Winner of the Congressional Dog Photo Contest -  "Como" of the office of Rep. Charlie Melancon, (D-LA) took home the "Best Briefed" award.   Photo © Jody Comeaux-Stacoffe

The District of Columbia has long acknowledged the value of dogs and was one of the first locations in the nation to recognize the extreme abuse involved in dog fighting.  It has been possible to prosecute people who fight dogs  at the felony level in the District of Columbia since 1892.

Above and beyond their place as family companions and  in traditional service occupations, dogs in the District of Columbia serve in an ever-widening spectrum of therapeutic roles. The physical and emotional benefits to humans that come from relationships with dogs are now recognized and utilized by psychiatric facilities, assisted living centers, hospitals, schools and even prisons.

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 drastically reducing the number of reported dog-related injuries in the District of Columbia and throughout the nation.

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Owney:  Postal Dog

Owney, was a stray mutt who wandered into the Albany, New York, post office in 1888. The clerks let him stay, and he fell asleep on some mailbags. Owney was attracted to the texture or scent of the mailbags and followed them when they were placed on a Railway Mail Service train. Owney began to ride with the bags on trains across the state—and then the country. In 1895 Owney made an around-the-world trip, traveling with mailbags on trains and steamships to Asia and across Europe, before returning to Albany.

Railway mail clerks considered the dog a good luck charm. At a time when train wrecks were all too common, no train Owney rode was ever in a wreck. The Railway mail clerks adopted Owney as their unofficial mascot, marking his travels by placing medals and tags on his collar. Each time Owney returned home to Albany, the clerks there saved the tags.Postmaster General John Wanamaker was one of Owney's fans. When he learned that the dog's collar was weighed down by an ever-growing number of tags, he gave Owney a jacket on which to display the "trophies."

On April 9, 1894, a writer for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that "Nearly every place he stopped Owney received an additional tag, until now he wears a big bunch. When he jogs along, they jingle like the bells on a junk wagon."

In June, Owney boarded a mail train for Toledo, Ohio. While he was there, he was shown to a newspaper reporter by a postal clerk. Owney became ill tempered and although the exact circumstances were not satisfactorily reported, Owney died in Toledo of a bullet wound on June 11, 1897.

Mail clerks raised funds to have Owney preserved, and he was given to the Post Office Department's headquarters in Washington, D.C. In 1911, the department transferred Owney to the Smithsonian Institution, where he has remained ever since. Owney can be seen on display in the National Postal Museum's atrium, wearing his jacket and surrounded by several of his tags.

See National Post Office Museum's Tribute to Owney:

http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibits/2c1f_owney.html

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, whether or not the interaction involved aggression).

So, if dog bite numbers offer little useful information about canine aggression, then what can District dog bite numbers really tell us about canine / human interaction?

Dog bite numbers reveal that there is no "dog bite epidemic" in the District of Columbia, and that all types of dog-related injuries in the district have dramatically decreased in the past 3 decades.

While information is  not available about the individual circumstances that preceded all the dog bites in the District, raw data from 2007  shows there were 183 reported dog bites.  Ten, or less than 7% of all reported bites were classified as serious to severe.  Nine different breeds of dogs were identified as inflicting the ten serious/severe bites.

Fear vs. Fact:  Dog Bites in D.C.   FearFactNCRC_DC

The District of Columbia has had an extraordinary decrease in the number of reported dog bites from the early 1970s:

Source:  District of Columbia Department of Health

National Canine Research Council

Fear: I am in danger of being killed by a dog in the District of Columbia.

Fact:   There have been no fatal dog attacks in the District of Columbia within the past 45 years (1965-2009).

Fear: We have a dog bite epidemic in the District of Columbia.

Fact:   In 1970, there were 3,351 dog bites reported in the District.  In 2007, there were 183.

Fear: Dogs are causing more serious injuries than ever.

Fact:   Only ten (10) of the one hundred eighty-three (183) bites reported in 2007 were classified as severe.

Fear: Pit Bulls are responsible for the severe injuries in the District.

Fact:  The ten (10) severe bites mentioned above were inflicted by nine (9) different breeds of dog.

Fear vs. Fact:   Dog Bites in D.C.    FearFactNCRC_DC

National Canine Research Council