I believe the primary reason anyone is bitten by a cat or dog, their own or otherwise, is that they misread, or flat out didn't read, the body language cues given to them by the animal. Both dogs and cats use body language as a primary form of communication with each other and with us. A dog understands what a cat arching its back means, just as a cat understands what a crouched, slow moving dog is saying. They don't have to speak the same "language" to be able to "read" each other's intent. Our pets spend all day everyday in our company, so they are adept at reading our body language, as well as our verbal cues. Us understanding what our pets are saying with their body language is imperative to a good relationship with them. Not only will you have a better understanding of what motivates your pet, and why they feel the way they do at any given time, it's just a good safety practice. If you are at least minimally adept at reading body language cues from your pets, you have a much better chance of avoiding a bite. I think this is one of the main reasons that kids are bitten so frequently; they are simply too young and too egocentric to have a keen grasp of body language in another species. Rather than heeding warnings from the family pets, many children push those pets beyond their comfort level resulting in a bite. When this happens, the pets are blamed and often punished, banished, and ultimately removed. While I agree with separating kids from pets that are unsafe to be around, I also feel that educating kids, even very young children, to better understand what their cats and dogs are telling them is important. The funny (not so funny really) thing about all of this is that when I meet kids who have been bitten by a cat or dog, I often find that their parents/grandparents missed the cues too!
I know I've talked about the importance of understanding body language many times here on my blog and even suggested books for you to pick up for a better handle on this topic, and yet I still get calls every week from people who've been bitten, or narrowly missed being bitten. The bottom line? A lot of bites could be avoided simply by giving that animal a choice, an out, or the ability and space to walk away. Rather than approaching a pet and patting them, get their attention and call them to you. If they don't perk up and head your way, they aren't interested in interacting. If you insist on approaching them, okay, go ahead and do that, but don't corner them; always make sure that they can exit the space safely without having to go around you. One of the first things I teach kids in homes with pets is to avoid approaching the pet, but instead wait for the pet to come to them. It's the rare dog or cat that seeks out a child to bite them and much more likely that they bit the child because the child came at them and there was no way to avoid it.
I think the reason my doctor saw so many bites in the span of a week is simply this: The holidays are a stressful time for everyone, including our pets. People are dressing their pets up, forcing them to pose for pictures, putting their kids into those pictures as well, sitting on or laying on the dog, holding the cat like a ragdoll, etc. There are guests invading their home territories, strange foods, plants, and decor they aren't allowed to touch or investigate, all adding to their heightened arousal and agitation. Giving pets an out, a choice to be involved in family activities, or to remove themselves, is the key. Not pushing interactions, but instead allowing pets to choose what they are comfortable doing and what they wish to avoid.
Now, sure, it's possible to be bitten by an animal that doesn't live with you and whose body language cues were unfamiliar to you. However, this is a bit less likely because, again, dog and cat body language are universal. If you are a runner being chased by a dog, stop running. You'll never outrun a quadraped! Instead, stop, drop your hands at your sides, and avoid eye contact. Hopefully, the dog will sniff you, determine you aren't a threat to their territory, and move on. You should probably still carry an air horn or pepper spray, just in case, but again, keeping a cool head and not escalating the situation by misreading each other's body language, could very well avoid a bite in the first place.
After going through all of these thoughts on the subject with my doctor, I finished by saying, are you sorry you asked, LOL! She laughed and said she was glad she'd asked and had a better idea now going forward as to what she should say to her patients following a bite. Basically, cats and dogs rarely bite for no reason. You just need to make the effort to understand their reasoning and the best way to do that is to be able to speak the same language, the language of body cues.
That's it for this week. And remember, if you have questions about your pet's behavior, you know where to find me.
Henley's body language here is pretty clear. He's sound asleep in the classic smooth collie "not a care in the world" pose. While I'm 99.9% sure that I could walk over and start petting him when he's like this, I don't ever do that. Why? Because I don't want to startle him. Am I being overly cautious? No. I'm just being a respectful human.
