Hi,

I'm not an expert, but I don't think that a dog biting someone once will be a learned action.

You have to take each of these on a case-by-case basis.

Andy.

Depends how bad the bite it and what the circumstances are.....

No dog bites for no reason. We might not always fathom that reason or not straight away anyway so why should a dog be killed because of human lack of understanding and knee jerk reaction ?
Imo if there is a terminal medical cause that`s the only time it`s fair to consider it.

How many dogs which `bit for no reason` [ sic ] were even given the benefit of a thyroid panel being done ?
[ Thyroid imbalance being responsible for aggression in 80% of test cases in one study I read a long time ago, all of which were treatable and went on to be absolutely fine once treated ].

Its long overdue for humans to realise that non-illness caused aggression in dogs toward humans is usually caused *by* humans either accidentally or deliberately.

Sorry imo thats utter rubbish !!!!

Why is it utter rubbish?

I would be interested to know how many aggressive dogs don't either have a medical reason OR an environmental one.

Not saying sometimes there is not a medical reason for a dog biting - i have posted here on numerous occasions with this example - my neice who was a couple of months old was bitten on the face - please tell me what provocation there was in this case ? my son was also bitten by my dog in my presence - no provocation involved there either, my kids are fully aware of dog safety etc etc. Dogs are animals and as such carry certain traits which can never be fully trained out - dogs that attack humans without provocation should be pts. Humans come first in my book.

I agree - but what is classed as provocation.....to some dogs eye contact could be a trigger that would provoke a dog to bite.

I think everything has to be taken on a case by case basis.

Totally agree with Tassle - although i would say personally if a dog has a problem with eye contact severely enough to provoke it to bite it would not be suitable to be a domestic pet.

After my dog bit my son he was behaviour assessed and unfortunately he was deemed unfit to be rehomed and so was pts.

I`m sorry you find my years of hands-on experience so offensive to you, but facts are facts. Huge numbers - in fact almost all - of human aggressive dogs react out of medical or human caused reasons.

If a dog is killed for biting with no medical indepth checks done and on the word of some behaviourist, [ there are `behaviourists` and there are behaviourists ], then that`s appalling for any dog involved.

One of mine, a fear aggressive biter, [ due to horrific abuse ], was seen when in rescue by three behaviourists.
He bit them.
They said he was beyond help.
His excellent rescue lost faith in those behaviourists but not in the dogs potential.
In the 11 years since I adopted him he has`nt bitten anyone.
Must just be luck then ? [ not... ]

Any behaviourist who does`nt first ask for a veterinary check including thyroid to be done when dealing with aggression of no `obvious` cause is no behaviourist imo. Owners should be made aware of the medical conditions, [ and dietry which is another common factor ], which can be at the bottom of a behavioural problem.

Excellent post Patch- couldn’t of put it better (then again I can rarely put anything better than you).


Was the dog medically assessed as Patch suggested above?