Not sure if anyone has seen this yet? Scary that she was allowed to get so close and kiss the dog on the lips by the owner.

She could be A LOT worse off.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2098521/TV-anchor-Kyle-Dyer-bit-face-rescued-dog.html

I saw it earlier this morning and thought she was incredibly lucky to not be very badly hurt and I also thought she was incredibly stupid for putting her face that close to a strange dog.

Jeeeeez, I have just watched the short clip and was on pins the whole time - the dog had no option to get away from her, very little option to give readable body language because he was clamped between the owners legs and held tight by his collar and she was smooshing his face up the whole time until she bent to kiss him when he did make a 'snarl' face a split second before biting her.

Stupid owner, stupid tv anchor and a dog that has more than likely been punished for growling and not taught bite inhibition.

> stupid tv anchor

That's a bit unfair.  She's a TV anchor, and probably a very good one, not a dog expert.  Many people bend down to talk to a dog and ought to be able to do so safely, I dare say the owner knew what his dog was like and should have had it muzzled.

Bending down to pet a dog is one thing ut clamping her hands around its muzzle pulling its head toward her to kiss it on the face is ridiculous.

IMO both owner and tv anchor are to blame.

Perhaps the dog has never een known to do this type of thing but the trauma of being in a frozen lake the day efore and then whisked in front of tv cameras and no doubt a packed studio the next day was just too much.

> Jeeeeez, I have just watched the short clip and was on pins the whole time - the dog had no option to get away from her, very little option to give readable body language because he was clamped between the owners legs and held tight by his collar and she was smooshing his face up the whole time until she bent to kiss him when he did make a 'snarl' face a split second before biting her

Yep, the poor dog looked like he was trying his best to show he was uncomfortable right from the begining. Even though he was pinned in place between the handler and the woman looming over him, he still did all he could to show he was not feeling happy. He kept licking his mouth with his ears back, it was a little hard to see his ears as the handler was frantically petting them but the overall appeasing signals he was giving seemed glaringly obvious that he was taking the womans approach to him as a threat - she showed him she was a threat when she put her face right in his face.

That dog was large & powerull enough to have torn her face off in a singal bite, he injured her lip, so even in that situation that stressed him and made him feel threatened enough to physically act on it, he managed to control the force of his bite. The woman was very lucky, if the dog had no bite force control or it was inclined to warn in rapid, repeated, snapping motions like some other breeds, her face would have been tattered.

I hope the footage can be used to teach people that dogs do not speak 'human', they speak dog and getting in a strange dogs face is never a good idea - they only have the option of reacting like a dog can and have no idea the stranger just wants to show 'love' with a kiss - they take it as a threat/challenge.

> I hope the footage can be used to teach people that dogs do not speak 'human'

It's not a good idea but people who don't own dogs and aren't interested in dogs aren't going to learn that, why should they? 
It is down to people who want to own this sort of dog to understand them and keep people safe.

> She's a TV anchor, and probably a very good one, not a dog expert.  Many people bend down to talk to a dog and ought to be able to do so safely,

Why? Why should a stranger be able to grab a dogs face and kiss it on the lips?? Dogs are not toys, they are living beings.
The handler should not have allowed her to do that, but people need to learn that you can not expect to do things to a dog that will make it feel threatened, without the chance of the dog reacting to it.
If people do not know about dogs behaviour, then that is even more of a reason why they should not ram thier face in the face of a dog!

"Ahhh, look at the cute doggy, that doesn't know me from Adam, with a mouth full of teeth that can cause me fatal injury - I must kiss it in the face" - Makes no sense.

My dog can be petted in the street, but if a person had him pinned against a sofa, ignored his signals that he wasn't happy with them looming over him, then were stupid enough to grab his face while squishing thiers into into it - he'd warn them they'd over stepped the mark. However, I am not stupid enough to allow somebody to do that to him.

It's a wonder more people aren't bitten by dogs.
I am a human, I can speak human and am aware of what human body-language is all about - however, if a stranger grabbed hold of of my face to kiss me - they'd be sporting more than a cut lip!!
But, dogs that have no idea a person just wants to be nice (while displaying behaviour the dog sees as nasty), are expected to suck it up and be happy about it.

>The handler should not have allowed her to do that.

Exactly.  He is responsible for the dog.  Most dogs appreciate human attention.  The TV anchor was not to know.

Im not a lion expert, but you wont find me trying to kiss a lion.

Of course not, we have a completely different conception of how lions are with people.

> It is down to people who want to own this sort of dog to understand them and keep people safe.

