My mom was walking her dog and talking to a guy across the street who Ali has met before. When they crossed the street at the same time and came together in the middle of the street the guy kind of waggled his fingers at Ali to say hello. Ali bit the guy and then immediately released and got all wiggly to meet the guy. What the heck?

The bite was more of a nip that broke the skin. Three small punctures in total. The bitten guy initially went to an urgent care that put 1 stitch in each smaller puncture and 2 stitches in a slightly larger one. They were very small punctures. When my mom informed the guy that small bites aren't supposed to be stitched he went back and they agreed with that and removed the stitches. They also refused to treat the guy without him giving up what dog had done it. Ali is now in 10 day at-home quarantine.

The theory right now is that Ali may have been attempting to "correct" the guy for some perceived mis-behavior.

My mom is very devoted to Ali and wants to keep people and him safe. She has already decided to not have people meet Ali on walks and puts him up when people visit.

Any ideas as to what triggered the bite? Him wiggling and wanting to interact afterwards was just strange to me.

He's a 7 year old Boxer.

Did he waggle them in her face? Did his fingers look like something meant to be bitten (toy, etc.)?

(Sounds weird, but biting while also being playful and welcoming made me wonder.)

it does sound as if Ali thought the guy was playing and the bite was more an "accident" than anything intentional.

At age 7 how is his eye sight?

Just guessing, sounds like the initial nip might have been intentional, the wiggle after an attempt to say, "Jeez, I'm really sorry, forgive me". Hope Mom doesn't get sued!

I've thought about it some and Ali can play way too rough for his size. He's 80 lbs with a very big head and doesn't realize it. It could have been initially in play and when the guy jerked he crunched down from surprise. When we play with the dogs we all know to keep fingers away from them so we'll offer a forearm and play with them that way. Pretty much exactly where the guy got bit.

 Quote: Betty Landercasp

Hope Mom doesn't get sued!

The guy has been very nice about the whole thing. He didn't even want to report it but the urgent care people refused to treat him without him giving up which dog it was.

My mom gets to pay for three office visits because they didn't know not to stitch a dog bite. He had to head back twice for them to treat it properly.

too bad he couldn't have said it was a stray.

Does Ali air snap when he's excited?

They would have been trying to get him to do the rabies series if he said it was a stray. Ali does not air snap.

 Quote: Betty Landercasp

Just guessing, sounds like the initial nip might have been intentional, the wiggle after an attempt to say, "Jeez, I'm really sorry, forgive me". Hope Mom doesn't get sued!

I'm with Betty L. on this one (since I was not there & do not know the dog in question) but 3 stitch-worthy puncture wounds to a Known Friend followed immediately by "OMG, I effed up Body Language" does suggest her eval of this scenario -- It seems to me as if he showed virtually no initial Bite-Inhibition ... Is he allowed / encouraged to GRIP toys / tugs in his owner's HAND while he's in high Prey drive ??? If he does not See all that well & wrongly imagined the neighbor was offering him an item to bite in Play... (SHRUG).

 Quote: Cathy Goessman

I've thought about it some and Ali can play way too rough for his size. He's 80 lbs with a very big head and doesn't realize it. It could have been initially in play and when the guy jerked he crunched down from surprise. When we play with the dogs we all know to keep fingers away from them so we'll offer a forearm and play with them that way. Pretty much exactly where the guy got bit.

Just IMHO and No Offense intended here, but it looks to me as if Ali was pretty much Set Up for this type of incident to occur soon or later, from the way he is is allowed / encouraged to engage in Rough Play with his own humans at home.