**One of the first steps toward preventing and managing dog bites is understanding how and why they happen.** In the hectic environment of an animal shelter, dog bites are sometimes inevitable–but that doesn’t mean that they should be taken lightly. It’s important to learn how to assess dog bites by using context, evaluating bite location, and considering the unique strains of the shelter environment. We’ll talk about all of this and more as we unpack how to decode dog bites.

Bite Scales: What Are They and How Should We Use Them?

Bite scales are objective measurements of dog bites. They rate bites according to set criteria, like the presence and depth of skin punctures, bruising, and bite outcome. Bite scales can be a valuable tool for legal assessment, but they can also help shelters to determine the intensity and type of intervention necessary for a dog who has landed a bite.

Popular Bite Scales

The Ian Dunbar Bite Scale is the most well-known, especially in a legal context. Dunbar ranks bites on a scale of 1 to 6, with level 1 representing an air snap that doesn’t make contact and level 6 representing a fatal bite or attack. Dunbar’s scale might be the most widely known and used, but it isn’t necessarily the most comprehensive for a shelter context, especially when it comes to dog-to-dog bites.

Shelter managers might find the Cara Shannon Bite Scale to be a better fit for the nuance of an animal shelter. Not only does Shannon’s scale include a dog-to-dog bite hierarchy, it also adds more levels to Dunbar’s dog-to-human bite hierarchy, spanning from level 0 to level 7. This makes space for a deeper level of understanding, nuance, and context.

Click here for the cara shannon bite scale

The Importance of Context

If utilized with intention and care, bite scales are a valuable tool for animal shelters. That said, it’s important that shelter employees understand that these scales should serve as a guideline, not an absolute law. Context is of crucial importance when you’re evaluating dog bites; in the shelter, the level of a dog bite is often less important than the context in which it occurred.

All dog bites, even more “minor” ones, should be taken seriously, but a single instance of a level 1 bite is not a cause for extreme concern. Often, small changes to the dog’s environment and handling style are enough to prevent future incidents. However, if a dog lands a level 3 bite, you’ll want to start taking a close look at context to evaluate adoptability, determine steps toward behavior modification, and re-think pathway trajectory.

Offensive vs. Defensive Bites

One of the most important things to determine in the aftermath of a bite is whether it was offensive or defensive. There’s a big difference between a dog who is defending themselves and one who is attacking with no provocation. Both require swift intervention, but the type and intensity of intervention often hinges on the type of bite. Here are some quick questions to ask yourself when determining bite type:

Was the dog’s space being invaded by another dog or person?
Was the bite provoked or unprovoked?
Did the dog seek out the victim?
Was there any warning before the bite occurred?

Defensive Bites

Defensive bites usually occur when a dog’s boundaries have been infringed upon, and the goal is usually to create space. While concerning, dogs who bite defensively are often doing so in an attempt to defend themselves, and they usually respond well to environmental and behavioral modifications. Here are some situations where you might see a defensive bite:

Reaching over a dog’s head: There are a lot of times where shelter workers might reach over a dog’s head, like when putting on a slip lead, petting, or inspecting during medical examinations. What may seem like a benign gesture can feel threatening to shelter dogs, who are in an unfamiliar and unpredictable environment.
Holding a dog down: Similarly, shelter employees might have cause to restrain a dog when administering medications and performing evaluations. This is a time where a defensive bite might seem effective to create space.
Surprising a dog: Dogs might bite defensively in reaction to the appearance of an unexpected person or animal. This could look like a dog snapping at a new volunteer who they aren’t familiar with or at a dog who surprises them during a playgroup.

A girl with brown hair wearing a pink sweat shirt sits on the ground with her arms around a black and white dog. — Humans naturally want to get up close and personal, which is why face bites are so common–though this dog doesn’t seem to mind it!

Offensive Bites

Alternatively, an offensive bite is unprovoked and unexpected. In this instance, the bite is more overt and intentional, and it is likely to cause more damage. It can be much harder to effectively use behavior modification on a dog who bites offensively, and they often require more intensive intervention to prevent future incidents. A dog is likely biting offensively if they choose to approach the victim. This can look like a dog running onto somebody else’s property, charging into a room, or going up to another dog during a playgroup to bite them.

Bite Location

Bite location can give us a glimpse into a dog’s intentions. As a general rule, dogs who bite the first spot they can get to are less concerning than those who go out of their way to bite a place that will do the most damage possible.

Dog-Human Bites

When assessing dog-to-human bite locations, the most important factor is access. Did the dog bite the first place it could reach, or did it go out of its way to bite a less accessible area? This question is the key to clarifying bite type and intention.

Defensive Bite Locations

Defensive dogs usually bite the first spot they can reach. The most common spots that you might see a defensive dog bite include:

Hands
Forearms
Face
Back of leg

Face bites might be scary, but they’re surprisingly common. Our faces are easy to reach when we crouch down to get on a dog’s level. This is especially true when it comes to small children, whose faces are right at biting level and who are the most common victims of face bites. Similarly, when we reach down to pet or restrain a dog, they have easy access to our hands and forearms. A defensive dog might even nip at the backs of our legs as we walk away. All of these bite locations point toward a dog who wants you to move out of their space.