It really isn't about type of dog, it's about what a dog percieves to be threatening behaviour. It's why children are the ones that suffer most dog-bites and why those bites are to the face. It's not because there are lots of 'types' of dog like this, it's because people, for some strange reason, think it's OK to get in a dogs face.

People should keep others safe form thier dog, but there has to be a point at which a grown adult is responsible for thier own actions. The dog was putting up with the woman petting her, he wasn't happy about it, but was allowing it (I personally would have told her to back off at that point). The woman didn't ask the handler if it would be OK to grab the dogs face and shove her face into it, she just did it, without warning, should the handler have reeled off a list of things the woman should NOT do when saying it's OK to pet the dog?

> It really isn't about type of dog

As I understand it this type of dog is banned in some places.

>should the handler have reeled off a list of things the woman should NOT do when saying it's OK to pet the dog?

Certainly.  In fact he should have said don't touch it all or have it muzzled.  The very fact he didn't say anything probably reassured the woman that the dog was friendly.

It said later in the report that the owner was being charged with having the dog off it's leash, errrr, correct me if I'm wrong but that dog was clearly leashed.

What an unfortunate outcome for what should have been a " feel good " section on tv, and all because the dog wasn't listened too.

I don't think the dog was leashed,  i think the owner just had a tight hold of his collar.

Whilst the majority of the blame lies with the handler, I have to say, I do not think ignorance is a viable excuse on the part of the presenter.

I do not understand the complex workings of explosives, heavy machinery, hyenas or lions - yet I do possess the common sense not to stick my face in close to the pointy/explodey/bitey ends of all these things.
It is MY job to keep ME safe and that means not taking stupid and unnecessary risks - I do count putting my face within biting range of a strange dog a stupid and unnecessary risk and what irritates me THE most is that this dog will be put down most likely, and the breed will be blamed, his background will be blamed, the owner will (rightly) be blamed, but the tv presenter will NOT think 'hang on - I should not have done that'.

Dogs should NOT have to tolerate strangers mashing their faces around and kissing them - you bet your LIFE if a strange person did that to your or your child you would sue the arse off them for assault.

> you bet your LIFE if a strange person did that to your or your child you would sue the arse off them for assault.

Well, I grew up in the days when people often kissed and cuddled children, we learned to just wrinkle our faces, so I doubt very much I would sue :) and I certainly wouldn't sue someone for petting my dog. 

> I do not understand the complex workings of explosives, heavy machinery, hyenas or lions - yet I do possess the common sense not to stick my face in close to the pointy/explodey/bitey ends of all these things.
> It is MY job to keep ME safe and that means not taking stupid and unnecessary risks - I do count putting my face within biting range of a strange dog a stupid and unnecessary risk and what irritates me THE most is that this dog will be put down most likely, and the breed will be blamed, his background will be blamed, the owner will (rightly) be blamed, but the tv presenter will NOT think 'hang on - I should not have done that'.
>
> Dogs should NOT have to tolerate strangers mashing their faces around and kissing them - you bet your LIFE if a strange person did that to your or your child you would sue the arse off them for assault.

Well put theemx. When did we loose the responsibility of our actions and blame everyone & everything for stupid behaviour

I don't know how it works in the US but thank goodness in this country the owner of the dog is responsible not the victim.

> I don't know how it works in the US but thank goodness in this country the owner of the dog is responsible not the victim

But surely in this case the victim should take some responsibility. There must be numerous instances where the victim has to accept some blame.

But surely in this case the victim should take some responsibility

I agree a strange animal, even if human, approaching a dog with its teeth particularly when the dog can't retreat is asking to be bitten which is no doubt what the dog was expecting 'to be bitten'.

I agree that no dog should bite but they should be treated with respect to trap a dog and then force your will on it should only happen at the vets.

> It really isn't about type of dog

> As I understand it this type of dog is banned in some places

The fact the dog is banned in some places is beside the point, it was displaying canine behaviour.
A local girl suffered a lot of facial injuries, requiring surgery, when she stuck her face in a dogs face outside of the school - if the breed is relevant it was a collie (that had no problem with children in general and lived happily with children)
The only difference between these 2 'attacks' was the amount of damage caused - the huge, banned in some places, 'type' of dog caused LESS damage than the collie that delivered multiple, rapid warning bites.

>> should the handler have reeled off a list of things the woman should NOT do when saying it's OK to pet the dog?
> Certainly.  In fact he should have said don't touch it all or have it muzzled

Are your dogs muzzled when out? if not do you allow strangers to pet them? If you do allow strangers to pet them, do you tell people that they should not grab the dogs face and press their face against it?

