Every single time I hear about a dog biting, attacking, or mauling a person, a little part of my heart breaks. It is just a horrible situation that affects so many people, and I think that the more we recognize this threat, the more we will be able to prevent these bites from happening. Since last week was dog bite prevention week, I feel this a very fitting area to discuss, and hope that in turn we will all learn something of great value.
There are around 4.5 million dog bites reported in the US every year, with about 885,000 actually requiring medical attention. Of the people bit, children are the most susceptible to dog bites and, because of their smaller size; typically sustain more damage than an adult person would.
Why should we all care about dog bites?
A dog bite can undoubtedly cause absolute turmoil within the family of a person who has been bit, especially when the person who has been bit is a child. What a horrific experience to have to go through, for both the child, and the family. Dog bites can inflict very serious injury including death. So many people are at risk of feeling the effects of a loved one being hurt.
Dog bites cause genuine hostility between advocates and the uneducated. There are so many organizations who work tirelessly to educate the public about dogs temperament and dog bites, and every single time a bite occurs, I feel that it inadvertently sets them back in regards to reaching their goals. As we all know, rumors spread quickly, even if they are not accurate. The misconceptions about pit bull breed dogs spread much quicker than these groups are able to convince people of the real facts. Understandably so, it is challenging to expect anyone to believe that a parent/guardian would ever knowingly put a child in the line of danger, and it is much more convenient to blame the one who is unable to stick up for themselves, the dog. If an organization or person even seems to stick up for the dog in the situation, they are written off as being barbaric. The fact of the matter is, for every bite that a person hears about, they lose part of the logical and factual information that they have received from organizations that work toward getting the truth about bites, and “bully breeds” out into the public. It seriously sets us back in reaching all of our missions for all breeds of dogs. Dog bites are inadvertently fueling the dark cloud hanging over so-called aggressive breeds, and making it impossible for us to make positive changes.
Dog bites seriously affect the dogs that are involved. While some people view it as being an uncompassionate person to even think of the dogs in these situations where a person has been hurt, they are also victims of the situation. Sometimes dogs bite out of fear, sometimes out of anger that has been instilled in them by humans, and sometimes, we really don’t know why a dog bites. But when you really sit and think about it, how horrible is a life for a dog that attacks a person? Whether it is because of fear, anger, or something else, there is clearly something within that dog that is making things just not right. Once he has bitten, depending on the severity of the attack, the dog’s future is almost surely grim. The dog might be placed into quarantine and possibly further agitated, and in some cases, the dog will be killed because the forces that are believe that he cannot be trusted, or that he is permanently damaged.
What dogs are targeted?
There are some people out there who are convinced that they will never change their perception of “aggressive type” dogs, mainly pit bull type dogs. Possibly without ever even knowing it, people are targeting this breed constantly. The area that we hear about it the most is in the media. How many headlines have you read before that read something similar to “Pit Bull Mauls Boy”? Ok, now how many times have you read this headline, “Chihuahua Mauls Boy”? Probably not very many. For one, the damage that a person can sustain from a larger breed dog will generally be worse than that of a smaller breed dog, but also, people are not as inclined to report on a story about a Chihuahua bite. This, in my opinion, is due to a couple of different factors. As much as we all hate it, the media produces stories that are going to get the attention of their viewers. These stories can be horrific, sad, ridiculous, or misleading. A story of a Chihuahua bite is not going to alert as much attention as a Pit Bull bites, thus causing them to be reported on less. The media would much rather report of a pit bull bite (as twisted as it sounds) because it will generate a larger “ruckus” if you will, and will draw more attention to the media outlet. It also gives all of those uninformed people the opportunity to scream, “I told you so!!!” and suffices the satisfaction of doing so. If the dog even remotely looks like a pit bull (sometimes even if it doesn’t) the breed of the dog can be seriously mistaken in the story. If we only knew the number of times we have commented on a “pit bull” dog where the dog actually had no traces of the breeds that are actually considered pit bull, I think we would all be very surprised. Unfortunately, this dark cloud that these “aggressive type” dogs have hanging over their heads only materializes into more and more problems for them and the people who are trying to protect them.
What can we do to prevent more bites?
I am a very strong advocate for spay/neuter, not only because it prevents unwanted and unnecessary litters that are helping to stockpile our shelters and contributing to the unnecessary 4-5 million shelter killings every year, but also because it makes a great difference in a dog’s behavior. I honestly think that many people don’t understand how important this is for not only the wellbeing of the world and for overpopulation, but also for the dogs own wellbeing. Intact dogs cause the majority of dog bites. I’m not suggesting that this is the only contributing factor, but it is a staggering enough of a number and simple enough of a fix to take some action. I encourage everyone to have his or her dog spayed or neutered, at a young age, to prevent this type of behavior from becoming common and comfortable for the dog. I also encourage you to spread this information among everyone you come in contact with. This is important information for everyone, and is the type of story you should be seeing on the news. Whenever I come in contact with someone who has an unaltered dog, I politely ask them if they have considered getting their dog fixed. If not, I ask why. Sometimes, it is something as simple as the financial aspect, and I am happy to offer many many resources that are available to all of the people in Maine to overcome these obstacles, but sometimes, it is a matter of the dog owner being uninformed and uneducated about what having an unaltered dog entails, and the negative impact they have on our society.
Another thing that we can do to help change people’s perception of the “types of dogs that bite” is to downplay the situation. I am not suggesting downplaying the fact that a person or child was bit, but to focus on the points that matter. Was there something that provoked the dog? What steps had been taken by the owner to ensure that this would not happen? Was the dog fixed? By focusing on these points, the ones that really matter in a situation like this; we are changing the focus of the attention from the facts that do not even play a role in a bite, such as breed.
It is unfortunate that some people use dog bites as a way to attack a breed, or even the dog loving community because not only does it shine an extremely negative light on all of us, but it takes the attention away from the parties who need it most to recover from the situation they are in.
We all need to be aware of the misconceptions of dog bites so that we can protect ourselves, and help to inform others so that we can bring these dog bite numbers down. Not one organization can change the beliefs of millions of people who continuously have inaccurate information drilled into their heads. WE have the accurate information and the statistics to back it up, so it is important that we use that information to help protect all of the people that are affected by one dog bite.
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