Bo, a Schipperke search and rescue dog owned by Patricia Boggs of Cabot, was nominated for the 2008 AKC Awards for Canine Excellence (ACE) as a search and rescue dog in Arkansas

***

Throughout the years, an untold number of Arkansans have relied on dogs to assist in everyday life and to provide companionship.

While dogs continue to serve in many of their more traditional functions, dogs have also taken on new and unique tasks that enhance the lives of their owners and the community. Therapy, medical assistance, and search and rescue are only a few of the many services dogs provide to the people of Arkansas.

Unfortunately, the media spotlight on an individual and infrequent dog attack can create the false impression that dogs pose a significant threat to the community. Sensationalized publicity, along with a lack of understanding about the infrequency of dog attacks and of their true causes, has resulted in reactive and uniformed policies focused on certain types of dogs. More than a dozen different towns and cities in Arkansas have banned or restricted certain types of dogs in the belief that focusing on the appearance of a dog will address what is, in fact, a problem with the owner.

Today, dogs contribute more to the welfare of individuals and society than perhaps any other time in the history of the human-dog bond. Increased awareness of the importance of humane care and control of dogs, the enactment and enforcement of leash laws, and dog bite prevention education, have all been instrumental in significantly lowering the number of reported dog-related injuries nationwide.

Fortunately though, most of the residents of Arkansas understand and recognize the value of dogs, irrespective of their individual physical characteristics.

***

Terrier Mix Receives National Hero Dog Award
May 2009: Los Angeles SPCA presents 27th annual award to dog who saved family

Miley with owner Stacie Pitts and Madeline Bernstein, president of SPCA -LA

A terrier mix named Miley who was taken in by a family who found her on the railroad tracks in Van Buren, Ark., has been honored as a hero dog for saving her owners from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Stacie Pitts and her dog are a prime example of the human-animal bond, said Madeline Bernstein, president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles. The spcaLA presented Miley with the 27th Annual National Hero Dog Award at a ceremony Tuesday, May 19, at Staples Center's Star Plaza in Los Angeles, Calif. Giving this award each year, Bernstein said, offers a pleasant change from working on cases of cruelty to animals.

Miley was this year's award winner for her achievements as a companion animal who is not formally trained for rescues or law enforcement. On Dec. 7, 2008, the 19-pound dog woke Pitts in the middle of the night, and kept insisting for her to get up. When she finally listened to her dog, Pitts said she felt sick.

Pitts woke the rest of her family and they had the same symptoms: nausea and a severe headache. They called 911 and the family was rushed to the hospital, where doctors said that each had high levels of carbon monoxide.

The dog did not show any ill effects from carbon monoxide poisoning. As for the family, doctors said they could have died or suffered brain damage had they stayed in the house for five minutes longer.

"Treating your pet with love and respect can be returned by amazing heroic acts by companion animals," Bernstein said. "Carbon monoxide is odorless and colorless, yet Miley either knew she didn't feel well, or sensed that her owner, Stacie wasn't well."

At Tuesday's ceremony, Miley was given a plaque recognizing her deed, as well as a gift basket full of treats and dog food courtesy of Natura Pet Products. The company also will donate a year's supply of dog food for Miley, something her owner said will come as a big help.

National Canine Research Council

What is a dog bite?

While the question seems simple enough, the answer is often not what we imagine.

Over the past three decades, increased awareness of the importance of humane care and control, the enactment and enforcement of leash laws, and dog bite prevention education, have all been instrumental in lowering the number of reported dog-related injuries nationwide.

National Canine Research Council

Over the past 45 years (1965-present) there have been eleven (11) dog bite-related fatalities in Arkansas, or an average of one fatality every four years.

NCRC's 2010 Preliminary Report on Dog Bite-Related Fatalities illustrates the challenge of accurately reporting on these extremely rare, tragic events. Our mission of preserving the human-canine bond obligates us to be as accurate about these emotionally charged incidents as we can, so that they are calmly, correctly and, therefore, usefully understood. Accuracy takes time.

At least seven (7) different breeds/types of dogs have been reported to be involved in these incidents.*

The victims were 3 adults and 8 children.

None of the dogs involved had been spayed or neutered by their owners.

More than half the child victims (n=4) were killed by chained or penned dogs.

In 1987, a 3-year-old boy was attacked and killed after he wandered out, unsupervised, to a dog chained to a large tractor tire staked to the ground behind his home. (Harrison)

In 1991, a 2-year-old boy wandered out to one of two dogs chained in backyard of the home where his mother was renting a room. He was found dead near the large, male dog. (West Fork)

In 1999, a mother and her 3-year-old daughter were giving water to a chained dog, when the dog attacked and killed the child. (Proctor)

In 2009, a 2-year-old child wandered 4 blocks from his babysitter's home and into a yard where a dog was chained to a dog house (pictured above). (Prescott)

There have been two convictions of a dog owner whose dog(s) have been involved in a fatal attack in Arkansas:

In 1996, a 4-year-old boy, Damon Koehn, was attacked and killed by his neighbor's large pack of loose roaming dogs. The dogs had a history of running loose and behaving aggressively. The owner, Daniel Doiel, pleaded guilty to negligent homicide and received a 1 year sentence and fined $1,000--- both to be suspended if he performed weekly community service for six months and did not keep dogs on his property for one year. The court also required that he write a letter of apology to the boy's parents.

In 2001, Carl Smith was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 3 years in prison, after his dangerous ownership practices resulted in the death of neighbor by his dogs in Moreland. The victim, 51-year-old, Carolyn Shatswell, was walking past Smith's home when his dogs ran out and attacked her.

***

*Note: In recent years, scientists have established that visual identification of dogs of unknown origin is extremely unreliable; therefore, while we can be sure these listed incidents involved varied types of dogs, we cannot be certain of the accuracy of most breed identifications.

***

In spite of the recklessness of some dog owners, dogs still pose an incredibly low risk for causing a fatality in Arkansas:

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services:

In 2007, twenty (20) Arkansas children died as a result of maltreatment (abuse/neglect).

In a single year, 2007, more than twice as many Arkansas children died from maltreatment than the total of all children killed by dogs in the state over the past 45 years.

***

People in Arkansas routinely accept far greater risks from ATVs, bicycles and swimming pools than any that are associated with companion animals.

National Canine Research Council