Dogs and Children: The Not-So-Hidden Dangers

By Terri Bright, Ph.D., BCBA-D, CAAB
angell.org/behavior
behavior@angell.org
617-989-1520

October 2024

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Every year in the United States, 4.5 million people are bitten by dogs; an average of 16 people will die from their injuries, and 70% of fatalities will be children. Children will suffer from PTSD, and 50% of the $120 million spent on emergency services for dog bites will be on children.¹

In one Colorado study, most of the children bitten were less than 5 years old, 52% were male, and an average hospital stay was three days; the child most likely to sustain a facial injury was a 3-year-old female.¹

Reisner looked at why children were bitten, finding that the two most common reasons dogs bit children were food-guarding or guarding territory. Underlying medical causes were identified or suspected in 50% of the biting dogs, and most dogs had never bitten a child before.² The COVID pandemic, when families were home alone with their dogs, was a factor in increased bites to children.³

Behaviorists often measure dog bite severity with a scale created by veterinarian Ian Dunbar.⁴ Though the scale has not been validated, per se, it is in common usage and is a valuable way to communicate with clients and others as to the relative severity of a dog’s aggression:

• Level 1. Obnoxious or aggressive behavior but no skin contact by teeth.
• Level 2. Skin contact by teeth but no skin puncture. However, maybe skin nicks (less than one-tenth of an inch deep) and slight bleeding caused by forward or lateral movement of teeth against the skin, but no vertical punctures.
• Level 3. One to four punctures from a single bite with no puncture deeper than half the length of the dog’s canine teeth. Maybe lacerations in a single direction, caused by the victim pulling the hand away, the owner pulling the dog away, or gravity (little dog jumps, bites, and drops to the floor).
• Level 4. One to four punctures from a single bite with at least one puncture deeper than half the length of the dog’s canine teeth. It may also have deep bruising around the wound (the dog held on for N seconds and bore down) or lacerations in both directions (the dog held on and shook its head from side to side).
• Level 5. A multiple-bite incident with at least two Level 4 bites or multiple-attack incident with at least one Level 4 bite in each.
• Level 6. Victim dead.

Most bites seen at our Behavior Clinic are Levels 1 to 3. Of 800 cases a year, we see perhaps one to two Level 4 bites, maybe one Level 5 bite, and in my seven years of clinical practice at Angell, I have seen one Level 6 bite, where a retriever killed a small dog that lived in the home.

Why Dogs Bite

Behavior can be inherited (nature) or learned (nurture). Those who breed “purebred” dogs might select for a morphological trait, such as coat color, head shape, or size. Those traits can come with behaviors, such as a tendency toward anxiety, guarding, territorial behaviors, and others.⁵ One can imagine how adaptive it may be to get behaviors into future generations that help you escape frightening situations and guard your food and dens. For this reason, these behaviors tend to exist to some degree in all dogs; it’s just that many inherit more of the likelihood of the behavior occurring than others. In non-purebred dogs, the same is true; behaviors are inherited or learned.

In dogs, learned behaviors (nurture) are significantly magnified during the sensitive socialization period, about 4 to 14 weeks. When dogs have good experiences during these early weeks, it can contribute to gaining confidence in the presence of people, the ability to communicate with other dogs and overall resiliency. The effects can be lifelong when pups are isolated, not socialized, and/or are in frightening environments (capture, sheltering, even transport). There is no do-over for lack of socialization. The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behaviorists recommends that puppies be socialized with other dogs before they have had all of their vaccinations, saying, “Behavioral issues, not infectious diseases, are the number one cause of death for dogs under three years of age.”⁶

Behavior can also be learned via classical and operant conditioning. In classical (Pavlovian) conditioning, a stimulus causes a reflexive reaction that creates an emotional response. For example, an under-socialized dog might encounter a child who reaches quickly over its head to pet it. If the dog is frightened, the fear of that and other children could now be a conditioned emotional response. Suppose the dog lunges and growls at the child, and the child moves away. In that case, the aggression has been “negatively” (as in the behavior removed something) reinforced and will likely occur in the future, as reinforcement (operant conditioning) has the effect of increasing behavior. Guarding and territorial behaviors can be negatively reinforced in the same manner; the dog moves the child away using aggression. If the child does not move away, a bite may ensue.

Defining Behavior

Academically trained behaviorists define behavior as measurable and observable. B.F. Skinner⁷ relates that “covert,” e.g., unobserved behavior, can also be measured, but only by the subject. Since we can’t ask the dog what they are feeling, describing what we can see is critical to understanding how the environment affects the dog’s behavior. Thus, “anxiety” is not a behavior, but drooling, shaking, and/or attempting to escape frightening conditions are behaviors. Communication between professionals is critical in this regard. (Certainly, one can measure a dog’s heart and respiration rate and infer possible behavior from that, but, at the moment, most dog owners are not thus prepared.)

