By now, we've all seen the footage of the dog bite to news anchor Kyle Dyer and there's been a great deal of analysis by professional trainers on the body language that hinted at the state of the dog, his stress level and discussion of the stacking of triggers that likely led to the dog's bite. One term I've seen thrown around a great deal is "bite inhibition," with some people arguing that this dog did not show bite inhibition and some arguing that he did. I've also heard several people argue that the dog's bite would have, in fact, been worse were it not for the owner holding the dog back.
As an expert in dog bite analysis, I am frequently called upon to analyze dog bites and the circumstances surrounding the bites. I then give an opinion as to the bite threshold issues and the dog's bite inhibition. With this case, I cannot give a full analysis because I don't have the benefit of personal interviews with the dog's owner, the victim, and witnesses to the bite. I also don't have the full details of the injury or the dog's history, including any previous evidence of fear, triggers, or aggressive incidents. I can, however, go through the evidence that has surfaced and help people understand how this analysis is done and what factors should be considered when we take the time to analyze a bite incident calmly and rationally.
The first thing I always look at when analyzing a dog bite are the dog's bite threshold issues. The dog's bite threshold refers to the factor or combination of factors that would cause a dog to use its mouth to bite. This helps us understand whether the dog is likely to bite again in the future. For
example, in this case, there were several factors that likely led to the dog's final decision to use its mouth to bite.
- The dog had been through a traumatic experience only a day or so
before this; - It was brought to a very strange place with bright lights, new
people, weird machines that move around and "stare" at him with a
hard eye (the cameras); - And an owner who likely was nervous and stressed out, causing him
to behave differently and probably even smell differently to his dog.
That is an awful lot to handle but it is also a lot of trigger stacking! The good news about this situation is that, assuming (and this is a big assumption I'm only making for argument's sake here) that this dog has not demonstrated any kind of fear, anxiety, aggression, or reactivity to people or situations that did not involve this many convoluted factors in the past, we can safely assume that this combination of factors will not happen again in this dog's life!
Now, something we need to consider is whether ALL of these factors were needed to lead this dog to bite or whether this dog would have bitten with only two or three of these triggers in place. Although we cannot know this for sure, taking a good history with the dog would certainly help us make an educated guess. Another thing to consider is that this dog did not bite immediately. It was managing to cope with the lights, its nervous owner, the cameras, new location, and new people for quite some time and it was only when the final trigger was "stacked" on (when Kyle leaned in for a kiss) that he bit. One thing to carefully scrutinize in this dog's history is whether he has been in the position of having strangers bring their faces down to his for a kiss in the past and, if so, what was the result. In other words, was it this one thing alone that would be enough to trigger him or was that simply the last trigger on the stack?
The next thing we look at with bite threshold is how likely the dog is to be put into the same threshold situation again, or a situation that is close enough to the trigger situation, during its lifetime. Here, it is extremely unlikely that this dog will be put into the same scenario with this number of stacked triggers again. I would think his owner would be motivated enough to ensure that this "perfect storm" never happens again.
The question to ask is whether the dog might be put into a situation where a stranger might lean into his face for a kiss again. If this situation is likely to happen, much depends on the owner's willingness to go through training with his dog. We know that this owner let his dog off leash at least one time in a public place, leading to the dog's rescue from the water that started this whole thing. Does the owner have a habit of this? Does the dog slip out the door and run loose? Are there children in the home and, if so, how old are they? These are all factors to be considered in this case.
The owner will need to learn to teach his dog that having people enter his space is okay. He will need to learn to carefully manage his dog's space and defend his dog against intrusions that the dog can't handle, now that he knows this is an issue. He will need to learn to read his dog's body language and manage him appropriately. He will need to be forever vigilant against allowing this type of situation to take place again – on top of training in case management fails.
After considering the bite threshold issues, I turn to the bite inhibition analysis. Bite inhibition is often misunderstood and confused with threshold. While threshold looks at the dog's decision to bite, bite inhibition looks at how the dog bites after the decision to bite has been made. In bite inhibition analysis the question is, once the dog decides to use its mouth, does the dog control the strength or intensity of its bite. To answer this question, I look at the injury inflicted, the style of the bite, and a number of mitigating and aggravating factors. For a quick reference chart to my dog bite hierarchies for analyzing dog bites to humans and to other dogs, visit Raising Canine's website.
