Dogs and Kids are an Unpredictable Combination

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Tuesday October 2, 2007

My dog is over eight years old now. He's getting a little old and crotchety, but of course that doesn't stop him from jumping over the six-foot fence. We have noticed when we take him for walks we have to watch him more around little kids. At our daughters' cheerleading practice, he tried to nip at a toddler that wanted to hug -- something he's never done before.

Turns out, two-thirds of the dogs that bite children have never bitten children before. That's significant. It means the neighborhood mutts that everyone thinks are perfectly safe with kids could snap at any moment.

Researchers from the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that dogs bit kids for two main reasons: they didn't want the kids to take their food or they were protecting territory. In most cases, little kids and kids who were familiar with the dogs were bitten over food. Older kids and kids that didn't personally know the dogs were more likely to be bitten over territory.

When we got our dog those many years ago, my wife would get in his face when he was eating. If he growled, she'd pull the food away and tell him no. She repeated this for several days until he didn't growl -- or snap -- anymore.

He's still very good about letting the kids near his food bowl, but he's been a little tender around one ear. The day he nipped, the little girl was hugging his head. The authors of this study found that medical conditions were found in many of the dogs that bit kids. They suggested that pain may be a contributing factor in dogs biting children.

Most disconcerting, the authors concluded that neutering and training -- typical techniques for modifying dog behavior -- didn't make a difference in which dogs bit children.