All Dogs Bite: Dog Safety, Spotting Fear

*Edit: this was scheduled to post some time in mid-April, but given the Bidens just sent their German Shepherds home because one of them was frightening the security staff and there was a “biting incident,” I thought it was relevant. Note: I’m definitely NOT saying that what’s happening in these videos is what happened there. I AM saying feeling like your humans don’t have your back played a big part in what happened at the White House. I’m also saying that the Bush’s dog (in one of the videos below) bit someone, drew blood, but wasn’t sent home, likely because it wasn’t a “scary” breed. I’m feeling a lot of compassion for Mrs. Biden right now, since she made a statement that she’s been trying to settle the dogs in for a month, and now she has to send them home.

…I’m also saying they should have called me, but I bet lots of dog trainers are saying that right now. Hey, uh, Bidens? Especially Mrs. Biden? I voted for you, I understand that it’s important to have your dogs around, I work with LOTS of rescues, and I could fix the problem! I even have a money-back guarantee. 😉

Okay, back to our regularly scheduled post.

Someone sent me a video of a dog attacking a reporter. If you search for that on YouTube, you’ll discover this is far from an unusual scenario! But in every attack, the dogs communicates first.

Most of my training is based on what dogs are telling us. If a stranger walks up, looms over me, touches me, ignores my requests for them to stop, and I’m leashed in place and unable to leave… I’m going to punch them in the junk. Dogs are doing the same thing.

The thing is, we’re always teaching our dogs English. It’s time to learn dog. I’m going to break down a few of these videos so you can see the warning signs and, hopefully, pass them along to any children you know.

Maybe pass them along to some reporters, too…

Let’s start with the first video I was sent. Now, do me a favor: watch each of these videos on mute. (Many of them have people talking, and some aren’t helpful at all.)

Right away, I can see how heavily the dog is panting. Since everyone else is wearing long sleeves and it’s probably not hot, I’m guessing this is a stress pant. (I’d be stressed too if I was surrounded by strangers, held tight against my owner’s legs, and in a studio with bright lights, microphones, etc. Especially if no one could explain to me what was going on, and I could smell the stress coming off my humans. I wouldn’t know it was because they were excited to be on TV!)

:09: Despite the poor video quality, I can see the whites of the dog’s eyes (stress).

:10: He stops panting suddenly, then goes back to it. This is a decision point for him. By stopping, then starting again (or vice versa), he’s letting everyone know that he’s deciding what action to take.

:10-17: This is hard to see because she’s petting his jaw and effectively muffling his communication, but he starts giving small licks (not licking her, more as if he’s wetting his mouth) and swallowing repeatedly. “You are really freaking me out, and I’m trying to tell you that I really need you to stop.”

:16-17: He tries to pull away, and keeps flashing the whites of his eyes. “Stop, I’m stressed.” She doesn’t stop petting him.

:18: He looks at her (without leaning toward her), flashing the whites of his eyes, and gives another panting-pause. “I don’t want to be unfriendly, so now that I retreated and you backed off slightly, I’ll look toward you to reward you. HOWEVER, I’m still stressed.”

:19: She scratches under his chin, which he seems to like for a second.

:20: The woman attacks the dog. What would you call it when someone won’t stop when you ask and even leave as far as you can go, and then pushes your face up and comes at you, teeth first? We, as humans, know she’s going to give him a kiss. But a dog coming from above, who has refused to leave another – trapped – dog alone, arriving teeth first at the other dog’s nose is an attack.

:21: he defends himself. He doesn’t actually fling his whole body into it; do you see how easily she’s able to yank back, and how the officers (?) are able to pull him away so swiftly? He doesn’t try and go after her again. If she’d shoved her arm at him and he’d bitten that, she probably would have ended up with a bruise and some scratches. This is a dog who has done EVERYTHING he can to avoid the situation, only to be attacked, so he gives a warning bite. Why was it so awful?

Ah, that’s the thing. Faces are far more delicate than any other part of our body. He caught her lip, she pulled back, the officers pulled him back, and he didn’t get a chance to open his mouth, so he tore her lip. Obviously, we humans are going to pull away, but the thing is: the dog wasn’t trying to hurt. He was trying to warn, without knowing that faces are that sensitive, or that stupid humans would pull them apart before he could let go. This isn’t an aggressive dog: this is a stressed, freaked out dog communicating brilliantly despite being held in place. This dog does about everything he can to avoid, and when he finally gets attacked, he snaps.

I mean, under the same circumstances, I actually would aim to hurt someone. I wouldn’t have nearly the amount of restraint that this guy shows. I’d probably attack again, just to make sure the freak who kept pawing at me was down for the count.

