How many faithful dogs served their masters well in Georgia can never be known.  What is known, is that throughout the years many people in Georgia have relied on dogs to assist in everyday life and to provide companionship.

While dogs continue to serve in many of their 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 Georgia.

Today, dogs contribute more to the welfare of individuals and society than perhaps any other time in the history of the human-dog bond.  Additionally, over the past three 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.

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*Mystiblu:  13-year-old Shi Tzu - companion dog in Georgia

National Canine Research Council

What is a dog bite?

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

Over 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 lowering the number of reported dog-related injuries nationwide.

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In 1987, DeKalb County convened a study group to recommend revisions to its animal control ordinance. The group's exhaustive analysis was firm that problems associated with dogs stemmed from dog owners. Their report recommended a breed-neutral ordinance requiring owners to take better care of, and exert more control over, their dogs.

The group also noted that the annual total of reported dog bites had declined 54% between 1975 and 1986, evidence that the leash laws then in force were having a beneficial effect.

See the DeKalb County study group report:     -dekalb-fulton-cnty-data

National Canine Research Council

Over the past 45 years (1965-present), there have been 35 dog bite-related fatalities in Georgia, an average of one (1) fatality every 1+ 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 ten (10) different breeds/types of dogs have been reported to be involved in these incidents.*

The victims were: 8 adults and 27 children.

None of the dogs involved in dog bite-related fatalities in Georgia had been spayed or neutered by their owners.

Many of Georgia cases involved extreme negligence, recklessness, or abuse on the part of dog owners and/or a child's parents. Many of these owners and/or parents were charged with criminal offenses.

In 1986, in DeKalb County, H. Turnipseed was sentenced to 5 years for involuntary manslaughter, after his three dogs, who had a long history of aggression, attacked and killed a neighborhood boy.

In 1997, J. McTaggart and S. Randolph of Catoosa County were convicted of involuntary manslaughter after Randolph's 3-year-old son wandered into the backyard and was killed by McTaggart's dogs. Court documents state the child lay dying in the yard for over two hours while his mother (Randolph) and her boyfriend (McTaggart) lolled in the house in a drug-induced stupor.

In 2003, an intact female and intact male dog were running loose and attacked and killed a 6-year-old boy. The two dogs were owned by a 17-year-old neighbor, who also happened to be the victim's uncle. The female dogs' ears were cut down to within in inch or two from her head and at less than 18 months old she had already had a litter of puppies.  (Rabun County)

In 2004, an unsupervised 2-year-old girl wandered off and approached a dog chained to an engine block. She was attacked and killed. The mother of the child was later convicted of making a false statement to police.

In 2007, a 5-year-old Carrollton girl with Down Syndrome wandered out of her house in the morning while her mother slept. The child, Tiffany Pauley, walked about 200 yards onto a neighboring property where 5 dogs were kept.  The child approached one of the chained dogs and tragically was attacked and killed. It was not known what time in the morning Tiffany had wandered away,  but her body was not found until 1:00 that afternoon.

The day of Tiffany’s death, her mother, Florence Pauley, was on probation. She pleaded guilty 3 months earlier (April 2007) to possession of methamphetamine, driving under the influence, and child endangerment after Carrollton police stopped her with her children in the car.

Authorities arrested Pauleyon charges of involuntary manslaughter and reckless conduct, due to the fact that her use of “methamphetamine on the morning of her daughter’s disappearance affected her ability to properly supervise her daughter.”

Florence Pauley pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and reckless conduct and was sentenced again to probation (10 years intensive probation).

Tiffany was not the first Georgia child with Down Syndrome killed by a chained dog.  In 1983, a 7-year-old Athens girl with Down Syndrome also was killed when allowed to wander out, unsupervised, to a chained dog.

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In 2009:   An autopsy confirmed that an Oglethorpe couple,  Lothar Karl Schweder, 77, and his wife, 65-year-old Sherry Schweder were killed by dogs on a rural road not far from their Lexington home.  The couple were killed by a large pack of dogs (approx. 14 in number) that were alleged to belong to neighbor Howard Thaxton, who no longer lived on the property.  It was reported that the dogs remained on the property after medical problems forced Thaxton to move away.  

For information on this case and other dog bite-related fatalities that occurred in 2009, please see 2009 NCRC Final Report on Dog Bite-Related Fatalities. 

In 2010:  A 5-day-old unattended infant was killed by the family's dog in Rockdale.

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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 of the abusive, reckless and criminal behaviors of some dog owners and/or parents, dogs still pose an incredibly low risk for causing a fatality in Georgia:

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

In 2007, sixty-one (61) Georgia children died as a result of maltreatment (abuse/neglect).

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

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Fact is, people in Georgia routinely accept far greater risks from ATVs, bicycles and swimming pools than any that are associated with companion animals.

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National Canine Research Council