When A Dog Bites

A pet bites a child, and the owner is faced with an excruciating decision: Is it safe to keep this dog?

For some, the answer is "no," and it's a decision reached more from the gut than from calm contemplation. But is that the right call to make? According to veterinarian Margaret Duxbury, not without a visit to the veterinarian.

"Given the important role dogs play in families and in critical social relationships for some people, aggressive dogs should not be euthanized unnecessarily," said Duxbury, a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Behavior. "As caring professionals, veterinarians should take the time to establish an accurate behavioral diagnosis that allows them to evaluate the expected clinical course and specific risk factors for that problem."

Any dog may bite, given the right - or wrong - circumstances, Duxbury said.

"There are many case examples where simply improving the owner's ability to understand, read and manage their dog resolves or sufficiently reduces the problem," she said.

Duxbury says the bottom line in coming to a decision to keep the dog, turn it over to a shelter or euthanize it, is risk.

"A number of specific factors can be used to evaluate the risks posed by a particular dog in a particular household," she says.

Duxbury will share her insights into dog-bite behavior and will dissect the factors that should be taken into account if a dog bites during a program on Saturday, July 11, at the 146th AVMA Annual Convention in Seattle, Wash.

"By evaluating these factors in a standardized way with all patients, practitioners will be better able to compare the aggressive dogs they see and to advise clients in ways that promote informed and realistic decisions," Duxbury said.

Among the factors a veterinarian and a pet owner should consider are size, sex, the context in which the bite took place, bite history, warning signs, household dynamics, the prognosis for improvement and breed.

But Duxbury, like many in the field of animal behavior, warns that any consideration of breed needs to be tempered by the facts.

"Owners often want to simplify the problem they face with their own dog by looking at its breed," she said. "Breed statistics for biting dogs can be misleading because they are gathered from data on reported bites when most bites go unreported, do not include information about the overall popularity of a breed in the area and often rely on untrained witnesses for breed identification. In most cases, a well-managed, socially competent dog presents a lower risk of biting regardless of breed. ... Any dog of any breed can inflict serious or fatal injury."

That's a message that Jane Berkey, president of the Animal Farm Foundation, Inc., also wants to share. Berkey will be presenting a program on dog breed-specific legislation during the Convention on Monday, July 13.

"Veterinarians, their clients and their clients' pets in 300 cities and towns in the United States live with special burdens and added costs because of ordinances banning or restricting dogs of one or more breeds and breed mixes," Berkey said. "Thirty-six breeds of dogs and mixes of those breeds have been restricted in various combinations and groupings. These restrictions and bans compromise the human-animal bond and complicate the professional landscape for veterinarians."

Berkey will trace what she calls "demonized" dogs who have been victimized over the years by their reputation. The list includes bloodhounds, German shepherds, Doberman pinschers, Rottweilers and pit-bull type breeds. She calls it an "environment of breed discrimination."

"Focusing on breed or phenotype diverts attention from strategies veterinarians and other animal experts have consistently identified as contributing to humane and safer communities," she said. "There is so much behavioral variability within each breed, and even more within breed mixes, that we cannot reliably predict a dog's behavior or suitability based on breed alone."

Source
American Veterinary Medical Association