Fortunately, severe dog bites are really rare. Nevertheless, we read/hear again and again that the dog bit without warning.

Understandably, people are unsettled, trust is destroyed and fear spreads. Living with a potentially dangerous creature that you can’t assess is no fun.

On the contrary, it puts everyone involved under enormous stress.

It is therefore not surprising that after a supposedly unpredictable bite, thoughts quickly turn to extreme consequences for the dog.

But are all these bites unpredictable and out of the blue?

First of all, yes, there are indeed dogs who bite intentionally or unintentionally without making any kind of threat beforehand. If a dog does this consciously, he has usually learned that appeasement and threats do not work. So he no longer makes the effort to de-escalate and instead immediately makes his point.

This is completely normal in nature and we humans behave in the same way.

If a dog bites unconsciously and for no reason, there is a medical problem. In many cases, the cause is neurological and the dogs are inconspicuous and friendly before and after. The bites themselves are often disproportionate, uninhibited, and cause enormous damage (depending on the size of the dog).

It is important to understand that we can only achieve something with training measures if the dog acts consciously. In other words, when they bite deliberately.

There are many reasons for this, the most common being resource guarding (including the dog’s own body).

The dog feels threatened either in his physical integrity or in relation to another important resource by the human and reacts with defense.

We particularly often see supposedly unpredictable biting in small dogs who are being held for grooming or even provoked for videos (apparently it is funny when a small dog tries with all his energy to express his discomfort).

But even “good-natured” dogs often become victims in this context. They put up with a lot and spend a lot of time trying to get out of their predicament by using appeasement signals (e.g. licking, lifting their paw, turning their head away, averting their gaze).

You may have noticed such signals in your dog when you have put on his harness or dried his paws, for example.

Dogs often try to simply walk away and encounter impatience because they can’t just hold still for a moment.

We humans need to understand that our dogs are trying to escape a situation that is unpleasant for them in a very polite way.

And if we don’t listen, at some point they will have no choice but to become more confrontational. Every dog has a limit at which he can no longer stand it and starts to defend himself.

If we have overlooked the many signals beforehand, it can seem as if the dog has bitten without warning.

This is exactly the reason why I’m always very wary when someone tells me “he growls/barks/puts up but would never bite”. Even if that’s true and your dog does have a very high threshold, it’s really not a good idea to take advantage of his good nature.

After all, you want your dog to feel comfortable, right?

Imagine what your quality of life would be like if someone constantly forced something on you that you didn’t like and reacted impatiently to your request not to do it.

But what can we do to make the daily “necessary” actions (many of which aren’t actually necessary at all) easier for our dogs so that they don’t have to go so far as to bite?

Medical training has proven to be very helpful for grooming and treatments. Here, the dog learns to express through a certain behavior whether he can still participate or needs a break.

This small change brings a lot of confidence in the dog’s physical integrity.

With other resources, the dog often reacts tensely when a human approaches. They eat faster, push their body over the resource, put it in their mouth, and walk away with it or show threatening behavior (e.g. growling).

If the dog has learned that these measures are useless or even have unpleasant consequences for him (e.g. scolding), he may no longer show them until the human is so close that he can no longer stand it and then he bites.

Teaching the dog to use calming signals or even threatening behavior again in these situations is not that easy and we need a really good eye.

Videos help with this.

If we want to have a training effect here, we can start by making a positive association with the human’s approach.

Your dog learns that something great awaits him whenever you approach.

It is also important to respect his signals. So if your dog shows tiny signs that he is feeling uncomfortable, you can reward this by keeping more distance.

If your dog really shows no signs at all, you can choose a large distance and start training. If you choose too much distance, it won’t have a negative effect.

You can also use your dog’s name in a positive way and speak to him before you approach.

Especially when the dog is resting, we can avoid startling him.

Of course, as always, every dog is different and training is always individual. The trick is to really learn to read your dog.

In my experience, video recordings are particularly helpful here, because we can let them run more slowly so that we can really recognize even the smallest signals from our dogs and then pay attention to them.

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