You do not know what dog will bite, when it has a stangers face rammed into thiers, untill it actually happens. Even if it does happen and the dog does not react, it does not mean it will refrain from reacting on another occasion (such as being in a new situation, like a buslting, hot studio, with strange things moving all around)

> do you tell people that they should not grab the dogs face and press their face against it?
>

I tell them they risk a tongue in the ear.

Reading some of the posts regarding how society should prepare itself to understand and behave towards dogs I think we may be in danger of forgetting that society does not request that we keep dogs, they allow us to.
They do not allow us to keep lions and they do not allow us to leave dangerous explosives around so not sure why those comparisons are cropping up :). 
They allow us to own dogs on the understanding that they will not be dangerous and that we will take responsibility for that.

It really is worth bearing in mind too, just HOW stressful a tv studio is.

I do appreciate not many people have been on a set (I have, though I have been on far more photoshoots which are equally pretty scary places) - but it might LOOK calm and spacious and nice on tv, what you cant see are LOADS of people, wires all over the place, HUGE cameras, some on tracks, some on tripods, sometimes theres an audience but even if there isnt, there are LOTS of people milling about, often wearing bizarre looking headgear.
There are lights everywhere, monitors all over the place, people appearing and vanishing behind bits of set, people popping up out of hidden spots, often its very hot, sometimes there are weird drafts and strange smells (a lot of strange smells, some sets have the floors repainted every DAY)...

All in all, it is a potentially TERRIFYING place for any animal to be, and for a lot of people, so its highly likely the handler/owner was also nervous (and that will lead people to allow other people to do things that they would normally not).

That poor dog had had a traumatic time the day before and then went into a TV situation with people it didn't know and a totally different situation than it was used to.  I'm sorry but not only was the owner and the presenter part of the problem but so was the production team.  

If you look right at the start of the video you can see the leash clearly ON the collar, I think the guy just holds closer to the collar in later shots.
Stupid woman!!!

It's common sense NOT to kiss dogs!!!

It doesn't require a degree in nuclear science to know that stick your face in a dog's face and you might get bitten!!! It's called common sense, you don't need to be a dog trainer to know that dog's have teeth!! And it's polite to ask to pet a dog not just stick your hands all over them and except the dog to like it. Type of dog doesn't matter, I know some collies much worse than that and a few JRTs!!

When I was growing up, not all that long ago just turned 40, you asked to stroke a dog first. Seems we have forgotten that. If someone had walked up to my babies and stuck their head in the pram I'd have been wild!! It could take me hours to calm my child down if he reacted badly, usually most children don't but you just don't do it!! You engage mother, idle chit chat and then play with baby after asking!!! Why shoud a dog be required to endure what most human adults would abhore?? Get out of my space man!!!!

My daughter when about 3 years old while we were talking to our next door neighbour walked into their conservatory and bent over their JRT and was bitten on the lip exactly as in that clip, ending with a punctured lip. 

The dog had retreated to it's basket as I followed her in asking her not to follow the dog, she ignored me.

I did not expect the neighbour to put his 10 year old bitch to sleep, though he offered, it was my fault as I wasn't quick enough to restrain my disobedient child.

Years ago my brother had a hole in his lip from an Aunts GSD nipping him as it was focused and over excited over a hutch full of Rabbits they had, and eh startled the dog by approaching from behind and throwing his arms around it.

Children don't understand that animals are not furry children or toys which is why they so often get bitten (there is the prey drive situation too), but an adult really ought to have more sense.

My first Elkhound bitch airsnapped a warning (the breed isn't as reactive as many others) and gave a right fright to a little girl that had been a pest around the dogs for months wanting to hug them, and I had to keep avoiding her.  On this occasion she threw herself onto my girl who was lying down.  The Mother looked murder, but kept better control of her child after that, and thankfully after this as previously asked but ignored, she asked if it was OK to speak to the doggy and I would tell her how.

The dogs natural instinct is flight or fight when it feels it is in a difficult situation. The dog in the clip could not move away as it was being held, and the interviewer was leaning over and fussing and pushing the dog far too much.
I have seen the same sort of thing happen with lots of dogs, and various breeds in similar situations. People often lean over dogs, cutting off the dogs only escape route in the dogs eyes.
If only children and the general public were better informed about how to behave around dogs, there would be far less accidents. I honestly think that their should be some programmes in school to tell children how to stay safe. I know the KC started an initiative but the message has not been far reaching enough.
The media whip up a frenzy about dangerous dogs, but they also fail to clarify how and why the attack took place or inform how accidents with dogs could be avoided. Then you get the anti dog brigade who think that all dogs should be leashed and muzzled at all times.
Despite all the various dog programmes over the years I feel we have still not moved forward in getting the general public to understand dogs, if anything more people are frightened of dogs. I passed a woman the other day whilst walking my dogs, who flattened herself and the children against the wall with her children, and under her breath muttered " all dogs should have their teeth pulled out." Those children are going to grow up with a fear of dogs. 

