I have chosen to post the poll results from my Dog Bite thread here in this section as with the current Media attention i think its most relevant for this section. I started this poll as a direct result from the Pitbull Thread and from the reactions on the thread concerning the recent dog attack in which a young baby died due to his injuries sustained from dog attack. I would like to state that this poll was done, mostly due to the fact that when searching for accurate figures on Breed bites I could not find any Uk statistics that were particularly accurate. \i thought it would therefore be interesting to do a dogsey poll to get an idea on our own statistics. If i am honest though, I wanted to get an idea of the "biters" and to be able to post it up saying - look its "collies or GSd's etc that are responsible NOT bullies" The results were very interesting, and it changed my original objective. Its inaccurate to slate any breed, as if I did this then I am not supporting my own belief which is Deed not Breed. I could go through the whole thread and give you a breakdown by breed but its not going to be an accurate gauge and wont prove anything, the reason i say this is due to the fact that for each bite you have to take in the consequences and situation in which it occured. This is never calculated and reported in any media stories, which is why the hype and BSL has got to the stage it has. IMO. Basically the breakdown is below: of 120 who voted on this poll ( thankyou to all) 85 have been bitten which is equal to 65% 7 of them were severe attacks which is 5.8% Of that statistics from my calculations ( which was going through the whole thread so might not be spot on ) I can find only 5 bull breed bites, I am specifying bull breeds as this is where the BSL campaigns are pointing their fingers, and where on the previously mentioned threads, some members were also happy to point their fingers. What I hope that this shows is that its not bull breeds that are responsible for every attack, its just the ones that we hear about. There are very little positive stories in the papers related to bull breeds, and many negative. what interested me the most out of this thread, was the variation in dog breeds, the severity of attacks and also the opinions of those attacked. This is the most important thing, almost all of the dog attacks did not result in the dog being PTS and in almost all the conclusion was given that it was not the dogs fault but the dog being a dog reacting to something that in many cases - a child had done to them..... what have i learned from this thread - personally that as far as blaming anyone its ALWAYS DEED NOT BREED in my opinion. what we should be taken from this though is that if as dog owners we accept any kind of Breed Specific Legislation passed then we could potentially wave goodbye to mans best friend as we know it - regardless of breed YOUR breed/dog could be next, all it takes is a few dogs in the wrong hands + media hype. So please dont blame the Breed and campaign for NO to BSL - sign the DeednotBreed petition and try to change someones opinion the next time they discuss any kind of "devil dogs". And dont ever leave any dog in a situation that it shouldnt have to deal with. Thanks for all your inputs on this poll and sorry for my rambling !!!!
My personal opinion on all of this is that there are probably many more bites caused by terriers/collies etc then by bigger "devil " breeds, but when you look at the damage done by a collie nip or bite, the worst you are likely to have is a few stitches. But if you compare this to a bite say from a rotty, gsd or a bully then you can easily look to broken and damaged limbs, loss of limbs, and in the most severe cases loss of life. The attacks by these larger aren't necessarily any more viscious than one by a smaller breed but the consequences are worse. This is why we here more about them. Well done for the poll and your thread, I agree it's the deed that is at fault. I've signed the petition, and will encourage others to do the same
I agree with both you brun and ian, having two rottys that are trained for attack, I can assure you when they take a grip of the sleave, its the most horrid pressure I have ever had from any of the breeds I have done bite work with before, they have so much power in there jaw, you feel like the bone is bending,,I would hate to have it without the protection, reading a news site lately I was gob smacked to see a comment on how to stop attacks by rottys ,,,wait for it ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,grab the front legs, and pull apart,,,omg,,, so to do that your face is gona be near the jaws ,,,,some folk are mental eh? pitty the poor so and so that trys it, but that said, if one of these do lose the head and attack, I dont think you would be able to do much once it had a hold of you,,,let alone grab front legs and split them appart, but when you see posts like that from the people against rotts or whatever breed it does make you wonder what kind of people they are,
And whilst this is certainly true that there is more power in a larger breed, the severely attacked numbers do not however support that thought fully, in that what also has to be considered is the size of the person being attacked, and that has to be taken into consideration too. So whilst for example a smaller breed may not do as much damage to an adult, this poll suggests that it can do a lot/equal damage to a young child. And likewise a larger dog can give a nip as easily as it can "maul" Obviously i have no statistics as to fatal attacks on this thread as they wouldnt have been able to be posted, but of the severe attacks there was a bullbreed which obviously did not result in a fatality...but did cause a lot of damage so it is very much down to the situation as to breed..