SHOULD things like this happen? Of course not. Ideally our dogs are so well socialized and treated that they never feel they need to defend themselves. At the same time, if we’re going to drag them into our lives, we really need to learn how to listen to them.

But, hey, maybe it’s just because it’s a mastiff breed. Let’s look at another one.

Here’s another good communicator! He’s not as pinned in place (although he’s still tied via leash so he can’t easily retreat). This one, you can turn the sound on.

:02: Barney is drooping and definitely not wiggly. I can’t see his tail, but the fact that he doesn’t respond at all when someone says his name is a clear indication he doesn’t want to engage.

:08: Lots of people start chattering at him. He moves around to acknowledge, and we finally see his tail. Could it get any lower? A low tail is a dog saying, “I don’t want to engage or do anything right now.” He gamely gives it a tiny wag, but doesn’t look up. “Yeah, I hear you guys. I’m really not in the mood though, okay?”

:08-:15: He’s barely twitching at the sounds around him. Definitely feeling more negative (still or stiff) than positive (relaxed and waggly.) He’s not even sniffing the ground around him, so he’s definitely on the still side. But he’s not threatening anyone (he’s not perfectly still), he’s just unhappy, and he’s trying to tell the people around him that he’s unhappy and – this is important – wants to be left alone. How can I tell? If he didn’t want to be left alone and he was unhappy, his tail would be low, but he’d be looking at people and walking to them to ask for cuddles. He’s not; he’s ignoring them so hard it practically takes effort. (How easy is it to NOT look at someone when they talk to you? Same for dogs.)

:16: Dude goes to pet him, despite his good communication that he wants to be left alone. He reels away first, not trying to attack, while also giving several warning snaps.

:17: Handler pulls Barney away.

:18: Notice now how Barney’s body language changes: his tail comes up (I’m willing to engage, good or bad), as does his head and ears. He faces the reporter, even takes a few steps toward him. “Back. Off.”

:20 Tail still up, he drops his head as he approaches the reporter. “I’m not challenging or being aggressive, but I’m still willing to engage if you’re stupid. Now, are you okay?”

:21: The reporter doesn’t ask for friendship, so Barney doesn’t keep trying. His tail stays up, though (still willing to engage), and he looks around with more alertness. If you were to start the video here, you’d see a happy, alert dog. I mean, sure. He tried to communicate, no one listened, so he corrected the human who blatantly ignored him, and the human went away.

:22: You can see his tail wagging as it comes back down, for just a split second. “I would rather be friends, so let me show you that I still like you, and that I’m not planning on engaging – attacking – again… but I would like you to stay over there, please. I’ll make it easier by not looking at you, either.”

:27: Camera leaves but comes back to show… his tail is down again. He doesn’t WANT to have to correct the humans. He’d rather just be left alone at the moment… which he was saying all along.

(Note that Barney is MUCH less tolerant of stupid humans, as compared to the dogo argentino in the previous video.)

Next: turn the sound off for this, guys, and just skip ahead to the 30 second mark.

Here we have a dog with no escape outlets. His leash is tight, and he’s probably trying to obey a “stay” or “sit” command like a good dog. He’s being given NO personal space.

:31: Freeze! As the view cuts to them, you’ll notice the dog is just finished licking his lips; you can see his tongue pull back into his mouth as he swallows. He’s watching the reporter with the whites of his eyes showing, and he’s maintaining his sit but leaning AWAY from the reporter, who continues petting him. Lip licking + white eyes + leaning away = really freaked out by this guy, and saying so in every way he can.

:33: He looks to his handler for help, but receives none.

:34: He licks his lips some more. Those little lip licks are a big sign that your dog is stressed and asking people to please stop. He does it several times while lowering his head submissively. “Please stop, I’m scared, I don’t know why you’re looming over me, I’m not allowed to escape, please, please stop, I’m submissive, I’ll be good.” This breaks my heart.

:34, and repeated at :36: He looks at the reporter, head still dipped (submissive), whites of the eyes showing, and gives those lip licks. “I’m a puppy, I’ll be a puppy, if you’ll just please stop. I’m scared, I’m starting to panic, no one is listening, the way you’re looming and in my personal space is threatening, but I’m being good.”

:37: AGAIN.

:45: They cut away and cut back, re-showing the above few seconds and continuing.

:45: Whites of the eyes are showing (stress), ears are folded back (I’m a scared puppy), he looks up at the reporter (give me some help).

:47: Lip licking, lowers his head – he’s giving up on getting help, there.

