Rain - a therapy dog owned by Teresa & Eleanor Ralenkotter of Walton, KY *

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Above and beyond their place as family companions and in traditional service occupations, dogs in Kentucky 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. 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 reducing the number of reported dog-related injuries in Kentucky and throughout the nation.

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*Rain, a Basset hound, was nominated for the 2008 AKC Awards for Canine Excellence (ACE) for therapy work in Kentucky.

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Rescued Pup Ready For Adoption

(LOUISVILLE) -- Three young children are being honored by the Louisville Kennel Club, after they saved the life of a dog left for dead. Unfazed by the horrid conditions, or that the animal abandoned was a "pit bull" dog, these three "canine heroes" learned there's more to a dog, than meets the eye.

Ten-year-old Nick Peak, 11-year-old Wyatt Medley, and his 6-year-old brother, Tristen, like to watch out for their neighbors.

"They're always rescuing something whether it be a salamander or a bug," says Wyatt and Tristen's mom, Robin.

So they boys weren't bothered when the animal that needed saving was a "pit bull" named "Bush."

"It would take a kid to do it honestly," said Lindsay Simmons, a Vet Tech at Stonefield Veterinary Associates in Louisville, which is now caring for Bush. "Because they don't know the hype, they don't know all the misconceptions."

The boys heard the call for help a couple weeks ago, while clearing brush behind their southwest Jefferson County homes.

"It sounded like a screeching kind of bark," Nick remembered.

They followed the howls to a chain link pen four doors down.

"The dog seemed kind of friendly," Wyatt said. "So we went in and there was poop everywhere."

Bush was starving. For food, water -- and attention.

"He was excited," Nick said. "He was jumping all the way up and touching the roof," Wyatt added, touching his hand to the tin roof of the 5-foot pen.

Bush had been abandoned for weeks. His owners moved out and just left him behind. Knowing the breed, and its reputation, the boys decided their options were limited.

"If the pound would get it, they would kill it because they don't accept those dogs," Nick realized.

So Nick, Wyatt and Tristen decided they would take care of Bush. The water came from a nearby creek. The boys snuck food from homes.

For two weeks, the boys cared for bush behind their parents' back. But the dog was still losing weight -- from worms as it turned out. So the boys finally came clean, with just one request: don't let them put Bush to sleep.

"I mean if I didn't already have two dogs and two cats myself we would probably have the dog," Robin Medley said.

Instead, she called her councilman, who called the Louisville Kennel Club, who called Stonefield last Friday.

"We've all fallen in love with him," Simmons said as she held Bush in her lap.

For sure, Bush, about as calm and docile a "pit bull" as they come, has a fan club.

"He's really awesome. He loves everybody," Simmons said. "He's a happy boy."

Dr. Curt Oliver and his staff nursed Bush back to health. All he needs now is a good home.

"And after what he's been through," Dr. Oliver said, "he deserves it."

You don't have to be a doctor to figure that out.

"We hope it gets a good home and nobody treats it like it used to be treated," Wyatt said.

For their efforts, all three boys were given memberships to the Louisville Zoo for kindness to an animal in distress.

National Canine Research Council

What is a dog bite?

While the question seems simple enough, the answer is often not 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 people injured interacting with a dog, whether or not the interaction involved aggression.

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

Dog bite numbers reveal that there is no "dog bite epidemic" in Kentucky. All evidence indicates that dog-related injuries in the state have steadily decreased 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 successful in drastically lowering the number of reported dog-related injuries nationwide.

Despite significant increases in the human and dog population, dog bite numbers show a steady and significant decrease in dog-related injuries in areas of Kentucky with dog bite data from the 1970s:

Source: Jefferson County Environmental Health Department

National Canine Research Council

Over past 46 years (1965-present) there have been 16 dog bite-related fatalities in Kentucky, an average of one (1) fatality every three (3) 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 charge incidents as we can, so that they are calmly, correctly and, therefore, usefully understood. Accuracy takes time.

At least eleven (11) different breeds/types of dogs have been reported to be involved in these incidents.*

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

The victims were 4 adults and 12 children.

The majority of children killed by dogs in Kentucky were either infants left unattended with unfamiliar dogs or young children attempting to interact with chained dogs.

In 1979: A 14-day-old infant was killed after he was left unattended with a small dog the family had recently acquired. (Louisville)

In 1982: A 5-month-old boy was killed by his grandmother's dog after he was left unattended at her home. (West Point)

In 1991: A 6-year-old boy was killed by a dog his father kept chained in the backyard. (Jefferson County)

In 1993: A Shelby County man picked up a stray, diseased dog and brought it to the home of a relative. The relative did not want the dog and chained it to the side of his barn. He did not bother to feed it or give it water. Two days later, a boy playing in the yard approached the neglected animal, which then attacked and killed him.

In 2002: L. Laster of Wickliffe was convicted of reckless homicide and sentenced to serve six months, after her chained, neglected Wolf-dog attacked and killed a 5-year-old boy playing in a neighboring yard.

In 2005: A. Ferguson of Louisville was convicted of harboring dangerous dogs after two of his dogs left his yard and attacked and killed a man in an alleyway. Ferguson was sentenced to serve one year.

In 2008: A 6-week-old infant, Justin Mozer, was killed after he was left unattended in a bedroom with the family's small dog. (Lexington)

In 2009: Karen Gillespie, 53, was killed by two loose dogs while walking in a field in Hardin County.

The dogs had a history of aggressive behavior and had previously attacked a U.S. Census worker. The dog's owner, Howard Miller, has been charged with harboring vicious animals, a misdemeanor under Kentucky law.

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.

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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 abuse, negligence or recklessness on the part of some dog owners, dogs still pose an incredibly low risk for causing a fatality in Kentucky:

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

In 2007, forty-one (41) Kentucky children died from maltreatment (abuse, neglect).

In the single year of 2007, more than 3 times as many Kentucky children died from 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 Kentucky routinely accept far greater risks from ATVs, bicycles and swimming pools than any that are associated with companion animals.

National Canine Research Council