View Points
Breeds and Behaviorby Janis Bradley reprinted from The Bark (April/May 2011)
Reading Suggestions
The Relevance of Breed in Selecting a Companion Dog
Janis Bradley, author of Dogs Bite, but Balloons and Slippers are More Dangerous and Dog Bites: Problems and Solutions and founding faculty member and instructor for ten years at the San Francisco SPCA Academy for Dog Trainers, explores the relevance of breed in selecting a companion dog.
Rex: Retired military bomb detection dog, owned by Jamie Dana of Colorado Springs
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While serious attacks by dogs are very rare, the intense media coverage that may accompany such an incident can mislead the public and/or lawmakers into imagining that dogs pose a significant threat to the community. Sensationalized publicity, combined with a lack of understanding of the infrequency of dog attacks, and of their causes, has resulted in reactive and uniformed policies directed against certain types of dogs. In no other American city has this dynamic played itself out more tragically than in Denver.
At tremendous cost -- financial to the city and emotional to dog owners -- Denver continues to fight to maintain a breed ban enacted in 1989 based on fear, ignorance and critically flawed data.
In rippling waves of panic, other cities surrounding Denver and in other parts of Colorado have either considered or enacted breed bans. Aurora has banned 12 different breeds of dogs, along with any dog whose appearance is thought to resemble that of these breeds.
There is no evidence that Denver's breed ban has reduced severe dog bites in the city/county. The only county in Colorado with a breed ban, Denver is one of only two counties in the state that have a significantly higher rate of dog-related hospitalizations!
Denver, Colorado's capital city, has set a tragic example by failing to use good judgment and due regard for the evidence. Rather, Denver continues to perpetrate a climate of hysteria, in an attempt to defend against challenges to its inhumane and ineffective law.
Has Denver's strict breed ban reduced the frequency or severity of dog attacks in the city?
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 in Colorado and throughout the nation.
It is long past time for the people of Denver and Colorado to recognize the value of all dogs, rather than condemning dogs to death simply based on their appearance in the profoundly mistaken notion that this will somehow prevent dog bites or dog attacks.
Sid
Honorable Mention as an Exemplary Companion by the AKC's 2006 Awards for Canine Excellence, owned by Lauren Fox - Canon City, Colorado
National Canine Research Council
What is a dog bite?
While the question seems simple enough, the answer is not always what we imagine.
Dog bite numbers offer little useful information about canine behavior. Dog bite numbers are simply a tally of the number of people who sought medical treatment and/or reported a break in skin after exposure to a dog's nail or tooth--or in other words, the number of persons that have been injured interacting with a dog; (which may or may not have involved aggression).
So if dog bite numbers convey little useful information about canine aggression, then what can Colorado dog bite numbers really tell us about canine / human interaction?
Dog bite numbers reveal that there is no "dog bite epidemic" in Colorado, and that all types of dog-related injuries in the state have dramatically decreased in the past 3 decades.
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 drastically lowering the number of reported dog-related injuries nationwide.
Despite increases in the human and dog population, cities and counties in Colorado have realized extraordinary decreases in the number of reported dog bites from the early 1970s:
**It should be noted that the reduction in the reported number of dog bites in Denver is independent of its draconian pit bull ban, as the greatest decrease in reported dog bites in the city occurred prior to the ban.**
Has Denver's breed ban reduced the frequency or severity of dog attacks in the city?
also see:
Denver dog bite hospitalizations
Dog bite data: Colorado, 2006-2007
National Canine Research Council
Over the past 45 years (1965-present) there have been nine (9) dog bite-related fatalities in Colorado, an average of less than one (1) fatality every four (4) years.
NCRC's 2011 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 eight (8) different breeds/types of dogs have been reported to be involved in these incidents.*
The victims were 2 adults and 7 children.
In 1977, three loose roaming dogs killed a girl in Breckenridge. The owners and caretakers were charged with criminally negligent homicide for the reckless management of their dogs.
In 1985, a 5-year-old Littleton boy was attacked and killed while attempting to play with his babysitter's dog.
In 1986, a "pit bull" dog, kept chained in a carport, attacked and killed an unsupervised 3-year-old child who had wandered over to her. This was the first documented fatal dog attack in Colorado involving a "pit bull." This incident was used as evidence of the breed's "dangerousness" in Denver's 1989 "pit bull" dog ban. However, what Denver failed to acknowledge was that three years prior to the fatal attack, in 1983, another dog belonging to the same owner inflicted serious injuries to an 8-year-old Denver boy. The owner was sued, charged and placed on probation. Unable (or unwilling) to pay the medical expenses for this child, the civil suit against the owner was dropped. Undaunted by his inability to meet the financial and moral responsibility to the boy who was injured by one of his dogs, the owner proceeded to obtain additional dogs, one of which would later be the dog that attacked and killed 3-year-old Fernando Salazar in 1986.
Instead of instituting laws to severely penalize or punish owners such as this who repeatedly obtain dogs, breed these dogs, and maintain these animals in a condition in which they have the ability and opportunity to attack children, Denver opted to ban the breed of dog. Banning a breed of dog - instead of addressing dangerous owners - was heralded by Denver as the "cure" for dog attacks.
In 1990, an 4-year-old Arapahoe County boy was running down a road when his neighbor's loose dog attacked and killed him. The dog was usually kept chained, but was loose that morning. The owner was charged with allowing a dog to run loose and harboring a dangerous animal.
In 1994, a Northglen woman borrowed a large dog from a friend for protection. Two days later her daughter was playing on a swing in the backyard when the dog attacked and killed her. It was later revealed that the dog had a history of aggression and had previously attacked another child the year before.
In 1996, two wolf-dogs attacked and killed a 39-year-old woman who was attempting to get the animals back into their pen. The animals were a breeding pair.
In 1998, despite Denver's pit bull ban, a 21-month-old child was killed by a dog in Denver. The child was crawling on the floor at his grandmother's home when the neutered male (non-"pit bull") dog attacked him.
In 2003, three loose roaming dogs attacked and killed a woman in Elbert County. The owners of these dogs had a history of allowing their dogs to roam loose, harass, attack and injure persons in the neighborhood. They were charged with owning dangerous dogs resulting in death. One owner, J. McCuen was convicted and received a 6-year prison sentence.
In 2005, a 7-year-old girl was attacked and killed by one of two newly acquired dogs, a male and a female. The mother was in the yard with the child and dogs but had gone inside the house for only a few minutes, when she returned she found that the male dog had attacked the child.
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*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.
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In spite the reckless ownership practices of some dog owners, dogs still pose an incredibly low risk for causing a fatality in Colorado:
| Recognized Risks: Colorado | Year 2007 |
| Tobacco-related fatalities: | 4,100 |
| Total (alcohol & non) traffic deaths: | 554 |
| Alcohol-related traffic fatalities: | 167 |
| ATV-related fatalities: | 14 |
| Bicycle-related fatalities: | 14 |
| Persons drowned in swimming pools: | 8 |
| Persons killed by lightning: | 2 |
| Persons killed by dogs: | 0 |
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services:
In 2007, twenty-eight (28) Colorado children died as a result of maltreatment (abuse, neglect).
In a single year, 2007, 4 times as many Colorado children died as a result of maltreatment than the total of all children killed by dogs in the state over the past 45 years.
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Fact is, people in Colorado routinely accept far greater risks from ATVs, bicycles and swimming pools than any that are associated with companion animals.
National Canine Research Council