Dog Bites: Looks Like Friend…Not Friendly

(That’s what it says on the kerchief one of our dogs wears.)

We have a couple of dog bite cases in the office right now. We’ve been handling them for probably 30 years. It feels like with every one we learn a little bit more about dogs and people’s relationships with them.

Dogs generate significant bite force (200-700 PSI). A dog’s teeth don’t create a clean incision. And a dog's jaws compress, twist, shake, and tear tissue simultaneously. This causes substantial injury beyond the visible wound margins.

Visible openings may only be a few millimeters wide but contamination can extend several centimeters below the surface of the skin.

Dog bites are psychologically a lot different than injuries sustained in car wrecks or trip and fall cases.

The dog is touching its victim. The interaction is almost intimate.

Victims feel, hear and smell the dog. Because all the senses are implicated, dog bites are remembered in a much deeper way than other injury-causing events.

And even though the owner may have only been negligent, the victim of the dog bite knows the harm was very much intended by the dog. It was intentional.

Attacks also make people question all the things they thought were “safe” in their lives and whether there are additional risks of harm that were unappreciated before.

Emotional injuries are frequently the biggest part of dog bite cases. And they’re frequently underestimated.

Like we’ve written before, the emotional changes caused by an attack actually alters the brain and its chemistry.

PTSD and Cynophobia (fear of dogs) are associated with acute stress reactions that include:

• intrusive memories

• nightmares

• hypervigilance

• exaggerated startle

• sleep disturbance

• fear


Many victims develop:

• avoidance of dogs

• avoidance of walking

• panic attacks

• flashbacks

• emotional numbing


Victims frequently alter daily activities. Examples include:

• discontinuing neighborhood walks

• avoiding parks

• avoiding friends with dogs


These behavioral changes can reduce physical activity and social engagement.

Many dog bites are covered under homeowners or renters policies. And absent provocation, there is essentially strict liability in Washington.