From
http://www.nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/canineaggression.asp :
FATAL DOG ATTACKS: THE TRUTH BEHIND THE TRAGEDY
IT’S THE OWNER, NOT THE DOG
A National Canine Research Council Year-End Report: 2007
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Extensive research and investigation using 40 years of data has conclusively identified the reckless and criminal ownership practices that can cause a dog to become dangerous:
OWNER MANAGEMENT & CONTROL OF DOGS
Owners failing to humanely contain, control and maintain their dogs (chained dogs, loose roaming dogs, cases of abuse/neglect), and owners failing to properly supervise interaction between children and dogs.
FUNCTION OF DOG
Owners maintaining dogs for guarding/protection, fighting, intimidation/status, or as yard dogs. Such dogs are resident dogs, not family pets.
REPRODUCTION STATUS OF DOG
Owners failing to spay or neuter animals not used for competition, show, or in a responsible breeding program.
91% of all fatal dog attacks from 2005-2007 were due to one or more of these critical factors.
Tabulations of fatal dog attacks by breed yield no understanding of human/canine interaction and offer no remedies to enhance community safety. Forty years ago, Pit bulls and Rottweilers combined were involved in less than 2% of all fatal attacks.* Nevertheless, one or more of these same critical factors was evident in 90% of all fatal dog attacks during that time.
From 2005-2007, increased focus on the negligent and criminal human behaviors has resulted in 31% of owners and/or parents of young victims being criminally charged.
HOLDING OWNERS ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE HUMANE TREATMENT, CONTAINMENT, AND CONTROL OF THEIR DOGS IS THE ONLY WAY TO MINIMIZE INCIDENCE OF CANINE AGGRESION.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Behind the Statistics: The True Tragedy
Statistical numbers and general analysis of fatal dog attack cases often fail to convey the true degree of negligence and the terribly tragic circumstances experienced by both the victim and the dog. Statistics often present an impersonal and detached examination of traumatic events.
The case below occurred in 2007 and is cited to convey, on a personal and emotional level, the preventable tragedy found in the overwhelming majority of cases of fatal dog attacks, both past and present. In this classic example it is very clear how negligent and abusive owner behavior resulted in dire circumstances for both the child and the dog.
THE BOY AND THE DOG: A NEW YORK TRAGEDY
The Boy:
A two-year old boy is bitten in the throat by his father's "guard" dog.
The father faults his two-year-old son for crawling too close to the dog's food bowl.
Two months later, the boy's visiting grandmother is attacked and bitten by the same dog. She requires treatment at the local hospital.
The father is charged with owning a dangerous dog and owning an unlicensed dog.
Child Protective Services monitors the father, child and home to ensure that his son is not exposed to the dog, which is still on the premises.
Three months later, the boy is found, alone and unsupervised, in the backyard, crawling in high grass near the shore of a lake. His father says he is unconcerned, as the lake is “not very deep.”
During the months following the guard dog is seen chained outside, but then disappears.
Three years later, the father obtains new “family dog.
The Dog:
At five-weeks of age, the tan, male pup is sold to a man - call him Owner # 2 - for $100.00
One month later, Owner # 2 complains the 10-week-old puppy is "hard to house train" and gives the dog to a new owner, Owner # 3.
Owner # 3 locks the dog in the basement and "forgets" to feed him.
After a couple of months, the dog is given to Owner # 4, who feels sorry that the dog has been locked in the basement without food.
Owner # 4 only keeps the dog for a couple of months before giving the dog to Owner # 5. Owner # 4 explains that she is moving, and cannot be bothered to take the dog with her.
Owner # 5, the father in question, chains the dog to a large scrap metal heap.
Boy Meets Dog:
Owner # 5 has had the dog for less than a week when he allows his son to go out and feed the dog, which is still chained to the pile of scrap metal. Fifteen minutes later, the boy is found dead, lying amid the junk, entangled in the dog’s chain. The food bowl is found upside down and empty.
Two days later, Owner # 5 has the dog killed. He later pleads guilty to misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child and is sentenced to one year conditional discharge – he is already on probation for another offense – and is prohibited from owning a dog for a year.
The news stories about this tragedy all described the dog as the “family dog.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What About Breed?
The fundamental flaw found when using breed and/or statistics to define canine behavior is that it gives no recognition to natural canine behaviors and ignores dangerous ownership practices. Or, in other words, the behaviors which directly played a role in an individual case of fatal canine aggression are ignored, while breed history, image and statistics are discussed.
Recently, some organizations and politicians are now found keeping "track" of Pit bull related fatalities as found reported in the media. These running logs or tabulations on the breeds involved in attacks are then used as evidence of "breed aggression".
The most obvious flaw with this "method" of addressing canine aggression is that these individuals / organizations have predetermined aggression to be the result of breed. When evidence is found (i.e., a dog involved in an attack and identified in the media to be a "Pit bull") that supports their predetermined belief, no future investigation is done on these incidents.
This approach at addressing canine aggression can be dangerous, because it either ignores or refuses to acknowledge the very real canine and human behaviors that have played a direct role in cases of canine aggression and teaches us nothing about the prevention of dog attacks.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* In the decade between 1966-1975, less than 2% of all dogs involved in fatal attacks in the United States were of the breeds which today are targeted so frequently as the solution to canine aggression, (Pit Bull or Rottweiler).