:49 and 50: Starts to glance at his handler, stops because his handler has yet to help him. He’s already given up on getting help from that front. He lowers his body and licks his lips again. Scared. Whites of his eyes are still showing.

:50-:52: He looks at the reporter, who takes hands off his head. At that, he straightens up a little. “Thank god you stopped petting me, finally!” The reporter, however, put his hands on the dog’s neck and traps the dog’s face, forcing it higher.

Skip to the one minute mark, where they repeat the same footage and continue.

1:01: The reporter traps the dog by catching his head and pulling it up. Then the reporter sits up higher, looming like an aggressive dog, scoots even further into the dog’s personal space, so the dog is completely pinned, and comes down at the dog. No matter how much the dog has been asking them to stop and saying he’s a sweet, submissive, scared puppy, in his mind, this reporter is restraining and attacking him anyway. There’s LOTS of white eye on display here.

They helpfully show this in slow motion several times. With the sound off, you can see how incredibly aggressive the reporter looks from the dog’s point of view.

1:20: They show it full speed. The dog finally panics completely, because he’s been pinned and he’s being attacked, so he fights for his life. One big bite with more intention to hurt than either of the other videos, because he’s far more afraid than the other dogs were. (How do I know intent to hurt? Look at how wide his mouth is on contact. The other dogs were already closing their mouths, and never got them that wide in the first place. Their intent was to warn, to deliver a bite that would sting. This guy, even taking into account the movement of the reporter coming toward him and maybe throwing off his aim, is going to bite. He thinks the reporter is going to kill him, and his “pack” – the handler, who hasn’t done anything at all to even acknowledge the dog when he asks for help — is clueless. So, the dog reacts accordingly: defending himself against a deadly threat, knowing he’s on his own.

They pull the dog away. His tail is down – he doesn’t want to engage. If he wanted to be aggressive, his tail would be up. He’s still just scared.

1:21: The handler puts his hand on the dog’s mouth to keep him from biting again. A dog out of his mind with mania or aggression would bite the hand without realizing who it belonged to. This dog just melts.

1:22: They so-helpfully freeze frame here for a second. Notice how the dog looks back toward the reporter. He’s cowering, even as his handler stands, but it’s not his handler he looks to. Why would he? His handler has already told him, repeatedly, through a lack of action, that he’s on his own. So he looks to the threat, to see if the reporter is going to attack again. Whites of his eyes are still showing, his head is still low (instead of high, chest puffed out with confidence), as is his tail. He’s afraid of what he’s looking at: his attacker, the reporter, whom he barely escaped – and clearly he can’t trust his handler, who didn’t step in and, in fact, stood up and abandoned him while he was still cowering and scared.

If you keep watching, you’ll see the bite in slow motion and the width of the jaw that I was talking about. At that point, stop. The show goes on to talk about how dangerous dog’s jaws and teeth are, and how this dog was obviously evil at the core to bite someone who was just petting him.

I can feel my blood pressure rising…

Now, am I saying these people in these videos deserved to be bitten? No, no one deserves to be hurt for their ignorance. The people were trying to be kind, and didn’t know they were causing emotional stress and fear, much less that they were attacking the dogs.

The dogs should be worked with enough to not worry in new situations like these, and they should know they can always retreat instead of attack. AND we, as dog owners, need to remember that most people don’t speak dog. Unless it’s your entire life (and even then), it’s impossible to socialize a dog to every possible circumstance. (I am not, for instance, going to burn down my house to teach my dogs to allow a fireman to carry them out. I can, however, teach them it’s safe to let people carry them, and I can show them that I’m always willing to come to their aid, even if I don’t think it’s necessary, so they know I have their back and they can be braver and more tolerant of things like this, knowing I always help.)

If your dog is telling you they’re under stress (heavy panting, whites of the eyes, ears pinched back, little lip licks, tail down), back them up. Ask the person to stop, or remove your dog from the situation. Just knowing that you’re listening to them will give a dog more confidence and tolerance to deal with stressors because, unlike this last video (well… all the videos, but especially the last one), they don’t think they’re on their own.

A final note: the little lip lick? While a dog might not do that before they snap, if they do it, it’s a major red flag that they’re scared, stressed, and trying to tell you before they are pushed to taking care of the problem themselves. It’s actually a submissive, fearful movement. Your dog is begging for help before they bite.

Depressed as I am? Never fear! The following videos are the anti-dote to this post, with lots of lovely dog rescues and dog love attacks!

But before that… take a look at this “cute” video, and tell me if this dog is enjoying her “buddy,” or always a few seconds short of a bad bite that she’ll probably be blamed for.

Now for the anti-dote videos!

Jenna