http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,187122,00.html

"Most dog bites happened when the child interfered with the dog, such as pulling the dog’s tail or disturbing an eating dog. However, some children were bitten after running or biking past dogs without touching those dogs."


So as to word this better, stupid parents that don't supervise their children around dogs are actually the main risk factor in dog bites.

What I've been saying all along..... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

Try this. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />
Stupid Parents
I am glad some news outlet finally made a mention of the problem largely being unsupervised interaction between the two. By other stories one would think all dogs are Lassie and bites are Lassie-gone-psycho. Now if only there were a way to educate the stupid parents...

Here's a link to the abstract on Pediatrics- it's a bit more interesting.

Best quote from above abstract: "Therefore, prevention strategies should focus on public education and training of dogs and their owners."

I am SO happy they did not mention banning/restricting breeds for bite prevention and rather suggested education and training of dogs AND OWNERS! Kudos!

It was done in Austria? Aren't there more GSDs and Dobes out there to begin with? I know whenever I'm out in Europe I see more of those guys than just about anything else. If so, then wouldn't the stats natually be weighted in that direction due to popularity alone? I guess this is the key quote: "On the basis of dog population in our catchment area, German shepherds and Dobermans were the most aggressive breeds." If I'm reading this correctly, then maybe the rates of biting are 5 times higher than retrievers/mixes perhaps because there are 5 times more GSDs/Dobes out there?

I just don't get it.. amongst all the dog people and dogs I've known DIRECTLY, it was always the labs, mixes, and little dogs that did all the biting. In my (perhaps small) circle, I have yet to have a close friend or family member tell me "oh yeah, so-and-so got nailed by a pit/GSD/rott/dobe." Maybe I've heard of a couple in the past, but in my experience it was always the dogs people think of as being the best for family situations.

What I want to know is the severity of each bite.. we're they mere nips that broke skin or all-out maulings/vicious bites? That would make a difference in determining that maybe the GSD bites more, but perhaps its bites were more warning than "I want a kid sandwich."

Interesting how the population broke down with the breeds and number of bites.. I'm definitely not in favor of BSL or anything like that, but it is sad that Dobes had a high incidence and a low population. I wonder if some of those were repeat offenders?

The stat about how most bites occured at age 1 definitely hit me. I'm sure accidents happen, but I'll bet a good lot of those bites could have been prevented with ADEQUATE supervision (dog on leash with parent between dog and kid and controlling all interaction) and teaching the kid proper animal handling/respect from day 1. It really isn't the dog breeds that are the problems, it's education of the people, young and old.