This topic came up on an Australian dog forum I frequent.

Many people said exactly the same thing - who in their right mind would stick their face into a dogs face - particularly one unknown to them.

I'll tell you guys the same story I told my Australian counterparts.

In answer to the bolded part of my post -

A new vet I tried recently!!  Yep, he took hold of my male Staffords scruff either side of his neck and tried rubbing his face into his.  Tried to kiss him and GET my dog to kiss him back!
I was stunned!
Alfie is a very laid back dog, but he was clearly distressed and uncomfortable with this (which I knew he would be).  Alfie is quite happy to lick and snuggle OUR faces - but he knows us and yet we're still very careful that he doesn't get too excitable, etc when doing this.

I stopped the vet immediately and asked him to stop doing it as my dog was not liking it.  The vet said, but he's so gorgoeous.  I replied that he might be but he doesn't like you doing that.
Needless to say, I ended up stopping the appointment there and then and left.  We'd only been in the consultation room for around 2 minutes, but it was enough.  Alfie was there for his annual vaccination.  I went back to a previous vet I'd used before.

> you asked to stroke a dog first.

Do we know if the presenter didn't?

There is a big difference between stroking, and leaning over and manhandling a dog. At one point before leaning in to the dog, and putting her face next to it, the woman had both hands on the dogs head and was pushing it upwards and backwards. The woman was a stranger to this dog.
Those of us who show our dogs get them used to being handled by judges from a very early age. Must most pet dogs are not used to strangers being so intimate with them.

Presenter gave me the impression of someone who actually wasn't particularly comfortable with dogs, but was trying hard to pretend she was. Dog gave the impression of being an amiable chap who would have done far more damage if he'd meant anything more than 'get out of my face please'.

What a shame it was allowed to happen.

M.

I am not sure I share your concept of "amiable chap".

> Dog gave the impression of being an amiable chap

Really?

I would trust any of my previous dogs and 3 of the 4 I now own to simply try to stick their tongue in a strangers mouth in that situation. I don't allow people to cuddle my current borzoi like that, when I have visitors I explain to them how to pat him so he doesn't feel uncomfortable and I watch him closely the whole time for any signs of stress, which are quickly acted on by me.

I really don't think you can blame the presenter here. This is a breed of dog that is banned in this country and in some states in the US. I think the handler should have taken a bit more care to either explain what contact was permissible or more simply just muzzle the dog.

Good grief, I'm absolutely livid that the owner was fined, why, why, why, was the owner fined, did the people not see what really happened?

The woman was an absolute twit, gosh if I was that man I would be wanting to fine her!

Yep, they got him on the rabies shot thing, fine, and maybe the dog should also have had a lead as well as the man holding the collar, fine, but the interviewer was 100% to blame for that nip.

I guess we should be grateful that the dog was not pts, disgraceful.

Victoria Stillwell has posted on her fb page about this and is horrified that anyone is blaming the dog. She also states that the dog gave various signs ans signals that he wasn't happy and the only way to make this person go away was to bite and release..  You just don't put your face into the face of an unknown dog, bloody stupid and people deserve to get bitten if they do that, sorry but the mind boggles..

I think the handler should have taken a bit more care to either explain what contact was permissible or more simply just muzzle the dog

I do agree with you chaumsong, but this is probably one of those situations you wouldn't believe would happen, if the dog is generally of good temperament and he was on the show to show the rescue video and be talked about... fine, but who would ever believe that an interviewer would get on their knees stroke and fuss and try to kiss the dog like that, you wouldn't get Richard and Judy, Phil and Holly or any interviewer I can think of doing that. The owner was no doubt unprepared for such actions.

The owner was out of his depth and tbh even if he were feeling a little uncomfortable himself at the way the woman was behaving, is he really going to say with cameras blaring in his face "er... excuse me but can you back away incase he bites you out of desperation," his dog is on the show in a good light, what would that have looked like?

He probably did not know the dog would do that, it is not a situation the dog has probably been in before and it did all happen fast.

The woman needs her head examining, that wasn't an interview it was her treating an adult dog like a wee pup surprised she didn't do the squeeky voice and cootchy coo to go with it too. (Angry at the woman only, if my reply comes across as to yourself, not at all :-) )

> She also states that the dog gave various signs ans signals that he wasn't happy and the only way to make this person go away was to bite and release.. 

