the chosen dog breed for my locale.
Anyway, I just wanted to contribute and support everyone who has said that all of us with even vaguely aggressive dogs need to be super-vigilant at ALL times. I am even thinking that I really should muzzle poor little Fred sometimes, which I’ve done in the past.
Hi Kim, Always very good to see you.
I know what you mean about prey drive. My Sibe has very high prey drive and sometimes she just totally loses it. Just yesterday we saw a deer while on our hike and she totally went rear brained. Usually she is much better, but a moving deer is too irresistible for her.
She has also been skunked twice and still has not learned not to mess with skunks. 😀
I have seen that same study! Yeah the results were absolutely fascinating. It was amazing how selection just on this one trait also caused other physical and behavioral changes in the foxes. I was just having a discussion related to this the other day, and found this article that has some interesting details on the experiment.
http://scienceblogs.com/thoughtfulanimal/2010/06/monday_pets_the_russian_fox_st.php
Hugs to Fred!
OI have a hound mixed and she is the sweetest dog your ever meet but for some reason if a kid is near shes a completely different dog. She growls and sometiems tries to bite. I got her from the humane society when she was just a year and I dont really know her history is there and reason why she would be acting this way. She an amazing dog and she never growls at anyone else but little kids. What can I do and what might have caused this?
Yeah, kids act very differently than adults do, so dogs often view them very differently.
Kids are small, move fast and more erratically, which may trigger a dog’s prey drive. Kids also tend to project excited or fearful energy, which is easily picked up by a dog. Also, children are not often taught the best way to meet, greet, play, and handle dogs, so the dog may have had previous bad experiences with kids.
Here is an article on dogs and children –
http://shibashake.com/dog/dogs-children-prevent-dog-attacks
To help fix the behavior, you want to help the dog re-associate children (which she now sees as something negative) with something neutral or positive. This is often done through desensitization exercises.
Since this is with children though, safety becomes extremely important and it may be best to help from a professional trainer (one who uses positive reinforcement techniques).
My dog Sephy has some issues with meeting other dogs, so I visited with several trainers to learn techniques on how to manage this. In dog training, timing is extremely important and having private sessions really helped with timing, execution, and safety.
Good luck and big hugs to your girl.
Hi Danielle. You bring up a really good point here. There is a small Pom who lives in my neighborhood, and his owner just lets him do whatever he wants, including terrorize all the other nearby dogs. They even think that it is extremely cute and brave of their little dog to challenge and be rude to a large dog. “He is not afraid of anything!” they would exclaim, and then laugh. The sad thing is that if the larger dog corrects the smaller dog, the larger dog would get into BIG trouble. It is very sad for the Pom as well because he never goes on walks, and does not really know how to socialize with other dogs. All dogs, even small dogs need direction from us. And all dogs, even small dogs, need mental and physical stimulation every day.
i agree that it is usually the owners to blame. I have two male rottweilers and they are the most loving dogs i have ever known. we have a 6 foot privacy fence around our yard, and we also have a chain in our drive on the side of our house because max insists on being over there when my husband is out there. I have always kept max in two different collars at the same time out there because he always slips them but has learned if he wants to be there he has to wear them. There is a man that lives about 4 houses down the road from us and he would walk his dog by here everyday. He would never just walk right by though, he would stop and let his dog tease max for several minutes at a time. Once he would see me or my husband he would keep walking like he didn’t have a clue about any of it. I had asked him several times to please stop teasing my dog and also asked him to take an alternate route. it was clear the only reason he was coming this way was to tease my dog. to the point where he would be standing at the end of my driveway giggling. Nevertheless, max had finally had enough. At 135 lbs he took off and snapped the choker and ripped the 2 inch leather collar right down the holes and grabbed the dog. I had ahold of him within seconds because i was just walking out my front door and seen it happen. I asked the guy if he would please stop teasing the dog now and i haven’t seen him since. Which goes to show that there are just people that are wrong and will provoke a dog for their own amusement. This was a situation that could have ended badly and max would have been to blame. And i think what made me the most upset was that he is a dog owner himself and should have knwn better.