How to Prevent Your Dog from Biting Out of Fear – Part 1

Posted by Jeanne on October 19, 2009

Dog Picture

A fear-bite is a bite that occurs out of sheer panic. It’s not to be confused with dominance-aggression, which is a sign of deep-set personality problems; a fear-biter isn’t necessarily a ‘fierce’ dog. He’s just scared.

Why does fear-biting happen?

A fear-biter bites because it’s his only way of expressing his extreme fear or panic, and his only way of telling his owner that he can’t handle the situation.

Almost all cases of fear-biting are actually caused by well-meaning, but ill-advised, humans: they see what’s clearly a scared dog, and – intending to either comfort the dog or to show him that there’s ‘nothing to be afraid of’ – they approach too close, and push an already-anxious dog over the edge.

Dogs can’t ask us to please leave them alone. They can’t tell us that something’s bothering them, or that they need some space: all they can do is sign the message to us through their body-language.

It’s easy to tell when a dog’s feeling scared or panicky once you know what to look for. Fear-biting never just happens ‘out of the blue’: it only occurs when people ignore the signs.

Fear-biting: the warning signs

Fear-biters are submissive dogs. When faced with a new situation or unfamiliar people, they do not react with the customary effortless confidence of a well-socialized, well-adjusted dog: instead, they become nervy and on edge.

A scared dog, when faced with the unfamiliar, will assume a distinctively submissive posture, and will display several marked behaviors. The more common of these are listed below.

Posture

- Tail tucked (or, if docked, the back legs will crouch down and the haunches will ‘tuck’)
- Hunched, lowered back
- Ears flat against the head
- Elbows bent in a slight crouch

Behaviors

- Excessive panting (hyperventilating)
- Yawning (an attempt to reduce tension)
- Avoidance of eye contact
- In extreme cases, a dog may also urinate or defecate out of fear

More information on this topic next week…

For further information

For more information on problem behavior in dogs, check out
Secrets to Dog Training. It’s a comprehensive training manual for dog-owners, and covers just about everything you could ever want to know about raising a happy, healthy, well-adjusted dog: from canine psychology to dog whispering to preventing and handling problem behaviors to obedience training, Secrets to Dog Training has it all covered.

You can visit the Secrets to Dog Training website for more information.