If this dog was dangerous the person responsible for seeing that and taking preventative action was the owner. 
The woman was not hurting the dog.  If it cannot tolerate people handling it, it should be muzzled.
I can't believe that people would blame the victim of such an attack.
The law is quite clear in this country.  In none of the high profile cases in this country have we ever heard the excuse that the animal felt trapped, or the child was squealing etc.  As I keep saying, dogs have to be fit to take their place in society, not make society accomodate them because society has no obligation to allow us to keep our dogs.

> if the dog is generally of good temperament

It did not look like it by the way the owner was gripping that collar.  He only had to say it was best not to get too close but agree he was probably overawed and pretty keen to be on the telly so it also boiled down to the womans employers to ensure her safety.
We should all know not to put our hands under a guillotine but the law obliges employers to understand the dangers and provide a safety guard all the same.
The fact that this is a banned breed in same areas should have allerted them to explore all possibility of attack and take appropriate measures.

It certainly was a difficult situation - the owner should have known it's dog better than that - however in that situation where it may have been embarrassing to say can you give my dog a bit of space and stop treating it like a fluffy toy - it was a mistake on both sides - one for not speaking up (and putting his dog through a stressful situation) and the other for petting the dog inappropriately.   I know that my dog would not be happy in that situation and I wouldn't hesitate to tell people not to bend over her and crowd her.  It is very difficult when you get someone who brushes your words away and says 'oh I am used to dogs' and proceeds to bend over and handle your dog.  When you have had dogs that are a push over - and I have in the past had dogs that take anything - having a more reactive nervous dog is an eye opener.

> can you give my dog a bit of space and stop treating it like a fluffy toy

Take out the fluffy toy thing and it should not be so embarassing a thing to say :)
He should, after all, be used to take the necessary steps having got the dog.

>The woman was not hurting the dog.>

No but she was up all in it's face!!! 

Responsibility in equal amounts surely?

Owner and tv anchor?

> Take out the fluffy toy

I didn't actually mean he should use those words :-( - but people are inhibited speaking on camera - I would be.

> No but she was up all in it's face!!!

That should not be a problem.  Vets, judges, your auntie do this all the time, so the average non dog owner or even dog owner that had never had a difficult dog may very well not realise that some dogs may react badly.

so the average non dog owner or even dog owner that had never had a difficult dog may very well not realise that some dogs may react badly.

Well, the woman does now.............

TBH a lesson most of us were taught as children, and a lesson most of us still always teach our children, perhaps the woman grew up in a monastery and missed out on the simple life lessons most of us were taught?

A dog is first and foremost an animal and should be shown respect.

> No but she was up all in it's face!!!
> That should not be a problem.  Vets, judges, your auntie do this all the time

Really? My vets have never ever tried kissing any of my dogs and have never got into their faces for that matter. I've had many judges do temperament tests and again they have never been on their knees trying to kiss them lol.

I think its going a bit far to say that all dogs should allow anyone at anytime to stick their face in theirs and expect to get a big kiss or for nothing bad to happen. A dog will be used to your auntie and as someone else has said show dogs are rigorously socialised and trained to tolerate being examined by a stranger. Its said time and time again that dogs don't generalise things very well so isn't it to be expected that a dog might be fine with auntie giving kisses but be unhappy about a stranger doing it?
I once rubbed my face into that of a bullmastiff that had only known me two days, it was fine and nothing happened, immediately afterwards it struck me what a stupid foolish thing that was to do and how lucky it was that she hadn't taken umbrage over my rude behaviour.
I think the incident in question is a case 6 of 1 half a dozen of the other, with a bit of extra blame for the owner who should have noticed the dog didn't like it and asked the presenter to back off, whether he'd have felt embarrassed or not.

Ditto never had a vet or judge do that to any dog I've had either. :-D Would be pretty weird.

Mind you had a vet do it to a puppy at vacs once, the pup had travelled quite a way and had been to the toilet, No.2 all over it's paws, yuk! Did my best to clean it up with newspaper as had forgot my wipes and the vet who had never done it before started kissing the pup all over including it's feet, I was looking at him like he was mad........... bet he never did it again. :-D

I can only remember being taught not to touch a dog on its own and not to hurt it.

As it stands right now there is no where to note that the owner knew this dog was dangerous. Dogs are animals and surprise us all. The most docile and loving dog could turn if not happy with a situation.

We're always taught in our dog training class when we switch dogs never to put our faces into an unknown dogs.. Speaks for itself really..