Understanding how dogs feel when they hurt or bite you can be challenging. Not only is this one of the most confusing things in the world to understand, but it’s also pretty scary to think about a dog you love could hurt you and possibly not feel bad about it.
In general, when a dog hurts or bites its owner, they feel guilty and remorseful for the attack. But this doesn’t make them cuddlier again. Sometimes the owner needs to distance themselves from the dog for a bit in order to get that guilt off of his or her shoulders, just so they can then come back together and resolve the underlying issues triggering the dog to bite.
The thing is that we’re so quick to punish or yell and punish and look at them like they did something wrong when really we just need to understand dog psychology a bit better.
And so hopefully today once you finish reading this post, you will gain some insight into the dog’s psyche to understand why dogs do what they do when they hurt you. But, also learn how we can deal with it even if we know the least about the after-effects of their actions.
The main thing here is to understand how dogs think, react and what happens when they hurt you even
Firstly, a big thing to remember is that dogs don’t have the same emotional response that we do. It’s important for us not to judge them by our standards of right and wrong. They don’t go through their lives judging us for what we did or
For years now, humans have grappled with the concept of dogs experiencing deep emotional connection to their may seem like they’re always happy to see you and love all the attention, but they really aren’t. They can feel bad about hurting you or others, just like people.
There’s no doubt that as a dog owner who’s just been involved in a bite incident you may be dealing with a gamut of feelings like:
- Shock,
- Disbelief,
- Anger,
- Hurt
- Guilt
- Fear
The Feeling Of Shock
When a dog bites, it often hits you out of the blue. You may have been thinking about something completely unrelated to your dog when suddenly he pounced on you without warning. This is why there’s time for fear and surprise even before anger kicks in.
The feeling of disbelief
Now that the initial shock has worn off, another reaction that might hit you is disbelief. This is when you ask yourself:
“Did my dog just bite me?” “Is he trying to kill me?” “What did I do wrong?”
The feeling of anger
Next, there’s the reaction of anger. Most people don’t like being in pain and they even less enjoy it when it comes from their own pet. There’s nothing more frustrating than feeling betrayed by the one you love, so anger is definitely an easy emotion to understand.
The feeling of hurt
After all the anger dissipates comes the feeling of hurt. It hurts to be bitten and it can leave a number of scars both emotionally and physically even if it isn’t your dog’s fault because he doesn’t know any better.
The feeling of guilt
Many people feel like they’ve done something wrong when their dog bites them, even if it’s not the case. It might be because you weren’t paying attention to him or because they were playing too roughly and you got in between them leading to an unintentional bite. Whatever the reason may be,
While it is true that dogs are pack animals and their first reaction when they feel threatened is to bite, not all bites are the same. There are several types of dog bites, including defensive, canine communication, and predatory. Each one requires a different approach in handling the situation both for you and your dog.
Defensive Dog Bites
Defensive dog bites only occur when the dog is protecting himself in a way where there’s no clear intent to harm. A good example is a resource guarding type of dog, you come home after a long day’s work, and your dog’s food bowl probably still has some food leftovers you need to remove and replace with a fresh bowl. As dogs are mostly built to guard their resource, your dog may feel threatened when you approach its food bowl.
Most dogs will give warning signs before actually biting such as growling, barking, and curling their lips to show their teeth. If their warning signs are unheeded, then they may also bite without further warning.
It’s important for us to understand that these bites can be avoided if we learn how to read the signs and act accordingly. It is our responsibility as pet owners to make sure that we give them space whenever they show such warning signs.
The use of an anti-bark shock collar is also a good idea when it comes to resource guarding dogs as well as those who bark excessively. This way, you can teach your dog the appropriate way to behave and interact with you.
Dog Communication Bites
Another common type of bite is canine communication bites. Dogs use body language as a way to communicate their level of comfort or discomfort in certain situations such as meeting an unknown dog or person. You can avoid this type of bite by understanding what your dog’s body language means and teaching him to greet people appropriately.
Predatory dog bites
When a dog is involved in predatory behavior, they see you as either prey or as someone who’s trying to harm them or their pack (family). This is the reason why these bites are especially dangerous and require immediate medical care and attention. Common signs of this type of bite are a stiff body, intense stare, and a quiet growl.
What to do after being bitten
After being bitten by your pet, it’s important that you keep an open line of communication with your veterinarian as well as the human medical personnel caring for you. Make sure to provide all the details about your dog so they can provide you with the most care.
As for your dog, it’s important that you understand what happened and why in order to prevent such an incident from happening again and also to help you keep calm when taking him in for treatment or if medical personnel need to take a look at him. If you want to get more information about dog bites, visit this website:
Conclusion
As much as it is hard to tell if dogs feel bad when they hurt you, it is important to know the different types of dog bites and how we as pet owners can avoid them.
