It’s probably an age-old question that comes up on occasion for every dog owner. In the past, I always told people no. Now, after having this dog for seven years that I thought would not harm a flea, show me differently, I take a slightly different approach. I am always hesitant to answer it the way I would like because I will definitely come off sounding like a smart a--. “Does your dog bite?” “Why, of course, he will, he’s a dog isn’t he?”

I have owned dogs my whole life. Some have been big ferocious looking German Shepherds, one was a Chihuahua, and the others have been everything in between. None of these dogs ever were anywhere near the “vicious” category. However, my favorite was the one that showed me that under the right circumstances, a dog would always prove to be a dog.

The day was like many other days around our house. My oldest son and I were in the front yard throwing a baseball. My youngest son had a couple of the neighborhood children over and they were playing kickball. My mixed, and I do mean mixed, lab was lying near me watching the activity as he had often done. The kids decided to take a break and get a drink of water. Little Johnny called Rover (the names have been changed to protect the innocent) over to pet him I assume and then the unthinkable happened.

Rover trotted over and sat in front of little Johnny. Little Johnny dropped down and either startled Rover or landed on a paw. I am unsure which one, but Rover yelped, rose up and bit little Johnny smooth in the face.

Little Johnny yelled, grabbed his face and took off for his house. I yelled at Rover to get in the back yard and immediately went to check on little Johnny. His parents had grabbed a towel and were loading up for a run to the emergency room. Thank goodness he was not seriously hurt. However, it did take several stitches and some minor plastic surgery to put things right.

Yeah, of course, there was a lawsuit that went to a jury trial and little Johnny was awarded a small amount that was taken care of by my insurance company. I have to give kudos to State Farm Insurance for the way they handled the situation. Their customer service is a-one in my book.

I must admit, I was a little concerned about Rover when this happened. We constantly had people over and I wasn’t going to have a dog that was likely to bite someone again. I took Rover to the vet to get checked out just to see if there could be some underlying reason for the behavior of which I was unaware. I asked the vet if he thought Rover was a risk that I should be more concerned with since he now had bitten someone and he said that any dog, when put in the right circumstances, would bite as a means of self-defense. He also said if the dog had not shown any tendencies to harm anyone before, he likely would not do so again unless he was again placed in a situation where he felt the need to defend himself.

Well, we kept Rover and he never made an attempt to harm another person. Even though he caused us a couple of stressful years, overall he was a kind and loyal companion. He died a few years later and, in life, taught me one thing I will never forget. The true answer to the “does your dog bite” question is “why, of course, he will, he’s a dog isn’t he?