While I was in the Riverland I was sitting in the big shed after dinner, dog on my lap my great nephew comes in, comes to me and, shouting, energetic, hand held high and tries to pet my dog who reacted by biting him.
To a dog, a stranger trying to pat it on the head is not the stranger being friendly but an interloper trying to impose dominance over the dog and to a dog who is settled into a hierarchy with the people it lives with dominance is something to be resisted and teeth are a dog’s only way of doing so.
Not a good idea to approach a dog, especially with hand held high! Let the dog come to you, sniff you—dog instinct—and it will signal it wanting a pat, still not on he top of its head by rearing up and putting its front legs on you. A couple treats, dry biscuit will do biggrin.gif dogs value quantity over quality!
A dog’s tail is also very useful: there are two separate wags!
A nervous or aggressive dog will have its tail straight out behind it and wag it slowly. Best to slowly move out of its vicinity! No eye contact!
A happy dog has its tail straight up and curled forward and it will wag this quickly. Still don’t pat it on the top of its head!
A children’s birthday party? Put your dog in a boarding kennel for the day! Screaming, running kids—some kid will get bitten for sure!
Punishing a dogA dog has 1/7th the short term memory we have (and seven times faster reflexes!) so no point punishing a dog UNLESS you catch it in the act.
How do you punish a dog? Ignore it! All it takes!
My dog ended up in my car all by itself for an hour. I know my great nephew earned a bite but we can never allow a dog to bite unpunished (unless it bites a burglar
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