Common observable dog behaviors that signal nervousness in a dog include ears back, head-turning, and/or lip-licking. These are called “appeasement signals” in the dog world, known as “distance-increasing” signals. Going from moving to still, tense muscles, facial tension, and “whale eye” (when they look at someone such that you can see the whites of her eyes) are all precursors to aggression. Parents must be well-versed in “reading” this body language to keep children safe. Growling is often the dog’s first line of defense and, along with all the above behaviors, should never be punished, as its absence could cause the dog’s next-in-line behavior, a bite.

Preparing for Baby

New parents-to-be should honestly ask how their dog might behave if they have a baby. How does the dog behave when strangers come into the home? This will happen more often in the form of relatives, sitters, nannies, and the like. Have they seen their dog be nervous or aggressive at children? Has the dog had sufficient training to be rewarded for known alternative behaviors in the presence of a party for five 3-year-olds?

Dr. Bright says “Don’t do this.”

Their timeline should include:

• Before conception: rewards-based training in the typical behaviors such as sit, stay, down, etc., emphasizing “stationing” (stay in a place, e.g., on a mat or in another room). Thorough veterinary examination to make sure the dog has no underlying medical conditions that could affect its behavior;
• Conception-birth: keep up training; focus on methods to station the dog (Treat and Train); teach new behaviors for enrichment such as sniffing games; set up all baby accouterments that may scare the dog so it can habituate to them; prepare parallel paths, as in a baby-free area for the dog, and a dog-free area for the baby. Decide allowed- and not-allowed zones for dogs and train them;
• 0–6 months: bring a blanket home that smells like the baby because—(the truth is, the dog can smell the baby on anyone who has been near it); reinforce away-from-the-baby behavior; keep baby off of the floor; no face-to-face contact; never leave alone together;
• 6–24 months: that tiny, noisy creature or ever-falling toddler moving toward a dog can frighten them; keep separation with gates, etc.; if the dog is afraid, give it a treat when it looks at the baby moving; remove the dog if it shows fear;
• Ultimately, parents can never let their guard down with dogs and children; recommend professional help with an academically-trained behaviorist if there is fear and aggression around the baby;
• Vets can help by recommending ethical trainers/behaviorists, discouraging “board and train,” providing anxiolytics in concert with behaviorists’ recommendations, and recommending websites such as:
  • https://www.doggonesafe.com/
  • https://www.thefamilydog.com/stop-the-77
  • https://liamjperkfoundation.com/

Children and Dogs Can Behave Safely Around One Another

Children should be taught that they cannot pet every dog they see. Parents should learn to read dog body language to discern a relaxed dog in a child’s proximity and obtain the dog’s history with children before any such greeting occurs. The child should not bend over, kneel, hold out their hand, or stare in a friendly manner at the dog. Instead, they should pat their thighs and say something quiet (“Hey pup!”). If the dog closes the distance, the child may pat the dog on its chest or side a few times. Even better, for a dog-loving child, have them carry treats and say, “Can I hide a treat for your dog to find?”

Children should not bend over, kneel, hold out their hand, or stare in a friendly manner at the dog.

All children should be taught that if a loose dog runs up to them, they should not run or scream but should “Be a tree;” (see www.doggonesafe.com), stand still, look down, fold their hands in front of them, and wait for the dog to go away.

Finally, no one can predict how a dog will react to this human sea change in their home. Some dogs adjust; some do not and have to be re-homed for safety; some can be successfully segregated, though this is a tough row to hoe. However, if would-be parents prepare in advance, they are at least increasing the chances of helping their dog adjust to the new family member and all it brings.

References

1. Dixon et al. 2011. Dog bite prevention: an assessment of child knowledge. Journal of Pediatrics. Vol. 160, Issue 2, 337-341
2. Reisner, I., et al. 2007. Behavioral assessment of child-directed canine aggression. Injury Prevention. Oct; 13(5): 348–351
3. Dixon CA, Mistry RD. 2020. Dog bites in children surge during coronavirus disease:-2019:A Case for Enhanced Prevention. Journal of Pediatrics; Oct;225:231-23
4. https://apdt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/ian-dunbar-dog-bite-scale.pdf
5. Van Rooy, D. & Wade, C.2019. Association between colour and the behavior of Australian Labrador Retrievers. Canine Genetics and Epidemiology 6, article number 10.
6. https://avsab.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Puppy_Socialization_Position_Statement_Download_-_10-3-14.pdf
7. Skinner, B.F. 1965.  Science and human behavior.New York: Free Press.