Obeying Their Master : Dogs That Bite

How many innocent dogs have been put down in the United States just because they’ve bitten someone once or twice ? An estimated 4.7 million dog bites occur to children, adults and other animals in the U.S. each year. Dogs are often put down for biting because people think the dogs are now dangerous. Dogs should not be put down for three main reasons : dogs are just using self defense, some dogs are just doing what their owners teach them, and most dogs can be helped with training.

Dogs Are Defending
When dogs bite humans or other animals, the main cause is that they are just using self defense. In most cases of dog bites, the dogs are provoked into biting. If the dogs feel that they are in danger, they will use self defense. It is a natural instinct. Most dogs will also attack if they feel you are invading property. Approximately two-thirds of all dog bites occur on or near the owners property.Dogs will not always understand human behavior and misinterpret human actions. 70% of dog-bites occurred to children under 10 years old, which could indicate that even if the kids weren’t trying to hurt the dogs, they could have been too rough with them, which caused the dog to bite ( Millan). Bite rates are dramatically higher among children under 5-9 years old. It is also shown that boys under age 15 are bitten more often the girls of the same age (Lynn). So even if children are simply playing around, the dog could see it as a danger and bite just because it feels threatened.

What The Dogs Are Taught
When dogs bite or are being aggressive , it is sometimes what their owners teach them. For example, some owners teach their dogs to hunt or to fight. When owners praise the dogs for doing one of those, its making the dog think t...

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...gs when they're down!

Works Cited

Garrett, Leslie. "Do Biting Dogs Deserve a Second Chance?" Do Biting Dogs Deserve a Second Chance? By Leslie Garrett, 2009. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. .
Lynn Media Group, L.M.G. "The Truth About Dogs That Bite." The Truth About Dogs That Bite. DogsBite.org, n/a. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. .
Millan, Cesar, INC. "DOG BEHAVIOR AND BITING." DOG BEHAVIOR. Cesar Millan, 2011. Web. 11 Dec. 2013. .
Seltzer, Sharon. "Should Dogs That Bite Be Saved?" Should Dogs That Bite Be Saved? Care2, Inc., 31 May 2009. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. .