01/16/2022
https://fb.watch/azdTh7ttW8/
Would you have picked up on your dog's cues?
Did you know up to 50% of children are likely to be bitten by a dog?
Children under five are statistically most likely to be bitten out of any age group, bites usually occur on the face or neck and are most often inflicted by the family or family friend's dog.
Contrary to popular belief, dogs don't have an innate desire to protect or care for children, but rather, can find the body language and eye contact of young children unnerving.
Bites don't come out of the blue, there are always warning signs, yet these subtle signs of stress usually go overlooked. By the time a dog growls they've almost certainly been uncomfortable and showing it for some time.
Dogs generally don't like their space being invaded, arms around their neck or having children lean or sit on them. At best they will tolerate it (for a while). Nearly all of the signs you see in this video are dogs asking for space, and it's important to understand a dog won't always move away to create space, they will use their body language or eventually teeth.
There is no such thing as a bomb-proof dog and no such thing as a 'child safe breed'. EVERY dog has the capacity to bite. Understand that when children get bitten in the home this doesn't necessarily mean a dog is 'aggressive'. All the behaviours in these videos are normal and in the dog world, using teeth is also normal. It's our job to learn how to read and advocate for our dogs so they don't need to advocate for themselves.
Some of the many stress cues in this video:
- Tongue flicks
- Stress yawns
- Eye blinks
- Ears back/flat
- Whale eye (seeing the whites of the eyes)
- Closed/tense mouth
- Freeze/tense and stiff body language
- Averting gaze / turning the head away
- Shifting weight
- Lifting paws
- Appeasement licks (these are often thought to be loving kisses, whereas in this context they are space-increasing signals)
