Why Dogs Bite Kids ?

Posted by Srinivas Rudra on February 21, 2023

Study Shows Common Links

As medical reports of dogs biting children continued to increase, researchers started to ask, “Why?”

Several notable patterns came to their attention: the dogs displayed territorial behavior, and anxiety, or were coping with medical issues at the time the biting occurred.

Territorial Behavior

Researchers suggest the main cause of aggression in dogs stems from territorial behavior:

Children under the age of 6 were more likely to be bitten when a dog felt the kids were threatening to take his food or toys.
Older children were bitten when the dog felt the kids were intruding on his territory.
A dog was more likely to bite children he knew while he was guarding his food.
A dog was more likely to bite children he didn’t know while he was protecting his territory.

Anxiety May Lead to Biting

Anxiety due to:

Separation distress
Sudden noises such as thunderstorms or fireworks
Noise and unpredictable movements from young children

An anxious dog frightened under these circumstances may be more prone to bite children, whether or not they are familiar with them.

Pain Pushes Dogs Over the Edge

Common sense may tell an adult not to touch a dog in pain. Kids, however, may not be able to discern when a dog is hurting. In fact, half of the dogs studied by researchers had medical conditions such as liver and kidney disease, eye problems, and diseases that affected their bones and skin.

Small Children, Big Threat

Other studies have revealed that boys ages 5 to 9 are bitten five times more by dogs than any other group or people.

Their loud, energetic, and sometimes aggressive actions simulate the behavior displayed between young dogs. What do dogs typically do when playing with one another? They bite.

The faster and louder kids get, the more dogs become stimulated.

In addition, dogs bite when they don’t like the way someone is playing with them. Study a fed-up dog’s behavior: a turned back, lying down, a curled lip, or quite obviously, growling. Children have a tendency to tug on dogs’ ears, pull on their tails or jump on their backs. While some dogs may tolerate this, others will grow tired of it quickly.