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B-Line · #76 09-14-2008, 03:58 PM

Don't argue with me REALCHEF, argue with the facts:

Dog attack deaths and maimings, U.S. & Canada
September 1982 to November 13, 2006
– Merritt Clifton --

Reports are logged as received, and the current log is printed out as
requested. Compiled by the editor of ANIMAL PEOPLE from press accounts
since 1982, this table covers only attacks by dogs of clearly identified
breed type or ancestry, as designated by animal control officers or others
with evident expertise, who have been kept as pets. Due to the exclusion
of dogs whose breed type may be uncertain, this is by no means a complete
list of fatal and otherwise serious dog attacks. Attacks by police dogs,
guard dogs, and dogs trained specifically to fight are also excluded.
"Attacks doing bodily harm" includes all fatalities, maimings, and other
injuries requiring extensive hospital treatment. "Maimings" includes
permanent disfigurement or loss of a limb. Where there is an asterisk (*),
please see footnotes. If there are more "attacks" than "victims," it means
that there were multiple dogs involved in some attacks. If the numbers of
"victims" does not equal the numbers of "deaths" and "maimings," it means
that some of the victims -- in attacks in which some people were killed or
maimed -- were not killed or maimed.

Breed Attacks doing Child Adult Deaths Maimings Notes
bodily harm victims victims
[dogs X victims] [--------Individuals---------]
Akita 48 32 14 1 39
Akita mix (inspecific) 1 1 0 0 1
Akita/Chow mix 3 3 0 0 3
Akita/Lab mix 1 1 0 0 1
Akita/terrier mix 2 1 0 0 1
Airedale/boxer 1 1 0 1 0 #
Airedale 1 1 0 1 0
Australian blue heeler 3 1 1 0 2
Australian cattle dog 1 1 0 0 1
Australian shepherd 6 4 0 0 1
Basset/GSD mix 1 1 0 1 0
Beagle 2 2 0 1 1 #
Belgian shepherd 4 1 3 0 1
Blue heeler 2 0 1 0 1
Border collie 1 0 1 1 1 #
Briard 2 0 1 1 0
Brittany spaniel 4 1 0 0 1
Bulldog (American 4 0 3 2 2
Bulldog (English) 16 8 3 1 9
Bull mastiff (Presa Canario) 30 10 13 6 16
Bull mastiff/German shepherd 2 1 0 1 0
Buff mastiff/Rottweiler 1 1 0 0 1
Boxer 31 6 12 2 12 #
Boxer mix 1 1 0 1 0
Cane Corso 4 1 2 1 3
Catahoula 3 0 1 0 1
Chow 49 34 12 6 32
Chow/husky mix 2 2 0 1 1
Chow/Labrador mix 4 4 0 0 3
Chox mix (other) 2 2 0 0 2
Cocker spaniel 1 1 0 0 1
Collie 3 3 0 0 3
Collie/retriever mix 1 1 0 0 1
Coonhound 1 1 0 0 0
Dalmatian 3 3 0 0 3
Dalmatian/Akita mix 1 1 0 0 1
Dauschund 2 1 1 1 2 #
Doberman 11 7 4 3 7 #
Doge de Bordeaux 2 1 0 0 1
East Highland terrier 1 0 1 1 0 #
Fila Brasiero 1 1 0 0 1
German shepherd 63 42 17 7 38
German shepherd mix 31 21 7 6 19 #
German shepherd/husky mix 4 3 1 1 2
Golden retriever 6 6 0 1 4 #
Great Dane 24 5 4 2 9
Great Pyranees 1 0 1 1 0
Greyhound 1 1 0 0 1
Husky 39 23 4 13 8
Husky/Malamute mix 2 2 0 0 2
Husky/Labrador mix 1 0 1 0 1
Jack Russell terrier 2 1 1 1 0 #
Labrador 26 18 9 2 20 #
Labrador mix 10 9 1 0 9 #
Labrador/boxer mix 1 0 1 0 0
Lab-Doberman 1 1 0 0 1
Lab-St. Bernard 1 1 0 0 1
Malamute 8 7 1 3 3
Mastiff 16 11 4 4 9
Norwegian elkhound 1 0 1 0 1 #
Pit bull terrier 1110 495 397 104 608 #
Pit bull boxer mix 5 1 2 0 2
Pit bull/chow mix 5 2 3 1 3
Pit bull/Doberman/GSD/Lab 2 2 0 0 2
Pit bull/GSD mix 1 1 0 0 1
Pit bull/Lab mix 15 10 4 3 8 #
Pit bull/Rott. mix 39 7 3 2 8
Pit bull/Sheltie mix 1 1 0 0 1
Pit bull/Weimaraner mix 1 0 1 0 1
Pit mix unknown 3 2 0 0 2
Pointer mix 1 0 1 0 0 #
Pomeranian 1 1 0 1 0
Poodle 2 1 1 0 2 #
Pug 1 1 0 0 1
Pug/Rottweiler mix 2 1 0 1 0
Queensland heeler 3 0 1 0 1
Rottweiler 409 231 109 58 223 #
Rottweiler/chow mix 1 1 0 0 1
Rottweiler/GSD mix 13 7 5 2 10
Rottweiler/Labrador 7 6 1 0 7
Russian terrier 1 0 1 0 1
Saint Bernard 6 3 0 1 1
Sharpei 4 4 0 0 4
Sharpei/Rottweiler 2 1 0 0 1
Sharpei/unknown mix 1 1 0 0 1
Sharpei/Labrador 1 1 0 0 1
Springer spaniel 3 4 0 0 4
Tosa 1 1 0 0 1
Weimaeaner 1 1 0 0 1
Wheaten terrier 2 1 0 0 1
Wolf hybrid 71 65 3 18 43 #
Total: 2209 1142 658 264 1323

Pit bulls, Rottweilers, Presa Canarios, and their mixes:
1638 776 537 172 893
74% 68% 82% 65% 68%

Analysis
The tallies of attacks, attacks on children, attacks on adults,
fatalities, and maimings on the above data sheet must be evaluated in three
different contexts. The first pertains to breed-specific characteristic
behavior, the second to bite frequency as opposed to the frequency of
severe injuries, and the third to degree of relative risk.
Of the breeds most often involved in incidents of sufficient severity
to be listed, pit bull terriers are noteworthy for attacking adults almost
as frequently as children. This is a very rare pattern: children are
normally at greatest risk from dogbite because they play with dogs more
often, have less experience in reading dog behavior, are more likely to
engage in activity that alarms or stimulates a dog, and are less able to
defend themselves when a dog becomes aggressive. Pit bulls seem to differ
behaviorally from other dogs in having far less inhibition about attacking
people who are larger than they are. They are also notorious for attacking
seemingly without warning, a tendency exacerbated by the custom of docking
pit bulls' tails so that warning signals are not easily recognized. Thus
the adult victim of a pit bull attack may have had little or no opportunity
to read the warning signals that would avert an attack from any other dog.

Temperament is not the issue, nor is it even relevant. What is
relevant is actuarial risk. If almost any other dog has a bad moment,
someone may get bitten, but will not be maimed for life or killed, and the
actuarial risk is accordingly reasonable. If a pit bull terrier or a
Rottweiler has a bad moment, often someone is maimed or killed--and that
has now created off-the-chart actuarial risk, for which the dogs as well as
their victims are paying the price.
Pit bulls and Rottweilers are accordingly dogs who not only must be
handled with special precautions, but also must be regulated with special
requirements appropriate to the risk they may pose to the public and other
animals, if they are to be kept at all.
--
Merritt Clifton

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