No Comment: High Profile Dog Biting Incidents Bring Baseless Speculation

In recent weeks, there have been (at least) three very high-profile events involving dog bites, causing much discussion and commentary from dog-training and behavior experts, and many concerned (and opinionated) dog owners. Each case made me cringe – not because of what happened, because such incidents happen much more often than they make the news – but because of all the Monday-morning dog-training quarterbacking that goes on after each one.

The best-known event concerned Commander, the 2-year-old German Shepherd Dog belonging to the President of the United States Joe Biden and the First Lady, his wife, Jill Biden. On September 26, CNN reported that Commander had bitten a U.S. Secret Service agent at the White House. Thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request, it was also learned that Commander had 10 previous bites already on his record when the most recent occurred.

In August, a widely shared social media post by a veterinary technician described an event in which a canine patient attacked the technician and the veterinarian she worked for in Hephzibah, Georgia, as they were about to examine the dog. The veterinarian suffered the most severe bites, with wounds to one hand and one leg that kept her from working for more than a month.

More recently, there was the case of a Border Collie who veered off course in the middle of an agility competition and attacked the judge, who was standing in the middle of the show ring. To the horror of the owner as well as the many competitors watching and waiting for their turn to compete, the Border Collie bit the judge several times deeply in the legs and hands.

Each of these incidents sparked dozens of opinion pieces and essays about should have been done and what should still be done with the bitey dogs. I’ve seen pieces online criticizing the dogs’ training, the equipment that was on the dog at the time of attack, and the wisdom of the mere presence of the dog in the environment where the attack took place. In most of these commentaries, the writer (or speaker, in the case of widely shared videos and podcasts) presumed to know what caused the attack, or what could have – should have – done to prevent it. Most of these commentaries were from people who heard or read about the attack, but some were from people who witnessed the attack (the agility competition had many witnesses).

Whenever there is a high-profile dog-bite case, many dog trainers and journalists see the event as an opportunity to educate the public about dog aggression, dog body language, dog training, dog selection, and so on. And I appreciate the impulse; sometimes, people are the most teachable when there has been a crisis that captures their attention and concern.

But here’s the problem with this tactic: While it may be helpful to try to educate people about dog behavior in general terms, using a newsworthy event as an example, no one who comments about an event like this can possibly discuss the cause or potential prevention of that incident with any certainty. You can ask multiple witnesses to an event – like the one with the Border Collie – and every single person will report having seen something different. People bring their own experience and biases to these reports; they can’t help it. Few, if any, of the Monday Morning dog-training quarterbacks will focus on the same issues: the dog’s stress, its health status, breed or breeding, handling, diet, gear, training methods, environment, reproductive status, performance calendar – you name it! People will have opinions about what the owner did wrong, the breeder did wrong, or about the breed itself. And none of what they say may be accurate.

The only people who can reliably explain what led to the event, and what should be done to prevent another one, are experienced, educated behavior professionals – preferably veterinary behaviorists, or a trainer who has a good rapport with a behavior-savvy veterinarian – who are engaged to study the dog and work with his or her owner. These cases may be complex and multifactorial – or they might be very simple! But only people who actually know and have examined the dog and have interviewed the owner, should attempt to offer explanations or advice regarding that dog.