"What do you think makes people do what they do?" - M.M. of Emmitsburg, M.D.

Why do some dogs bite? Nature or nurture, or "a little of both" (as you suggest) is a misleading approach to this question. It dismisses volition as the primary factor. And I don't mean the superficial so-called “free will” that most people presume they have regarding simple decisions, such as when to sit down or stand up. No, I'm talking about the truest form of volition; the choices we make super-consciously about such things as when and where we will be born, and die (not to mention who we will love, and hate).

But, why DO some dogs bite? Isn't that what you are really asking? I think that dogs too have super-conscious volition over what they are (dogs), and whether or not they will choose to bite someone (human) or not at some point in their life. I'd like to say that these super-conscious choices are made before we are ever born; but they're not. They are made outside of and independent of the casual reality of temporal experience. They are not choices that are made the way we normally perceive choices to be made. They are choices made that take into consideration not only past experience, but future experience as well. As I have said before, a real choice can only be made if all causes (past experiences) and all consequences (future experiences) are taken into account. Otherwise, it is not a choice at all; it is only a random guess.

On the superficial level it doesn't matter why some dogs bite people and others don't. It only matters what YOU do when you get bit. Will you strike the dog immediately, and thus teach it not to bite? Or, will you wait, indefinitely, and debate a bunch of imagined (and invariably incorrect) reasons for why you were bitten? Maybe you will put the dog in a cage until you “figure out” why it bit you, and then what to do about it. By then of course the dog has no chance of ever learning not to bite people. And in most cases, the confinement and lack of normal social contact teaches the dog to behave even more antisocially. It begins urinating indoors, growling over food, and maybe even biting people every chance it gets.

Should we really be surprised? The dog bites because it is a dog after all. The better question is, why do we allow ourselves to be bitten?

To put this in the terms of your question: Instead of asking what makes other people do what they do; ask, what makes YOU do what YOU do. When you can honestly answer this question you will have your answer to the first.

[J.D. June 1, 2015]