My Dog Bit Someone. What Do I Do Now?

The answer depends on where the bite happened and who was bitten. Household bites involving family members are treated differently from public-space bites involving strangers. The Miscellaneous Offences Act covers public incidents where a dog is unmuzzled or unleashed and causes injury. Household incidents typically don’t trigger formal AVS reporting unless the bitten person seeks medical care that includes incident reporting, or unless someone outside the household files a complaint. A behavior consultant familiar with the nuances can talk you through what applies to your specific situation. outcome.

In most cases, yes, with the right management and behavior work in place. Trust isn’t an all-or-nothing thing. A dog that has bitten can be trusted in specific contexts (calm walks, familiar people, familiar environments) before being trusted in the contexts that triggered the bite. The work is about expanding what your dog can handle, not deciding whether your dog is fundamentally trustworthy or not.

Almost never, in cases I see. A single household bite is rarely the trigger for either decision. These outcomes are sometimes appropriate for very specific situations such as repeated severe bites, certain breed-and-size combinations with vulnerable household members, or cases where the household genuinely cannot implement the management required. They aren’t the default outcome of one incident, and most cases I work with usually don’t move in that direction.

A behavior consultant. Obedience trainers focus on teaching behaviors like sit, stay, and recall, and most don’t have specific training in behavior modification for aggression cases. After a bite, the work that matters is changing the underlying stress, fear, or pain driving the behavior, which is what behavior consultants are trained for. Using an obedience-focused approach in the weeks after a bite typically makes the situation worse.

A properly conditioned muzzle will  give you more flexibility during the early weeks of behavior work after a bite, and is worth considering for most household bite cases. Muzzle conditioning takes time and should be done gradually and positively. Putting a muzzle on a dog who hasn’t been conditioned to wear one adds stress to a situation that’s already stressed. A behavior consultant can build muzzle conditioning into your plan and tell you whether daily use is appropriate for your dog’s specific case.

Initial management protocols can be in place within the same week. Meaningful behavior change usually takes three to six months of consistent work, sometimes longer for more complex cases. The timeline depends on the dog, the household, the triggers involved, and how consistently the plan is implemented. Most guardians see noticeable shifts within the first month, though the full work continues for longer.