For most people, the holiday season is filled with lots of socialising and getting together with family and friends.
It's a time where we can have a few drinks at our home with loved ones and have some fun. There is lots of laughter, groups of families and friends talking loudly and kids running around, usually yelling, screaming and squealing with delight.
When I ask people how often these social events happen, they tell me usually once or twice a year but certainly around the Christmas/New Year period and in January as the school holidays linger on. Unfortunately, this is a time when we may see an increase in dog bites.
So why does this happen? Let's think about it from the dog's perspective. Most of the year, our canine companions have acclimated and habituated to our day-to-day life. Adults go to work, kids go to school, dogs can rest and sleep (dogs need about 14 hours of sleep a day).
But then the holiday season hits. Once a year, the dog's world suddenly changes from the routine and usually quiet life that they are leading to an explosion of people.
These people can be loud. Sometimes adults are drunk and kids are screaming and yelling, often for long periods of time.
People are sometimes oblivious to the fact that their dog is not coping and crying out for help. Their body language is tense, their ears are big, their body is stiff, they try to get away from the children.
The children follow and their parents don't supervise, but also don't know how to read the dog's body language. Eventually the dog realises that its body language and signs are not working. This can lead to the dog's behaviour escalating to tell the children or adults to go away. And that is when a bite can sometimes occur.
The media is certainly guilty of sensationalising dog bites, omitting the whole story and all the facts.
We may think the dog has just out of the blue turned into Cujo and lost the plot. There were no warnings, the dog just flipped out. Well, it doesn't work that way. Dogs are excellent communicators and conflict avoiders. If they can avoid a conflict, they definitely will and try really hard to do that.
The problem we have is that no-one is listening to the dog. The dog is trying to communicate to us that they are uncomfortable, but we don't know how to read the dog's body language. Or we may think the dog will be OK. I don't know how many times I have heard parents tell me, "Oh my kids ride the dog, pull his ears, take food from his mouth and he/she doesn't care". The dog cares all right. He or she gives you a plethora of signals but no one listens.
This holiday season, let's make a change. For those with a dog in their household, educate yourself on your dog's body language and signals. Listen to what your dog is trying to tell you and respond to that to help your dog. If you don't know how, employ a fully qualified, positive and force-free training and behaviour professional to help you.
Don't put your dog in a situation where they will become stressed, anxious and fearful and then have to use their mouth to tell someone to go away. You are your dog's advocate, speak up and act for what is best for your canine companion. It may save your dog's life and spare the trauma to a child or adult of being bitten.
Sending love, peace and kindness to you and your furry companions over this festive period.
- Eve McKenzie runs Dogaholics Dog Training and Behaviour Services
