if a dog bites, will it always do it again?

Question

i know longer own a dog, but have been reading a dog magazine that argues this. what do you guys think?

its not about my dog, guys. please dont judge, i am simply interested in your opinions

Answer 1

It is possible that if a dog learns that biting is a successful way of dealing with a difficult situation then there is a chance that it willl bite again.

Most animals have four basic strategies for coping - fight, flight, freeze or appease.

A dog, particularly a pup will try any or all of these when it feels threatened.

If someone gets angry at a pup and threatens it the pup might run away or it might stand absolutely still. Both these can be wrongly seen as being disobedient.

The pup might try appeasement - rolling on to its back,waving its paws about or wetting itself - this can all be misread as silliness and yet more disobedience. The pup could then try a growl and a nip.

If the owner backs off the pup will have learned that aggression is the best strategy and it will try it again. Aggression could just have easily been the first strategy it used and, again, if it works it will do it again.

Adult dogs have usually learned how to deal with their owners and I think appeasement is the most widely used. An example I like is where the dog is asleep on your favourite chair and when you tell it to get off, it rolls over, looks at you out of one eye, yawns and gently wags its tail - ah! bless! leave him where he is.

Most pet dogs do not use aggression i.e. bite but will do so if all else fails or when they have been startled and bite instinctively.

To go back to your question - if biting worked and the dog finds itself in the same situation then - yes - it might bite again.

BUT - I would want to know the circumstances - what was being done to the dog to make it bite?

I know someone who was bitten by her adult collie - it was a litter-mate to mine and I had known it all its life and was shocked.

It turned out that she had lost her temper with the dog which was on a lead and it had tried to get away (Strategy 1) and yanked her arm so she went to grab the dog. It flopped over on its back (Strategy 2) so she reached over for its collar to pull it upright and, surprise, surprise it bit her (Strategy 3).

That dog never bit her or anyone else again possibly due to the fact that the owner, on calming down and talking about what happened, realised that the dog was terrified and had done all it could to defend itself against her unprovoked attack! Consequently she treated it with more understanding so that she never made it feel the need to defend itself.

Answer 2

Most likely but it really depends on why the dog bit in the first place and what measures to correct the problem were taken later. There are alot of reasons why dogs bite but if you ever watch The Dog Whisperer with Caser Milan he makes alot of get points and training/cures for an aggressive dog.
I believe most dogs can be helped and would not give up a dog for one bite. I would address the issue and not let it go to chance. I have seen dogs bite from fear, simple territorial aggression, food aggression, merely being startled etc but it would all depend on reasoning.

Answer 3

A dog knows when someone is nervous of them and usually plays on this. All dogs have the potential to bite but it does not mean that they will bit again. I would disagree if anyone said otherwise

Answer 4

Every dog has the potential to bite no matter how good you teach it. They are like people you can annoy them and they will snap. Dogs are lovely animals they just have to be treated with respect and a little bit on TLC.
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Answer 5

I think it depends upon the reason for the dog bitting. If it is an aggressive dog, that has bitten without any provocation, then the liklehood is that it will repeat; if it is a generally well behaved social dog who has been provoked then the liklyhood is that it will not repeat, but you can't say for certain.

Answer 6

NO........ that is not always possible
Do you know why Dog bite??? when the Dog get Irritating then they bites some times...other wise Dogs are very cool and friendly...

Answer 7

If a dog bites a human they lose the fear so they will bite again that is why they are put down.

Answer 8

I think it all depends on the owner if they are good to their dog you normally get a pretty well behaved dog. when the owners a bad one you normally get a negative attitude from the dog.

Answer 9

Not necessarily, I guess it depends on why he bit the first time. If the dog bit because he was defending himself, then maybe he wouldn't.

Answer 10

The question is once a dog HAS bitten would you trust it not to again?