[winniecnm]

I think the most obvious point here is that the dog had other options rather than inflict what seems to be a nice sized wound on one of its family members. He could have ran and hid, dropped the item, held it in his mouth and growled etc. Instead, he took it to quite another level with the bite. Very poor response IMO and it speaks volumes about his basic temperment. In "fight or flight mode" he chose the "fight" option.