Experts Offer Holiday Safety Tips for Pets

“You know their triggers, so if you avoid them, things will be absolutely fine,” he says.

Melissa Hartley, supporting member, Pet Professional Guild and International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants

Owner, Sindar Kennel

Club affiliation: Weimaraner Club of America

Wagener, SC

“In canine behavior, a bite occurs at the end of a chain of events known as the ladder of aggression,” says Hartley.

“This ladder begins with the canine wanting uncomfortable and displaying behaviors of a fearful canine. Some of these are extraordinarily refined — yawning, lip licking, and looking out away.

“You climb through the ladder of events if the threat is not removed.”

Next comes piloerection, or hair standing on finish, she says.

“These are distance-creating behaviors. The dog attempts to gain distance between itself and the threat,” she explains. “Most canine bites happen out of worry. It is uncommon that it’s attributable to one thing else.

“If the offensive aggression doesn’t happen, the ultimate stage is a canine chunk.

“The reason a dog continues up the ladder of aggression to a bite is because two things have or have not happened. Number one, the owner fails to recognize the early stages of the ladder of aggression. They do not recognize their dog is afraid. They do not understand the body language,” she says.

“I use forensic questioning — asking a lot of precise questions to get to the answers,” she continues. “People don’t perceive when their canine is uncomfortable.

“They usually are not consultants on canine conduct and shouldn’t be anticipated to be. I typically reply, ‘I’ve had my physique my complete life, however that doesn’t make me a doctor.’”

“They have to bite to make thing go away, because the person has not recognized the dog’s previous signs of aggression.”

And most bites happen with strangers, says Hartley.

“The second thing is, the owner has gotten advice from unqualified people to punish the dog when they growl or bark or snarl at people,” she says. “When you punish away the steps on the ladder of aggression, you not get these early warning indicators, the canine suppresses them, as a result of they’ve been punished for them prior to now, so that they go on to a chunk.