Citation

d'Ingeo S, Iarussi F, De Monte V, Siniscalchi M, Minunno M, Quaranta A. Animals (Basel) 2021; 11(10): e2907.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Molecular Diversity Preservation International)

DOI

10.3390/ani11102907

PMID

34679928

PMCID

PMC8532738

Abstract

Dog biting events pose severe public health and animal welfare concerns. They result in several consequences for both humans (including physical and psychological trauma) and the dog involved in the biting episode (abandonment, relocation to shelter and euthanasia). Although numerous epidemiological studies have analyzed the different factors influencing the occurrence of such events, to date the role of emotions in the expression of predatory attacks toward humans has been scarcely investigated. This paper focuses on the influence of emotional states on triggering predatory attacks in dogs, particularly in some breeds whose aggression causes severe consequences to human victims. We suggest that a comprehensive analysis of the dog bite phenomenon should consider the emotional state of biting dogs in order to collect reliable and realistic data about bite episodes.

Language: en

Keywords

aggressive behavior; dog bite; emotions; physiology; predatory behavior