Ian Dunbar's Bite Assessment Scale

Level 1- Dog growls, lunges, snarls-no teeth touch skin. Mostly intimidation behavior.

Level 2- Teeth touch skin but no puncture. May have red mark/minor bruise from dog’s head or snout, may have minor scratches from paws/nails. Minor surface abrasions acceptable.

Level 3- Punctures ½ the length of a canine tooth, one to four holes, single bite. No tearing or slashes. Victim not shaken side to side. Bruising.

Level 4- One to four holes from a single bite, one hole deeper than ½ the length of a canine tooth, typically contact/punctures from more than canines only. Black bruising, tears and/or slashing wounds. Dog clamped down and shook or slashed victim.

Level 5- Multiple bites at Level 4 or above. A concerted, repeated attack.

Level 6- Any bite resulting in death of a human.

Cesar Milan has over simplified aggression for dogs. In his mind all dogs are aggressive from fear or dominance. He calls every dog that performs Level 2 or above a 'red-zone' case and overall makes it sound as if they were a lot worse than they actually are. As the above scale illustrates, there are several different levels of severity in aggression. Liwanu for instance; was at worst a 3+ which in the big picture isn't that bad. It's not good and it doesn't make him less of a danger but it doesn't mean he needs to be put down for being vicious. Levels 5 & 6 are the ones that most likely will need to be humanely euthanised because most owners are not capable of putting the time, energy and money into rehabilitating them. I really hate the term 'rehabilitation' because Cesar Milan has decided to use it as a catch phrase. Using R+ methods aggressive dogs can be healed and eventually can be integrated into a very average lifestyle. I would never consider an aggressive dog cured, it's more like being a recovering addict. Each day that the dog is able to maintain appropriate behavior is a success. There will be back-slides and gains, it's part of life for everything and everyone.