Petunia visits Maryland classrooms with the Greenbelt-based Partnership for Animal Welfare's Responsible Pet Ownership (RPO) Program

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For information on the Tracey v Solesky decision, please read the NCRC commentary.

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From Gracie,  canine mascot to Maryland's 1st Artillery during the Civil War, to Boomer, the recipient of the MVMA award for extraordinary work in search and rescue, dogs have served the residents of Maryland in dozens of capacities.

Maryland recognizes the value of dogs, and in 1964, designated the Chesapeake Bay Retriever as the official state dog.

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

At times, the media spotlight on an individual dog bite-related incident can create the impression that dogs pose a significant threat to the community.  Sensationalized publicity, along with a lack of knowledge about the causes of dog bite-related incidents and a failure to appreciate how truly infrequent serious dog attacks are, has resulted in reactive and uniformed policies directed against certain types of dogs. In 1997, Prince George's County banned certain types of dogs in the belief that focusing on the appearance of a dog will address the behavior of a dog. . . . or the dog's owner.

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

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Official State Dog of Maryland:   Chesapeake Bay Retriever

Maryland designated the Chesapeake Bay retriever as the official state dog in 1964.  The Chesapeake Bay Retriever is also the mascot of the University of Maryland.

Chesapeake Bay Retrievers trace their history to two Newfoundland dogs rescued in 1807 from a foundering ship in Maryland (a red male named "Sailor" and a black female named "Canton").

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; in other words,  the number of people reported to have been injured interacting with a dog, whether or not the interaction involved aggression.

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

Dog bite numbers reveal that there is no “dog bite epidemic” in Maryland.

During 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 in Maryland and throughout the nation.

Despite significant increases in the human and dog population, cities and counties in Maryland with dog-bite data dating from the 1970s, reveal extraordinary decreases in the number of reported dog bites:

Montgomery County reported over 1,500 dog bites per year in the middle 1970s. In 2006, county officials reported 473 dog bites.

Baltimore public health officials tallied over 6,000 dog bites per year in the middle 1970s. Reported dog bites fell to less than 600 per year in 2006 and 2007:

Source:  Reported Dog Bites 2006, 2007:   Baltimore City Public Health Department

Source:  Reported Dog Bites 1971, 1972:    The Animal Bite Epidemic in Baltimore, Maryland: AJPH    June 1978, Public Health Briefs, Vol. 68, No. 6    animal-bite-epidemic-baltimore1

Source: Montgomery County dog bite numbers – Montgomery County Animal Control

National Canine Research Council

Over the past 45 years (1965-present) there have been 12 dog bite-related fatalities in Maryland, an average of one fatality every 3 to 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 ten (10) different breeds/types of dogs were reported to be involved in these incidents.*

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

The victims were 3 adults and 9 children.

Two of the nine child victims were infants left unattended in baby swings. Three other cases involved older children who were attacked when they approached chained or restrained dogs. In one of these incidents, a boy was throwing rocks at a chained dog, until the dog broke loose from the chain and attacked him.

One of these adult victims was the owner of the dogs that killed her. Both she and her 17-year-old daughter had been attacked previously by the dogs. The daughter had needed 30 stitches to repair wounds the dogs had inflicted. Nevertheless, the woman not only kept the two dogs, but later bred them, producing a litter of nine puppies. That litter was on the premises the day in 1985 when the dogs attacked the woman for the second time, killing her.

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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 reckless ownership practices of some dog owners, dogs still pose an incredibly low risk for causing a fatality in Maryland:

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

In 2007, twenty-five (25) Maryland children died as a result of maltreatment (abuse/neglect).

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

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

National Canine Research Council