[Dailydrool] Biting Dogs

[Valerie]

I ran across an article that I thought was quite even handed and informative about dog breeds and actuarial risks regarding serious dog bites. the reference is images.bimedia.net/.../Dog+attack+stats+with+breed+2012.pdf The article's title is "Dog attacks, deaths and maimings, US. And Canada, 1982-2012.

the author studied over 3000 incidents, comparing press releases about dog attacks serious enough to cause permanent disfigurement or death during this time period, by breed (only if clearly identified), by numbers of that breed of dog in the general dog population based on numbers of each breed advertised in the classified sections of papers during that same time period). Granted, dogs sold by breeders who usually do not use newspaper ads to find homes for their puppies, did not figure into the dog population number calculation, which is one potential problem, but this way of calculating is probably more representative than using dog licenses to estimate this number. Police, guard, and fighting dogs were excluded from the study. bites not serious enough to cause disfigurement, and bites which did not make the paper, were also left out. so, within this outline, percentages of each breed causing serious injury were presented breed by breed. 

there were three Basset hound mixes (with lab, with German shepherd, and with beagle) that were noted, but not a single purebred Basset hound. that pleased me. (we all know that some bassets bite, but apparently bassets aren't much of a source of mayhem). the author discusses thresholds for bite inhibition is pit bulls and some other breeds. anyway, I found the article interesting and thought you might too.