Kayla Kevilus
My name is Kayla, I'm 19, I absolutely love dogs. I'm going to vet tech school and would love to become a dog trainer.
A Funny Realization
- By Kayla Kevilus
- Published 06/12/2007
Well, I had a funny realization today, and I figured this would be good to post as my first blog. Let me know what you guys think.
For as long as I've worked closely with dogs, today at work was the very first time I've ever been bitten. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm fine, the dog is fine, and all I have is two small scratches on my stomach, just below and to the right of my belly button. He broke skin, however, and I therefore had to file a report.
For those of you who don't know, I work at a boarding facility. We do "playtimes" with the dogs and get to work pretty closely with them.
A coworker of mine was cleaning out one of the cages. This kennel happened to belong to two German Shepherd Dogs, Tyson and Duke. I was in the playroom with them while she cleaned out the kennel. Tyson looks like a typical GSD, Duke is white with black markings, with two different colored eyes. Duke is an absolute sweetie- he's very lovable and is kind in the kennel, Tyson is a bit more assertive and will act shy and try to be tough while he's in the kennel. I guess you could consider him "cage shy".
Tyson is a very playful dog, and keep in mind, had been locked in a kennel pretty much all day. Him and Duke were all over me for attention, which is perfectly okay. I was acting excited and trying to get them to play, after all, we're supposed to interact with the animals, and I was hoping Tyson would come out of his shell a little because it would make his stay less stressful. Duke was happy to be near me, and Tyson soon warmed up and was happy to jump all over me. Tyson started to nip at my clothing and jump up on me, and soon I was backed against the wall, with a 50+ pound GSD jumping on me and nipping at my legs, chest, and clothing. He was being playful, but also being somewhat bossy. When I tried to correct him, he would bark and continue the unwanted behavior. (Of course, any attention is good attention- that was my fault, I should have ignored his behavior or put an end to it right away and put him on a lead.)
He nipped at my shirt and caught my stomach with his teeth on his way back down. When I assessed the damage later I found that I had two small, barely bleeding gashes on my stomach. He broke the skin. I wouldn't even consider it "bleeding", more like "seeping." However, I knew that since he had broken the skin I had to file a report.
Now during this whole experience it got me thinking. If I had never been around dogs before, or even been around them half as much as I have been- I probably would have been scared out of my mind, with no idea what to do. If I were not familiar with dog behavior, I could easily think that Tyson had intent to hurt me. I wouldn't know that that's how dogs play with each other and show dominance, and would have therefore not understood that he was just simply being a dog. It's possibly that I would hit the dog, or scream or do something to cause one of two things...
1. Make the dog more playful, or
2. Aggravate the dog to the point where it really would bite me.
So it just made me curious as to how many dog attacks out there are truly "attacks". We had lots of people at the animal shelter come to us and say "This puppy bit me, we don't like it," and we would get aggravated that they didn't understand the puppy was playing- or teething. One dog was returned because he growled at a family friend that came over to the house. Now, this may be an unwanted behavior, but it's typical for a dog, especially a shelter dog- in his mind his was protecting his territory and his family from an intruder. But the owners returned him with the reason of "Not friendly".
I wonder how many dog bites, or even true attacks we could prevent simply by educating the public about animal behavior. Even people WITH dogs sometimes don't understand why they do the things they do.
Now I do understand some people really do get bit and attacked seriously, it's inevitable, but I want to know the percentage that could have been prevented with knowledge of canine behavior, even if that means "Wow, this dog is in a very dominant stance, perhaps it would be better to not pet it, since I don't know if it's friendly or not."
For as long as I've worked closely with dogs, today at work was the very first time I've ever been bitten. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm fine, the dog is fine, and all I have is two small scratches on my stomach, just below and to the right of my belly button. He broke skin, however, and I therefore had to file a report.
For those of you who don't know, I work at a boarding facility. We do "playtimes" with the dogs and get to work pretty closely with them.
A coworker of mine was cleaning out one of the cages. This kennel happened to belong to two German Shepherd Dogs, Tyson and Duke. I was in the playroom with them while she cleaned out the kennel. Tyson looks like a typical GSD, Duke is white with black markings, with two different colored eyes. Duke is an absolute sweetie- he's very lovable and is kind in the kennel, Tyson is a bit more assertive and will act shy and try to be tough while he's in the kennel. I guess you could consider him "cage shy".
