Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Imagine if ASG officials proclaimed, “Juveniles must be banned from public places. They’re a danger to society.” Clearly this is a preposterous plan, but if the criminal element has four legs and big teeth, some citizens only see red. One side says they are unpredictable and a menace, the other side says, “Not mine.” Both sides are searching for answers to no fruitful end, because the problem is not with Fido. It’s with Fido’s best friend.

With over 74.8 million pet dogs in the US and an average of only 16 fatalities from dog bite attacks per year, your dog is not likely to be the dirty one in a fatal crime. But the fact that dog bites are among the top ten causes for emergency room visits tells us it’s time to wake up and open our eyes. The signs are always clear to those who see; those who don’t may be setting Fido up to bite inadvertently.

The fact is, dogs don’t come out of the womb knowing how to bite aggressively. As with other skills, they learn to bite hard because they’ve had lots of practice and the precursor behaviors have been rewarded. Even dogs bred and selected specifically through temperament tests for police work or protection dogs require lots of practice before they’re confident enough to handle controlled bite work. Most family dogs that bite even the first time have also had plenty of practice leading to the full-on event.

HOW BITING BEHAVIOR DEVELOPS

Here’s one example of how bite behavior could develop. It may start with the dog barking at joggers, cyclists, and squealing kids running by, then progress to lunging while on leash or chasing when off. The first 5 or 10 times might be just a game, but with a heightened chase or the wrong move by the pseudo-prey, teeth can explode faster than fists at a parking lot fight. With each barking episode, Fido is gaining confidence, building his aggressive repertoire, and practicing overarousal and lack of self-control.

The dog’s territorial nature, coupled with owner encouragement, can also place Fido in a fix. For instance, owners often think it‘s good for Fido to be protective around the house, especially at the door, so even if he’s barking out of fear they praise him in these situations when he’s young. Then, as he matures, he takes it upon himself to say who belongs on his territory or near his human family, when it should be up to his owners to decide. Why not trust Fido with these choices? The decisions seem straightforward: bark at the mail carrier, the UPS delivery person, or strangers at the door. What’s the harm? But if Fido gets out, then what do you do? Should he speak his mind, or deliver his message in person? Or if your friends drop by, maybe Fido should keep them out, too. Due to poor leadership or guidance, these decisions are no longer up to you.

The situation goes from bad to worse if Fido’s also received inadequate socialization to people and dogs (which should have started well before vaccines are complete and continued through the first year of life). A lax socialization plan can doom Fido to a life of fear. And, not surprisingly, fear is the most common cause of bites. This paranoid pooch sees an unfamiliar person or dog and registers a threat. At first he backs away or freezes and hopes the threat will go away. But after several experiences where a yellow Lab mobs him as his owner yells, “He’s just playing,” or a person leans over to hug him (which he views as a death grip), he tries a different strategy—he barks or growls. Now barking and growling are his new behaviors when he feels threatened. Whereas before people and dogs could pass him on the sidewalk, now as soon as he sees them down the street he preemptively warns them to go away. When he breaks out in a battery of barks, the owner either tells him everything’s okay, which he ignores, or yells, “No! No!” In both cases, Fido misunderstands and continues to focus on the people or dogs—in his mind he’s hearing, “You’re on the right track” and “Go! Go!”

HOW TO PREVENT AGGRESSION PROBLEMS

What do you do to prevent your pooch from becoming another terrible statistic?

FIND A GOOD MATCH

First, start off with the right dog. A conscientious breeder carefully matches pups to owners with the appropriate personalities. That means no exuberant pony- sized puppy with a person who’s too frail or too busy to train, and no shy, flighty Fifi in a household with hyperactive tots. Equally important, there should be no adoption of multiple puppies to a household at the same time, since two puppies are exponentially more difficult to manage and train than one. And if you’re using them as babysitters for each other, they generally learn to bond with each other and ignore you. When you want them to focus on you, they blow you off and get rewarded by puppy play instead.

LEADERSHIP EXERCISES

Once the correct match is made, it’s up to the owner to make it clear that she sets the rules and has the ability to guide Fido. Work on the three leadership exercises: Say Please by automatically sitting for everything he wants (Chapters 15 and 16); attention on walks (Chapters 17 and 18); and come when called (Chapter 19). Make these the behavioral norm. Remember that the key point in all these exercises is to make Fido think that you’re more fun than any of the naughty things he wants to do. Remember you set the rules and need to stick to them (i.e., don’t randomly change the rules), so you must be certain of what you want. This way, your dog sees you as dependable and as someone who can guide him.

The exercises are so simple that even a young puppy can learn to perform them perfectly, provided his owner gives good direction and all household members are on board. If you treat all interactions with him as training sessions, so that you not only reward good behaviors consistently but also remove or avoid accidentally rewarding bad behaviors, then Fido’s bound to learn to follow the rules quickly.

SOCIALIZATION

Next, start the young Fido in a puppy socialization class that includes plenty of greetings with polite puppies and with all kinds of people bearing treats. When it comes to meeting people your goal should be to give him 100 positive experiences with 100 unfamiliar people in 100 days. This includes men and women of all ages, ethnicities, and sizes carrying and wearing different things such as hats, sunglasses, and umbrellas. That way Fido learns to associate all kinds of people with good things, instead of developing a fear of those that look different than what he’s used to. Of course, he should sit politely for all greeting so that he learns early on not to jump. Later he can learn to only go up to people if you give him permission.

When it comes to meeting other dogs, your puppy should meet a few new friendly, calm, polite dogs of different ages each week. Note that I emphasize the personality of the other dogs. Most people don’t realize that puppies can learn all kinds of bad behaviors when socializing with other dogs, even in a supervised puppy class. For instance, if play is just free-for-all, scared puppies can become worse as they get pounced on. What they learn about is defending themselves.

Rambunctious friendly dogs can be equally harmful, as puppies will learn that it’s fun to mob and leap onto other dogs. Then when they use this impolite greeting in a real-life situation, the Rover they run up to may be fearful or just not like it. The ensuring growl can then lead to a fight, and now your previously friendly Fido learns that other dogs aren’t so nice.

Lastly, if the puppy class doesn’t put enough emphasis on focus, then the puppies can learn that playing with other puppies is way more fun than focusing on you. This can lead to you no longer existing for your dog whenever there’s a pooch on the scene. So choose your puppy class carefully and don’t be afraid to change if the current one is not suiting your puppy’s needs.

CONTINUE PRACTICING

Puppy socialization is just the start. Follow up with adult dog classes, where you can continue to practice your leadership in the presence of dogs and people. Also, be sure you continue letting Fido say hello to people with a proper greeting out on the street, and make sure he continues to greet polite pooches in public.