It’s dog bite prevention week. Here’s a great article that Dr May recommended about recognizing the dog anxiety that leads to dog bites and how interpreting those signals correctly can prevent dog bites. Dog bites don’t always start from a dog growling and showing its teeth, there are usually MANY other lesser known signs and signals inbetween.
The article is a quick and easy read with easy to digest language. For example from the article:
- Dog bites are particularly stressful for families because children are most often bitten on the face, head or neck.
- People are often surprised to learn that most of these bites come from our own family pets or dogs that we know.
- Dog bite prevention begins with the understanding that dogs do not bite “out of the blue.” People can learn to recognize potentially dangerous situations. First, we can become aware of dogs’ body language, especially around children.
Dogs use their bodies to say, “Don’t bother me right now.”
Here are some things you may notice when a dog becomes anxious:
• Lip licking or tongue flicking
• Tightly closing mouth
• Turning head, or turning entire body away from a situation
• Barking or whining
• Crouching or tucking the tail
• Yawning
• Body still, in a “freeze”
• Ears “pinned back” to head
• “Half moon eye,” which occurs when the whites of a dog’s eyes are exposed
Read the full article, written by Dr. Cynthia Hoecker and Kay Thompson, here. If you have dogs or kids, you should take 5 minutes to read the full article.
Find more related content on our links page. We have links to videos that show these common stressed dog behaviors as well.