Any Dog can Bite - Truths, Heartbreak and Hindsight

My dog bit a child - there I said, out loud, for everyone to know. It may come as quite a shock to hear that a dog trainer and behaviour advisor was involved in such an attack. To this day it still sends shivers down my spine, remembering the child's scream and seeing the blood on his lip.

How could this have happened? My beloved, well socialised, Search and Rescue Border Collie just bit a child in the face. The shock, the horror, the shame.

I've worked with tons of aggressive dogs, all with different bite histories. I'm fully aware how dogs can use their teeth in many different situations. But to see the damage from a dog that I knew better than any, a gentle, loving boy who was my heart and soul, my partner in search, my everything. My whole world fell beneath my feet in that moment.

I questioned everything, replayed the incident over and over in my head, questioned my ability as a trainer, questioned what was going to come next. Euthanasia?

A momentary lapse in concentration whilst chatting to someone was potentially going to cost the life of my dog and affect the child forever. Neither of us saw what happened as our eyes were on each other, but all we knew was their young boy was with my Border Collie playing fetch. A game he had played many times, with many children. So what led to him lashing out at this particular boy?

It was two weeks of agony after the event, that the parents finally informed me of what had happened and apologised to me. I couldn't believe they were apologising to me. I was shocked and prepared for them to ask for my dog to be destroyed. What had happened? What did they know?

This family also had a Border Collie like mine. Their son played with it every day, in their words "played rough and rode him like a horse". They thought they had a great relationship but in hindsight realised they had taught their son that grabbing, wrestling and riding their dog was ok. And whilst their dog probably didn't actually enjoy these interactions, he tolerated it. I suspect body language signals were being missed but their dog never removed the child by force, rather stepped away from the conflict.  They said they had tried to verbally stop their son doing this but admitted he still did it and weren't always watching what he was doing.

This child was young (under 6 years of age) so his mental ability to follow instructions reliably or read a dogs body language was deeply over estimated. In his mind, my dog was the same as his dog and therefore he acted in the same way - "he rode him like a horse" were the words I received from the parents.

No wonder my dog felt the need to 'remove' the child. He had never been ridden like a horse, grabbed by the collar by a child or squeezed between legs. Flight wasn't an option, only fight and that probably came after a freeze. It was a split second of passive supervision on my part and the parents part, but it was enough for something catastrophic to happen.

And whilst knowing what had happened helped me understand my dogs actions, for months I was apprehensive about him around people. I was hyper vigilant, avoided contact 'just in case' and lived with the anxiety of knowing what had happened.

They say time is a healer, and yes it was. As days passed in to weeks and months I realised my beloved collie was still there and that this incident was probably a one off (and it was). But it changed things in me that I can never forget. Will I ever look at dogs in the same way? No. Will I advise people differently? Yes.

This one incident reminded me that any dog can bite given the right set of circumstances. Does it mean your dog will always be aggressive? No. But does it mean we should know more, do more and advocate more? Absolutely yes.

Our dogs need us to be their voice. To be present in every moment. To be their safety.

I apologised to my dog every day of his life after that point and vowed I would never let that happen again whilst any dog was in my care. His legacy has made me a better person, a better guardian and better tutor.

So when I visit you and your family and I see the eyes of your dog asking for help, asking for these things to stop and to prevent your child from the potential dangers of a bite. I do it from the heart. Not because I'm a trainer but because I would never wish the agony, the pain and stress that one moment of passive supervision could cost you. Your dog is not naughty or unpredictable - it's just unheard and misunderstood. Please listen and make the changes you need to for everyone's peace of mind.

Our children and our dogs deserve more.

Authored by:
Estelle Leyshon
Allsorts Head Trainer & Behaviour Advisor