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Canine Behavior/Springer spaniel who bit my son

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Expert: Lee Charles Kelley - 1/9/2008


Question
Should I be afriad that my mom's Springer Spaniel will bite again?  My mom got a 3 yr old Springer Spaniel who had been brought up by a breeder.  The breeder sold the dog b/c he has an over bite and could not be used as a show dog.  My mom and step - dad live alone with no children.  They had had the dog for one month.  I was visiting with my four children for a week. The dog seemed great all week, then on Thanksgiving, bit my son in the face  He had to get 40 stitches in the emergency room.  The dog was over due for his dinner by one hour.  He had a bone in the yard.  My 6 year old son reached down to pet him and he severely bit him in the face.  Should I be concerned that this will happen again?  My mom thinks that it was totally related to the food and that it will not happen again.

Answer
Hi, Lacy,

I'm very sorry to hear about your son's experience. That's just terrible.

If you ask me your mother needs to understand that this dog is potentially very dangerous. She may be right that it might not ever happen again, but what if she's wrong? What if this is the tip of the iceberg?

Another thing: I don't care if the dog hadn't eaten in three days, that's no reason to bite a child on the face that severely. And the normal reaction in a dog who's protecting his bone is to go for the hand, not the face! If you ask me this dog is in need of professional help from an experienced trainer who knows how to deal with severe aggression issues.

I hope this helps.

LCK

One more thing, it's going to be very difficult for your son to be around that dog without feeling nervous or apprehensive. That alone could set off this dog for another attack.

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Lee Charles Kelley

Expertise

I've been training dogs in New York City for nearly 20 years. My training approach and philosophy are based on the way police dogs, search-and-rescue dogs, and detection dogs are trained--through the prey drive, inherited from the wolf. It's true that there's been a shift away from using the "wolf model" in dog training recently, and to some extent, there's a good reason. That's because trainers have been using the wrong model, the one that says you have to be the "alpha" or the pack leader in order to control your dog's behavior. This simply isn't true. In wild wolves there is no dominance hierarchy, no "alpha" wolf, and no pack leader (not in the traditional sense). The pack instinct only exists to enable wolves to hunt large prey by working in harmony. (Wolves who live near garbage dumps, for example, and who don't hunt together, don't form packs.) So if wolves don't have an instinct to "follow the pack leader" or "obey the alpha wolf," how could dogs have inherited it from them?

Years ago, before I became a dog trainer, I noticed that the happiest, most obedient, and best-behaved dogs I met weren't the ones who'd been to a dog trainer or behaviorist; they were the dogs whose owners always had Frisbees and tennis balls on hand. And while it might seem that my approach would only be relevant to high-drive dogs who love fetch and tug-of-war, it isn't. Even something as seemingly unrelated as a housebreaking issue or greeting behavior are often the direct result of a dog's predatory energy not having an acceptable outlet.

All behavior is an expression of energy. So when a dog's energy isn't utilized in a way that feels satisfying to his or her instincts and emotions, that's when behavioral problems develop. Giving the dog an acceptable outlet for its energy will almost always bring the dog's behavior back into alignment with its instincts

Feel free to ask me questions about any training/behavioral issue.

LCK

Experience

20 years as a dog trainer. I'm also a bestselling author, writing a series of dog-related mystery novels for Avon.

Organizations
Dog Writers Association of America

Education/Credentials
Just a natural gift I have for understanding and training dogs

Past/Present Clients
Too numerous to mention.

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