My dog bit me.

Were you attempting to accomplish something with the dog (ie nail trimming), or was this just an exercise to convince the dog that you are "alpha?"

A lot of dog therapist here...I like the "bite back" theory. Just enough so that he knows, that you know, what he was trying to tell you...no harm, no foul and you both learned something...

At least he spit you back out!


The information is out there, all you have to do is let it in.

Never tick off or tease a cat, either. They carry some nasty germs in their mouth, worse than a dog bite. Even an inside cat who doesn't have contact with other felines can give you a serious infected owie. Don't ask how I know this.

He sure seems to have a bit of an attitude adjustment since the incident.

There are a few people I would like to bite

Bite him back...

Sadly, too many dogs are tormented by adults and children who have no clue about their clear body language messages, bite out of frustration and then are put down. "He bit for no reason at all!"

Go Dogs wrote:
IMHO-For whatever that's worth.
How many times did you want to punch your boss, ex, or some other jerk?
How many times did you want to respond in anger and/or violence when you felt wronged?
What would have,(or did) happen if you physically assaulted someone?
IOW: Dogs should not be permitted to react to an unpleasant situation by biting. If you're going to keep a dog in society, the dog should know that it cannot use it's teeth, as a solution to an unpleasant situation. IMHO.

I think the better analogy for this scenario would be to physical bullying. If another human is repeatedly grabbing a body part and you repeatedly say "Stop it" and yet the bully continues the same behavior . . . are you not entitled to and justified in defending yourself? Certainly the higher (and more preferred) road would be to leave. Unfortunately, our pets don't usually have that option available to them.

As humans we're allowed fairly broad latitude to defend ourselves.

(FWIW, I'm not arguing that it's okay the dog bit. Excusable and understandable behavior isn't necessarily the same thing as okay behavior. Certainly some training is in order.)

Go Dogs wrote:
f you're going to keep a dog in society, the dog should know that it cannot use it's teeth, as a solution to an unpleasant situation. IMHO.

So wrong! One has to understand the animal's breeding some animals have been bred forever to perform a certain task, and that may very well be using its mouth for aggressive purposes. Terriers come to mind- they were bred to kill vermin.

One also has to understand dog language. In this case the dog was communicating with the human. It tried to not bite, but was left with the only resort it had to tell the human to stop. Even humans use violence to communicate- a person who beats his wife is communicating!

Lastly, one has to understand the personality of the individual dog. Some retrievers will chase a tennis ball until they collapse, others will never do it. Some terriers will bite and growl quickly, others rarely.