Tyson is a very playful dog, and keep in mind, had been locked in a kennel pretty much all day. Him and Duke were all over me for attention, which is perfectly okay. I was acting excited and trying to get them to play, after all, we're supposed to interact with the animals, and I was hoping Tyson would come out of his shell a little because it would make his stay less stressful. Duke was happy to be near me, and Tyson soon warmed up and was happy to jump all over me. Tyson started to nip at my clothing and jump up on me, and soon I was backed against the wall, with a 50+ pound GSD jumping on me and nipping at my legs, chest, and clothing. He was being playful, but also being somewhat bossy. When I tried to correct him, he would bark and continue the unwanted behavior. (Of course, any attention is good attention- that was my fault, I should have ignored his behavior or put an end to it right away and put him on a lead.)
He nipped at my shirt and caught my stomach with his teeth on his way back down. When I assessed the damage later I found that I had two small, barely bleeding gashes on my stomach. He broke the skin. I wouldn't even consider it "bleeding", more like "seeping." However, I knew that since he had broken the skin I had to file a report.
Now during this whole experience it got me thinking. If I had never been around dogs before, or even been around them half as much as I have been- I probably would have been scared out of my mind, with no idea what to do. If I were not familiar with dog behavior, I could easily think that Tyson had intent to hurt me. I wouldn't know that that's how dogs play with each other and show dominance, and would have therefore not understood that he was just simply being a dog. It's possibly that I would hit the dog, or scream or do something to cause one of two things...
1. Make the dog more playful, or
2. Aggravate the dog to the point where it really would bite me.
So it just made me curious as to how many dog attacks out there are truly "attacks". We had lots of people at the animal shelter come to us and say "This puppy bit me, we don't like it," and we would get aggravated that they didn't understand the puppy was playing- or teething. One dog was returned because he growled at a family friend that came over to the house. Now, this may be an unwanted behavior, but it's typical for a dog, especially a shelter dog- in his mind his was protecting his territory and his family from an intruder. But the owners returned him with the reason of "Not friendly".
I wonder how many dog bites, or even true attacks we could prevent simply by educating the public about animal behavior. Even people WITH dogs sometimes don't understand why they do the things they do.
Now I do understand some people really do get bit and attacked seriously, it's inevitable, but I want to know the percentage that could have been prevented with knowledge of canine behavior, even if that means "Wow, this dog is in a very dominant stance, perhaps it would be better to not pet it, since I don't know if it's friendly or not."
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Comments
Comment #1 (Posted by Christina)
It's a shame because FAR too many people do not understand animal behavior. How many times have you heard about a dog attacking another dog and then someone saying "It could have been a child!". Well yeah, I suppose it could have, but dog aggression and human aggression have nothing to do with one another. So there is no reason for it to be said with regard to a dog on dog attack. Also, when poorly trained a dog may not know the limit of playing to hurting someone. When I found a dog in the middle of the street it playfully bit my hand and drew blood... but I didn't report it because I didn't want the dog to get in trouble... it wasn't his fault, it was his idiot owners fault for not training him and letting him get lost. You know?
Comment #2 (Posted by Kayla)
Yes, and it was funny, shortly after this happened one of my coworkers got bit. By a cute little puppy named Aladdin, he's about 8 months and is maybe 30 lbs. He was VERY scared and would growl when you went near his kennel. He has "Snaps" and "may bite" on his service card. After one person was already bit, i went in the kennel yesterday to clean it up a bit, and he growled at me. I just moved slowly, didnt try to pet him or anything and talked real sweet to him the whole time. Within a minute or so he was jumping up on me and showering me with kisses. So it makes me wonder what the other girl did to get bit...
Comment #3 (Posted by Treener)
I agree, just too many ppl including myself to some extent just don't understand dog behavior and it truly gets dogs in trouble when really it is the humans fault is just about EVERY case, so sad for the animal.
Comment #4 (Posted by Blog Contests)
Kayla,
It is a bit difficult to judge dog behavior.
Comment #5 (Posted by Scicube)
What a cool find, thanks for sharing.