Offensive Bite Locations

Alternatively, offensive dogs are known to more intentionally seek out spots that are harder to reach and have the potential to do more damage. Common offensive bite locations include:
Upper arms & shoulders
Chest
Upper thighs
Abdomen
When a dog bites these locations, they usually have to leap up to reach them. This indicates a level of intent and forethought not seen in defensive dogs. Offensive dogs bite the upper extremities and abdominal area in an attempt to bring a victim down to the ground, to inhibit fighting back, or to do damage to vital organs. This indicates a level of intent, and even malice, that is very concerning.

Dog-Dog Bites

Bites from one dog to another typically occur in the context of playgroups, and the most frequent places you’ll see bites occur are in the face, ears, and hind legs. Dogs have fragile lips and ears, so tears and punctures in these areas are common with dog-to-dog bites. As with dog-to-human bites, these bite locations are less concerning because they are likely the first place the offending dog can reach–either face-to-face or as the other dog is running away–and don’t telegraph an intent to disable.

Less common (and more concerning) dog-to-dog bite locations include the neck, abdomen, underbelly, and front legs. Each of these areas indicate that a dog is attempting to pin, disable, or flip another dog, and could indicate a need for aggressive behavioral intervention.

Considering Context

As with everything in dog behavior, context is important when clarifying dog bite location. In her free Live Sessions, Laurie Lawless discusses the case of a dog who landed a bite in her abdomen. Going just off of the information from this article, you might be tempted to determine that this dog was biting offensively, targeting an area that houses vital organs.

However, after Laurie added context to the situation, we learned that Laurie had unintentionally shocked this dog by walking up when he was not looking. Because he was a larger-sized dog, Laurie’s stomach was likely the first thing he saw, and he bit her instinctively and defensively. In this situation, the dog bit Laurie in a stereotypically “offensive” location, but she was able to use context to determine that there wasn’t intent behind this particular bite. Similarly, it’s shelter workers’ job to constantly consider context when assessing bite level and location.

A black-and-grey dog stands on its hind legs to peer out of its kennel space and a brown dog stands behind it. — Shelters are confined spaces, and it’s not unusual for dogs to feel cramped, leading to more offensive bites than usual.

A Quick Note On the Shelter Environment

Finally, it’s important to acknowledge the unique challenge the shelter environment poses for the people and dogs co-habitating there. Space is a finite resource in an animal shelter, and it seems to be constantly running out. Because shelter animals are often in confined spaces, it is possible for dogs to bite offensively because they feel restricted in their ability to flee, which might’ve been used as an alternative to biting if they’d been given the option.

This is especially true of larger dogs, who have far less space to move around in kennels. Perhaps this can even partially account for the disparities in large dog outcomes seen in the Shelter Animals Count 2025 Mid-Year Report. To get a better grasp on how a dog would respond outside of the shelter context, make sure to take time to assess them in an open space to get a more well-rounded picture of their behavioral needs.

Preventing and Managing Dog Bites

Now we know how to decode a dog bite, but how do we put our knowledge into practice? Managing bites in an animal shelter is about more than just responding when a bite occurs; it’s also about having systems in place to prevent and manage bites. Here are a few best practices for your shelter:

Monitor Everything

In the aftermath of a dog bite, you should be monitoring every interaction that the offending dog has with staff and other animals. Instruct staff to take notes each time they feed, handle, or interact with the offending dog, and look out for significant behavioral changes.

However, monitoring shouldn’t only take place after an incident has occurred. In cases of dog bites, the moment of the bite itself is often less useful than the moments that led up to it. We recommend that shelter managers install cameras around their facilities wherever possible, allowing for a more well-rounded assessment after a dog bite occurs.

Take Body Language Seriously

Dogs usually warn us about an impending bite long before they finally snap, and it’s important that shelter employees be able to look out for signs of rising tensions during playgroups, medical assessments, and everyday handling. Humans and dogs speak a different language in more ways than one, and staff should be knowledgeable about the intricacies of dog body language. Learning to disengage or intervene when warning signs arise can help to prevent dog bites.

Adjust Handling and Playgroup Level

In the aftermath of a dog bite, staff should work to decrease overall stress level to determine if the bite was a behavioral or environmental issue. If the bite occurred during a playgroup, consider moving the dog to a slower-paced group. If the bite was the result of handling struggles, create a handling plan to avoid future incidents. Be sure to display handling instructions in a visible place–you can even utilize QR codes, affixed to the dog’s kennel, to direct staff to video instructions.

Look Out for Signs of Pain

Pain is an overlooked contributor to behavioral issues. Dogs might be more prone to aggression when experiencing underlying pain from health issues, and it’s never a bad idea to get a medical assessment after a dog lands a bite.

Intervene Before It’s Too Late

What do bites and tricks have in common? Dogs get better at them the more that they practice. With enough time, both good and bad behaviors can become so ingrained that a dog will perform them habitually. That’s why it’s important to intervene immediately after a dog bite occurs, even on low-level defensive bites.

Decoding Dog Bites for Animal Shelters

Bite Scales: What Are They and How Should We Use Them?

Popular Bite Scales

The Importance of Context