Here's a story for dog lovers that makes one wonder whether or not it's the smarts or the bite one ought to be concerned about when thinking about a dog. See
http://writingfrontier.com/2008/10/12/smart-dog/
Dreams have been described as dress rehearsals for real life, opportunities to gratify wishes, and a form of nocturnal therapy. A new theory aims to make sense of it all.
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Is your dog, potentially a lethal weapon? Every time there is a media report of someone being mauled by a dog this question arises again in the minds of many people. Specifically, the public is now worrying about the possibility that there might be certain breeds of dogs which are "bad" or at least potentially unsafe to keep in the city.
The reasoning goes that dogs have been bred for many purposes, and some, like Doberman pinchers and German shepherds have been selected for watchdog and guarding services. Since these duties could require them to bite people, the concern is that they might be predisposed to bite everybody.
Gathering statistics on dog bites is difficult. Many bites are innocuous, such as those that result from an over-eager dog that took a chunk of your thumb when you offered him a treat. Others are more severe but may be treated at home. Of those bites that actually require medical treatment, many do not end up in any accessible data bank and are thus lost to researchers. Even when bites are recorded there is often no information on the breed of dog involved.
Fortunately, a study commissioned by the U.S. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, which was published in 2000, does provide some information. It is based upon the one class of dog bites that must be registered, namely those resulting in death. The study spanned a period of 19 years and found that there were 238 dog bite related deaths during that time--roughly 12 per year. In many cases the biters are mixed breed, so some estimate had to be made of the breeds that went into them.
The results clearly show that certain breeds are more likely to do this kind of damage as can be seen in the accompanying table. Pit bulls or pit bull-type dogs, and Rottweiler or Rottweiler crosses, appear as the culprits most often. Together these two groups account for half of all of the dog bite fatalities.
While this list makes it clear that dog breeds do matter, the study also found that some other factors are important--such as the dog's sex and sexual status. Male dogs were 6.2 times more likely to fatally bite someone, and sexually intact dogs were 2.6 times more likely to be involved in attacks than are neutered dogs.
Who the victim is and what he does also plays a role. Sadly, more than half of the victims of dog bites are children, aged 12 or younger. However the victims of many of these dog bites often play a part in precipitating the tragedy. In 53% of dog bite fatalities, there was some suggestion that the dog was provoked by being struck, poked in the eye, having things thrown at it etc.
The behavior of the dog's owners was also important. Dogs that are chained, or kept confined in a small yard, are approximately 3 times more likely to fatally bite people. One important statistic that confirms the owner's role in their dog's actions is that only 11.2% of dogs that bite have ever been given any obedience training.
Although all of this may sound frightening you should not go out and shoot your pet dog to protect your family and neighbors from imminent death or injury from his teeth. According to data from the National Center for Health Statistics in the U.S., your chance of dying from being struck by a bolt of lightning is nearly 8 times higher than your chance of being killed by Lassie or Rover.
Stanley Coren is the author of many books including: Why Do Dogs Have Wet Noses? The Pawprints of History: Dogs and the Course of Human Events, How Dogs Think : Understanding the Canine Mind, How To Speak Dog, Why We Love the Dogs We Do, What Do Dogs Know? The Intelligence of Dogs, Sleep Thieves, The Left-hander Syndrome.
Copyright SC Psychological Enterprises Ltd. May not be reprinted or reposted without permission.
Here's a story for dog lovers that makes one wonder whether or not it's the smarts or the bite one ought to be concerned about when thinking about a dog. See
http://writingfrontier.com/2008/10/12/smart-dog/
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The statistics are just that numbers. No puppy is born vicious, they are a product of their environment. I always ask one question when there is an attack what did the person or child do to the dog?, particularly if the dog has never bitten before. If I were a dog I'd like to bite some people and kids too. Dogs can't stand on their back feet and punch you in the mouth. All they can do is bite. People use common sense when around dogs, its not their fault. It's humans failing to do the right thing.
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Betty
http://smallpet.info
Stanley Coren writes of "...immanent death" [sic]. I wonder, "Is his Ph.D. from a diploma mill, or a puppy mill?
As the owner of a Bull breed (a four-year-old neutered male Staffordshire Bull Terrier rescue) I'd question the extent to which breed genuinely determines aggression. What the statistics cited in lists of attacks per breed typically fail to take into account is the reason that members of a particular breed may attack more frequently. Is it genetics: or is it conditioning?
Here in the UK we have a terrible problem with people acquiring Bull breeds as 'status' dogs. Anyone who acquires a dog because they think it gives them a particular macho image is clearly unfit to keep a dog. But Bull breeds have far more than their fair share of eminently unsuitable owners, who actively train their dogs to be aggressive, or at best fail to check dominant or inappropriate behaviour. Therefore one could reasonably expect these dogs to show a higher level of aggression.
Is that behaviour proof that aggression is somehow hard-wired into the genes of these dogs, and that particular breeds are aggressive per se? Not at all. It simply means that some breeds are more prone to irresponsible, and frequently abusive, ownership than others. Anyone who seeks evidence of this need only look at the population of abused and abandoned Staffordshires in UK animal shelters compared to that of other breeds.
After all, we don't look at the rates of criminality among certain human racial groups, and from that data try to claim that some races are genetically predisposed to crime, do we.
The only breeds of dogs that can be included in any kind of stats must be DNA tested and confirmed by a listed Vet.
The “Pit Bull” isn’t an actual breed at all, but a slang term that current american culture uses to describe any dog that has a big head, cropped ears, brindle coat or eye patch usually a large/stocky dog. The true breeds most commonly labeled as Pit Bulls are: American Pitbull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier and Staffordshire Bull Terrier depending on where you live.
So you are trying to compare several types of dog breeds against a single breed ie Pits v Great Danes, it just isn't going to work.
So give these dogs a brake and get facts to post not made up rubbish!!
Thx
In my life I have owned different breeds and in my opinion every dog can be a dangerous dog (yes even the little ones).
As you said each of the cases are different and if one look deep enough the signs are there and unless the dog is insane usually the human (mostly the owner but also the victim) play a part in the attack.
Training and socialization are the key to own a calm well behaved dog,no matter which breed. Common sense (no small children unsupervised with ANY dog, knowing how your dog may react to different situations etc) is really all it's needed to avoid trouble.
We love dogs because they want to please us, it's their goal and greatest reward (confirmed by MRI studies of dog brains),what we need to do is teach the dog what pleases us.
If you don't have time,energy,will to work with your dog from day one on a daily basis,maybe you shouldn't own one .
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