SUBS Only - The Bite Scale

When was the last time you heard someone say, "My dog tried to bite me but missed"? That common misconception might be putting you and your furry friend at risk. Dogs are lightning-fast with their mouths—if they truly wanted to bite you, they would have. What looks like a miss is actually a deliberate choice, a calculated warning delivered with impressive restraint.

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Chapters

• 0:03 Misunderstanding Dog Bite Attempts
• 0:33 Introduction to the Bite Scale
• 1:13 Bite Levels 1-3 Explained
• 1:52 Understanding Warnings and Prevention

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:03

Have you ever heard someone say my dog tried to bite me but I was too quick? The truth is, you weren't too quick. If your dog really wanted to bite you, you'd have felt it. Dogs usually bite with exactly as much pressure as they feel is necessary, and often that means showing a lot of bite inhibition, choosing not to use their full strength. So today we're going to walk through something called the bite scale. Trainers and vets use it to classify the severity of bites. Level zero is an air snap. The dog snaps into the air without making contact, but it's not a mistake and it's not a miss. It's a warning. That snap is your dog saying I don't want to hurt you, but I need more space. And, trust me, dogs are much faster than we are. If they wanted to make contact, they would have.

Speaker 1: 1:13

Level one is when teeth touch the skin, but there's no puncture. Maybe you see a scrape or a red mark, but the dog is still showing restraint and inhibition. Level two is when teeth make contact with light pressure, maybe nicks or scratches, but still no puncture wounds. Most family dog bites fall in this range. And level three is a single bite with one to four punctures, none deeper than half the length of the tooth. This is painful but still considered moderate. Level four is when one or more punctures go deeper than half the length of the tooth and you'll often see bruising or tearing, from the dog shaking or holding on. This is serious. Level five means multiple serious bites in one incident or multiple level four bites, and at this point the dog is showing intent to cause significant harm. And level six and thankfully very rare is a bite that results in death.

Speaker 1: 2:32

Now here's the important part. Most of the bites that people actually encounter are levels one, two and even level zero. These are warnings and instead of brushing them off or assuming you dodged a bullet, recognize that your dog just gave you some valuable information. They were saying, hey, I'm uncomfortable, I need space, and they delivered that message with inhibition, holding back from causing real harm. But if those warnings keep getting ignored, dogs can climb the bite scale. A dog who starts with air snaps or light contact may over time escalate to much more serious bites simply because their earlier warnings weren't respected. Listening early and addressing the situation helps prevent that progression and keeps everyone safer.