Finding The Right Family Dog

Dog Bites and Dog Breeds

It is tough to find the right four-legged friend for you or your family. The dog you decide to adopt will quickly become a beloved family member and a huge part of your foreseeable future. You know the commitment the dog will add to your life but quickly forget how tough it is to train a puppy. Before you pick that puppy out it would be smart to make sure the breed you are getting stands a good chance of being obedient and not biting you, your family members, guests, or others

According to the Center for Disease Control, approximately 800,000 dog bites in the United States will require medical care every year. As you may imagine, the most common victims are children because they may have played too rough with the dog. It is thus important to understand what makes dogs bite.

Reasons Why a Dog May Bite

• The dog feels threatened
• The dog is reacting to a stressful situation
• The dog is not feeling well
• The dog gets startled
• They think they are playing
• To protect themselves
• To protect their owner
• To protect their puppies
• It was trained to bite

While any dog can bite and any dog can be trained and socialized well to prevent it from biting there are certain breeds that are certainly more trained to be aggressive (which includes them biting more).

According to one study, here is a list of dogs that bite the most:

• Chihuahua
• Bulldog
• Rottweilers
• Pit Bull
• Huskies
• German Shepherd
• Australian Shepherd
• Lhasa Apso
• Jack Russell Terrier
• Cocker Spaniel
• Bull Terrier
• Pekingese
• Papillion
• Akita’s

On the other side of the equation, and according to a different study, the breeds most likely not to bite are: Dalmatian, Pointer, Great Dane, Pekingese, and Spitz.