Abstract

A commonly suggested reason for the occurrence of dog bites is miscommunication between humans and dogs (Overall & Love, 2001; Wright, 1985). Humans may fail to understand the communication signals displayed by the dog, they therefore may not be able to respond appropriately, which results in the dog biting. This is, however, only a hypothesis. There is little or no information on whether
miscommunication is actually one of the causes of dog bite accidents. Several studies have examined the circumstances of accidents and the characteristics of the victims
but there does not seem to be any evidence as to what really is the cause (Beck, Loring, & Lockwood, 1975; Guy et al., 2001; Millot, Filiatre, Cagnon, Eckerlin, & Montagner, 1988; Patrick & O'Rourke, 1998). There are a few studies investigating how people interact with dogs (Millot, 1994; Millot, Filiatre, Cagnon, Eckerlin, & Montagner, 1988; Millot & Filiatre, 1986). However, these do not investigate how people interpret the behaviour of dogs.