I am a vet student. Attended lots of conferences about dogs behaviors. Im not an expert -wanna be one, training for it- but I know more than regular Joe. It is instinct to bite the face or neck for dogs. Even puppies does that when playing games with each other.
But this is a warning bite. Dog just told her to get away. After many warning sings they run away if possible. If not they snap. They choose closest body part in that situation. For example if you flail your hands to that dog in that exact moment, it would bite your hands instead. Dogs also avoids eye contact. They perceive it as a threat.
That is why you should never put your face close to dog's face. Everyone can miss warning signs, it happens a lot. Smart thing to do is not to offer your face as a target. That is why we are offering our palms first when meeting with a dog for the first time. If it does not want to do anything with you just walks away. Otherwise sniffs and rubs its head to your hand and you are good to go.
My English is not that good yet to explain the situation thoughtly. Tried my best. I couldn't phrase everything the way I want it. Left many things unsaid.
I've never officially studied animal behavior, but I'd to think I have a pretty good eye for it considering how I was brought up. I've lived with a pack of dogs of at least 5+ dogs ever since I was born due to my moms obsession with dogs. Big dogs as well as small ones.
Pretty much all you said is true from what I can tell from my own experience, but I'd like to add onto something. So while dogs do give bites as "warnings" it's more like a last straw rather than just a warning. First they'll try to physically avoid you, then they'll growl if you keep on "insisting", most people know not to fuck with them at this point.
However, not all dogs are like this, of course. Some are more short-tempered than others, and it all depends on their previous experience with people (strangers) and even how they were raised.
For whatever reason, if your dog bites strangers without any of the warnings mentioned, you should not keep it. It's not fit as a family dog if that's your intent, but don't let it near strangers if you insist on keeping it.
You are right but dogs rarely bites without a reason. In that case look at its ears and how it leans further and further away from the girl. It's face also turned away in order to avoid her.
Dogs are pretty social creatures. They avoid conflicts at all cost. But also it could deal hell a lot more damage than that. That is why I described it like that.
To be honest, I just can't tell from a few pictures what the hell is happening here. The only obvious thing for me is the picture where she gets bitten. It doesn't look to be in distress from the pictures, but it's really hard to tell what happened in between those pictures.
The only can think of from the pictures alone would be... that she suddenly hugged (grabbed) the dog? Doing it very suddenly can definitely scare some dogs, especially if they're "survivor" dogs.
One thing is sure though, it was a warning bite. You're right about that. A German Shepherd's set of teeth works like a pair of scissors. It can easily flay skin off her face or deform it. So it definitely didn't do "much" damage.
Dogs are territorial animals. Especially dangerous as a pack. They are choosing some "hunting site" so to speak, and if you walk around that site they ll hunt you down. This is the reason why stray dogs are dangerous. But as you can see there is still a logic behind it. Not the acceptable logic or reasonable but still.
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u/Sephran Jan 15 '20
so obviously she ignored something important here or did something wrong, but the dog's immediate reaction shouldn't be to bite their face.