Without being able to interview the victim, witnesses, and treating physicians, it is not possible to do a complete analysis of this bite; but I can tell you a bit about the factors we look at and what this bite likely was. The first thing I look at is the style of the dog's bite. Was it:
- A bite and release where the dog bites with its front teeth but
quickly retreats; - A bite with pressure where the dog bites down typically more towards
the back of its mouth rather than just the front teeth but without holding the
pressure; - A bite with pressure that is held; or
- A bite with pressure where the dog shakes its head.
In this case, the dog bit quickly with a bite and release. This style would place it as a Level One or Two on my dog bite hierarchy that runs from Level Zero to Level Seven for bites to humans. This style of bite is typically a warning bite and it is frequently motivated by fear. This style of bite does not indicate a dog that intends to do a lot of damage or harm.
As a side note here, I have seen some commentary arguing that the dog's bite in the Kyle Dyer case would have been worse had the owner not been holding the dog back by the collar. I don't agree with that analysis. The dog did not clamp down with pressure, shake its head, or hold the bite. The dog also did not bite more than once. This is a powerful, strong, fast dog. I don't believe for a minute that the owner's hand on its collar stopped that bite or stopped his forward momentum. The hand on the collar may have inhibited the dog somewhat in continuing the bite, but the level of bite that the dog chose to use initially was not controlled by the owner's hand - I believe this was the dog's doing.
After looking at the style of bite, I look at the level of injury involved. What level of bruising was there? Were there scratches, lacerations, puncture wounds, tearing, or a partial or complete avulsion of the skin? For each of the injuries, did less than 15%, 15-30%, 30-50%, or more than 50% of the dog's canine teeth enter the person's body?
For the bite to Kyle Dyer, we know that there was a partial avulsion of the skin (this means that part of her skin was torn but it was not completely removed from her body) but that is really as much as we know. I would estimate that at least 30-50% of the dog's canine tooth entered her body but I can't really make that estimate well without talking to witnesses and looking at the injuries and dog's teeth. I am fairly comfortable with that estimate based on experience though, and if anything I think it may have been less than 30% not more. This would place the bite at a Level Three in terms of the injuries involved.
On my scale, where the style of bite indicates a different level of bite than the injuries, the injury usually trumps the style (the exception is where the style involves shaking of the dog's head but that is not the case here). So, in this case, I would estimate that this is a Level Three bite. One important thing to note here is that this does indicate that the dog has bite inhibition! It may not be as much inhibition as we would like, but to say that this dog does not have inhibition is wrong. If he did not have inhibition, this bite would have been much worse. Believe me I've seen what happens with a bite to the face with worse inhibition than this and it is not fun or pretty! This may not seem inhibited at first glance, but it was.
In fact, the last factor that I would look at would be any mitigating and aggravating factors and I would argue that the fact that this bite caught Kyle in the lip is a mitigating factor. Now don’t get me wrong, many dogs may have snapped at the air to warn Kyle or brushed her lip but not done a lot of damage, so this dog certainly could have exercise more bite inhibition than he did but I think we need to consider the additional damage that was done because of the site of the bite. I believe that the same style and strength of bite applied to her cheek or another body part like her thigh would not have resulted in the same level of injury. I truly believe the damage was so severe because the bite caught Kyle in the lip, which is an extremely sensitive area that can tear easily.
I may not be popular for this, but I would argue that this dog DID exercise bite inhibition. It is not the perfect level of bite that we would want, but it is not fair to say that he has no bite inhibition. The most important factors for animal control officers to consider in determining the fate of this dog are what threshold issues may exist in this dog's day-to-day life and whether the owner is committed to the management and training necessary to keep this dog from being triggered in the future. There are so many lessons to be learned here and so many people paying a high price for those lessons. Let's hope those lessons can spread far and wide and make a difference for other people and dogs in the future.
Cara Shannon, Dog Bite Expert and Behavior Consultant
