By Steve Dale, CABC
For generations, we have all learned and we teach our children, that if we see a dog that we don’t know and we’d like to pet it, that we need to ask the owner, “Can I pet your dog?”
However, this approach isn’t good enough. We’re missing something— something big. We must also ask the dog.
I thought about the idea when I was walking our then 15-year-old dog, Hazel, in our neighborhood. She was just sniffing at the grass and not paying attention to a nearby mixed breed dog. I wasn’t either until unexpectedly, the handler asked me, “Don’t you want to pet my dog?”
I’m unsure why she asked, but I instantly said, “No, thank you.”
Her dog was stretched to the end of the leash in the opposite direction and wasn’t making any eye contact and clearly looked rigid. The dog’s tail was relaxed but slumped. It seemed clear to me that the dog was not interested in interacting with me at this moment.
The woman was clearly agitated and even muttered something about me not liking dogs. I should have answered back, “No, I like dogs enough to give them agency, to respect their choices. Also, some dog bites happen when we push ourselves onto dogs who don’t want to interact.”
This encounter motivated me to write a children’s book called Ask the Dog.
At Home
This scenario can even happen when a dog is at home with their loving family. A child or even an adult, though especially a child, will interact with a dog who has tried to warn the person to stay away. That warning could be any number of cues. While, those cues may be subtle to people, the dog likely thinks, “How much clearer can I be?”
Cues may include but are not limited to a yawn, stiff body posture, tail and/or ear position, backing into a corner – and that is just the start. The list of these cues can be long. And when all else fails, this dog nips or even offers a significant bite.
How can that be?
Think about it, how many times have you tried to hold your temper and then finally lose it? In fact, I suggest that most dogs are amazingly tolerant.
At the Clinic
It’s unclear if a dog is more likely or less likely to bite when at home in a comfortable setting or at a veterinary hospital. I suggest in many cases the dog is more likely to “lose it” at a hospital, as often they’re there because they’re feeling unwell and/or may be in pain. When you’re in pain or ill, is your fuse a bit shorter?
Most dogs offer warning signals and while veterinary professionals may be familiar with that long list, I believe the general public may not be, which is another reason why I wrote Ask the Dog.
To better educate the general public, I partnered with professionals at Fear Free to develop guidelines that should be used before interacting with any dog: STOP – TALK – OBSERVE – PLAN – PET
However, in veterinary medicine, the guidelines are a little bit different: STOP – TALK – OBSERVE -PLAN – EXAMINE or STOP – TALK – OBSERVE – PLAN – TOUCH GRADIENT
Because of the unique relationship a veterinary professional shares with the pet, the final “P” for “PET” instead becomes “E” for “EXAMINE” or “T” for “TOUCH GRADIENT,” referring to gradually increasing the intensity or area of touch—starting with light, brief contact and progressing to firmer or more sustained handling to help animals acclimate to touch and reduce stress.
By asking the dog, the dog has agency or choice to interact. This isn’t only a protocol to reduce dog bites, but it also offers the dog choice, and that’s a welfare issue. Don’t dogs deserve the option not to be touched? No should mean no for dogs too.
Dog Bite Data
Just released data from California shows increased rates of emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and even deaths from dog bites, with new records set after COVID lockdowns. In 2022, there were 48,596 ER visits for dog bites in California, or 125 visits per 100,000 residents, a 70 percent increase in the rate of visits from 2005, according to the state Department of Health Care Access and Information.
The rate of dog bite-related hospitalizations roughly doubled from 2006 through 2022. And although deaths from dog bites are extremely rare, the death rate in California rose an astounding 70 percent during roughly the same period, with 28 deaths in the state from 2018 through 2022. As far as dog bite-related records have been kept, it’s never been this high.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, comparing 2011 with 2021, between 2011 and 2018, the number of annual dog bite related deaths hovered around 20, on average nationally. Unfortunately, 2018 through 2021, national deaths resulting from dog bites more than doubled per year, the CDC reported. While the number of dogs has significantly risen, that number has not doubled.
The American Veterinary Medical Association estimates that households nationwide owned about 86 million dogs in 2020, up from about 62 million in 2001. Today, estimates vary but hover around 90 million pet dogs in the U.S.
Why More Dog Bites?
Animal shelters and rescues, particularly those self-identified as no-kill, will do all they can to adopt out an aggressive dog who has been “re-trained,” often using aversive training methods. Because “the job” is done so quickly and using punishment-based techniques, such the rise in usage of shock collars, these dogs can become a ticking time bomb.
Nationwide, children under five years of age were more than twice as likely to die from dog bites as members of other age groups, according to CDC data from 2018 to 2022, which explains why my first book on this topic is for children. According to the Cynophobia (fear of dogs) Clinic, 9 to 10 percent of children are now fearful of dogs.
Much of the time when there are serious bites to young children, there was no adult supervision when the dog attacked, and the dog might have been provoked (from the dog’s point of view). More deliveries coming to homes also likely plays a role.
Various other factors, including a lack of socialization among pups adopted during the pandemic, are likely contributing to increasing dog bites, even climate change.
Bottom line—we need to do better regarding dog bite prevention and I suggest the first step is simply “ask the dog.”