As the owner and trainer at the Chicago Canine Academy in North Park, Jim Morgan has trained hundreds of dogs who bit someone.

“The dogs aren’t bad and the people aren’t bad,” Morgan said. “[The people] are just inexperienced.”

The “mismatch,” as Morgan calls it, often leads toward more intense behavioral patterns that result in biting incidents.

“These dogs [need] some physical [and] mental [care] and some experience to do well, and these are the dogs that end up biting,” he said.

Illinois ranked eighth in the country in estimated number and cost of dog bite claims last year, according to the Insurance Information Institute. Insurance companies paid more than $61.8 million for 837 dog-related injury claims. The average claim payout was $73,797, over double the average claim of $35,553 from 2018.

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Nationally, insurance companies paid over $1.1 billion for over 19,000 dog-related injury claims last year, according to the institute. The number of claims rose 8.3%, though the value and average cost per claim both decreased from 2022.

Some insurance companies won’t insure homeowners who own breeds of dogs categorized as dangerous, such as pit bulls, according to the institute. Others decide on a case-by-case basis, depending on whether a dog has been deemed vicious.

Liability claims related to dog bites and other dog-related injuries cost homeowners insurers over $1.1 million last year, according to the institute and State Farm. Some companies require dog owners to sign liability waivers for dog bites, while others charge more for owners of breeds such as pit bulls and Rottweilers.

“Not all dog bites are the same,” Pamela Davis, senior trainer at the Urban Pooch Training and Fitness Center in Lincoln Square, told the Sun-Times. “The level at which a dog’s bitten in the past is the primary way of assessing risk of future bites.”

For dog bites, trainers use either the Dunbar scale or Cara Shannon’s dog-bite scale to assess what training will look like. Both scales are commonly used throughout the dog training industry to grade the severity of dog bites.

“That bite intensity, that level, we call it, is a really important factor when assessing how a training will be,” Davis said.

The scales are structured in levels. The lowest level on the scale means a dog acted aggressively but didn’t commit a bite, and the highest means the dog’s bites caused mutilation or fatal wounds.

Davis said it could take from a couple of days to months to improve undesired behaviors in dogs, depending on the situation.

“Recognizing those yellow lights helps us avoid a situation where the red light turns on,” Davis said.

Physical changes like a dog’s ears lowering or dilated pupils are signs to look out for when assessing whether a dog is uncomfortable in a certain environment, according to Davis.

“The first thing is to identify for yourself how you and your community want the dog to respond in that situation,” Davis said. “You need to set up the environment and establish boundaries or safety so that the undesired behavior can’t keep happening.”

While trainers can’t change how hard a dog will bite, they can adjust the likelihood of a bite happening, according to Davis.

For dogs with any kind of conflict behaviors, Davis emphasized the importance of being able to recognize past situations and understanding common things that make dogs feel unsafe.

Morgan of Chicago Canine Academy said consequence-based training “is a must if you want to be able to take your dog anywhere.”

“If a dog has aggression issues, they’re almost universally a hundred percent related to fear,” Morgan, 77, said. “The more structure I give a dog, the less fear he’s gonna have.”

Morgan uses shock collars as a negative correctional response to help improve behavior in the dogs he trains.

“You can’t tell [a dog] to sit and give a cookie, that will not eliminate aggression. You might eliminate it for that moment, but the aggression problem hasn’t been solved,” Morgan, who has trained dogs for 37 years, said. “The dog has to know there is a consequence for aggression, and the stronger the correction is, the quicker it’s gonna work.”

What to do if you’ve been bitten by a dog

For those who get bitten by a dog, the recovery process can be long and expensive. Victims can sometimes seek monetary recovery, depending on the case. For victims who don’t have identification of the owners, the legal pathway is even less clear.

The most important thing to do after getting bitten by a dog is to get medical treatment to prevent infection, said personal injury lawyer Mike Agruss in a previous interview with the Chicago Sun-Times.

Treatment is also important to document the bite, Agruss said, in case the victim decides to bring a claim against the dog owner. In most cases, a person’s homeowners or renter’s insurance will be responsible for damages, he said. Then, victims can file a claim with Animal Control by calling 311 or file a police report at a district station.

Morgan said owners should learn about the breed before they buy.

“If you’re gonna buy a somewhat difficult breed, research it, get some help,” Morgan said. “All these dogs can be wonderful, but not if you raise them like stuffed animals.”

Contributing: Phyllis Cha