I would still argue that a small breed is unlikely to kill a small child even when mauling, although if more than one, then definately. A large dog taking one bite at a child could potentially be life threatening, and that is why we here about them. In my experience, my most painful bite came from a collie, and that should have had stitched probably, where as the worst I've had from a larger dog (GSD in my case) was a small puncture hole. It would be interesting to tie the bite poll up with the situations, as some of the recent fatalities that we've heard about, have involved dogs that weren't pets. They were there as guard dogs, and unfortunately were probably treated as such
also, could it be that people sometimes don't expect attacks from smaller dogs and some breeds and are more wary of larger dogs or dogs more associated with aggression? this could account for the low instance of 'bull breeds'? i'm just playing devils advocate here, as i fully support DNB and think this was a very interesting poll!
i am purely going by the poll stats and the responses given when asked about the incidents. in many of the instances we are not talking about people being bitten by dogs in the street we are talking about most instances being with dogs in the home/ personal knowledge of the dog before attack. Imac - I still would disagree that a small breed could not do a huge amount of damage to a child - it could - if we are talking babies here any size of dog would be extremely dangerous to a baby if attacked. All it needs is a tooth in the wrong place for it to be a fatal attack.. A larger dog is going to make more damage more easily but a small breed could still make a fatal attack and has done.
Sadly I think many people, particularly owners, are more accepting of small dogs biting and just say, oh that's him. Becky
It is very interesting. I still believe in many cases it is the owner's fault for not having control of their dogs.
i was a veterinary nurse for 10yrs, and have to say, the big dogs were never a worry, i can only remember 1 large dog (rottie) biting me. (on the head, i really thought i was a gonner, but he just squeezed my head and let go, probably because as a proffesional, i knew better than to squeal, flail and generally panic) the dogs that were the ones to watch out for were the little ones and collies.
I have been bitten twice by two different collies. The first time I was around four years old and my mum was at the bottom of our drive talking to a neighbour with her dog. Apparantly, I came down the drive, the dog saw me, pinned me to the ground and left two wounds on my face which are now small scars. We never pressed charges and looking back now I think that I may have scared the dog or it perceived a threat in me. The second time I was in the vets with my cat. My mum asked a guy was his dog friendly and whether we could pet it, he said it was fine and my mum gave him a cuddle, but when it was my turn to pet it, it had a tantrum and grabbed onto my arm. Again, I was quite young and the dog may well have been stressed at being at the vets. The guy then tried to give me £1 as compensation haha. Shows how soft I am as I accepted it and bought a can of pop! My mum was gobsmacked. My point is that even though these bites happened, it never crossed my mind to report the dogs because of the context in which they happened and the how apologetic the owners were afterwards (even if that was by giving me a pound!) And I still love collies! I now have an AmBull and a Rottie so it definitely didnt put me off dogs and I am a strong believer in ded not breed!
less than 6% of all dog bites are from pit, in usa/can.its the cocker that bites the most,in one study.labs were up there as well, take a look at ,all around dog temperment test and scores ...you may be surprised at what breeds score low, pit get a very good rating while labs are low>ect
Funny how you bring this thread up, as the one Dani is posting the results about cropped up in a search the other day and I too was going to post the results, and perhaps similarly to show that it's not the mastiffs or the staffs that are responsible for most of the bites it's actually other breeds - yet people are quick to vilify the ones not responsible (particularly in the absence of adequate facts) - why? (Some would argue the media's influence is not insignificant). I find the behaviour rather baffling, particularly on a dog lovers forum - where you'd think people would know better or have more understanding, or at the very least try to see things from the dogs point of view. It leaves me feeling quite sad, although I'm glad that not everyone thinks the same - but even some, are some too many.
Many years ago my younger sister was bitten by a dog, it was my best friend’s Golden Retreiver, a family pet and itself raised with two young girls. My sister maintains that she was just stroking the dog, something she had done many times before without issue, my sister is very gently with pets and has never had issues before or since. The bite was to her face, resulting in a chunk of her cheek being removed by the dog’s bite, 6 operations, 2 skin grafts, 1 year off school and some revolutionary treatments and she now only has very light (but still noticeable) scarring (she has been offered further laser treatment but has refused as she is sick of hospitals). Anyway, point of the story. She was on a specialist plastic surgery ward at a large regional hospital and they stated that GR’s were one of the most prevalent breeds for dog bites. I believe (from my own research since getting a puppy) this is due to the fact they are never taught bite inhibition. Charlotte Couchman | Finance Assistant
