Pepsea: Service Dog
AKC Honorable Mention ACE owned by Carol Sundell of Canton, Michigan
Above and beyond their place as family companions and in traditional service occupations, dogs in Michigan 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.
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.
More than a dozen communities and cities in Michigan have banned or restricted certain types of dogs in the profoundly mistaken belief that the appearance of a dog governs its behavior...or the behavior of its owner.
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 Michigan and throughout the nation.
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.
So if dog bite numbers offer little useful information about canine aggression, then what can Michigan dog bite numbers really tell us about canine / human interaction?
Dog bite numbers reveal that there is no "dog bite epidemic" in Michigan. 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 instrumental 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 Michigan with dog bite data from the 1970s:
Source: City of Detroit, Animal Control and Care Division
National Canine Research Council
Over the past 45 years (1965 - present) there have been 34 dog bite-related fatalities in Michigan, an average of one (1) fatality every 1 to 2 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 thirteen (13) different breeds/types of dogs were reported to be involved in these incidents.*
Four (4) of the fatalities in Michigan were inflicted by Wolf dogs. This is noted due to the fact that Wolf dogs are not a domestic dog, and arguably should not be grouped alongside domestic dogs in statistics on fatalities without an acknowledgement to the wolf, ( i.e., "wild") component of the animal's make-up.
In 1999, an emaciated wolf-type-dog attacked and killed a 4-year-old Muskegon boy playing in a yard.
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Of the 34 dog bite-related fatalities in Michigan the victims were: 9 adults, 2 teenagers and 23 children.
A significant number of these cases involved extreme negligence, abuse, recklessness or criminal behavior on the part of owners.
In 1983: A 3-year-old boy wandered out, unsupervised, to where his parents kept 25 chained, breeding dogs. He was killed by a female dog with a litter of newborn puppies.
In 1988: A Detroit man commanded his dog to attack another man, while at the same time he kicked and stabbed his victim. The victim died from blunt force trauma (inflicted by the owner) and from dog bites (inflicted at owner's command).
In 1989: A mother left her one-day-old infant on a trash heap, where he was then found and mauled by stray dogs. (Imlay)
In 1992: G. Trotter was convicted of involuntary manslaughter after she exposed her 2-year-old nephew to dogs which she kept in her basement and which had a known history of aggression.
In 2005: Two dogs who had been abandoned in the basement of a vacated row house without food or water, escaped from their confinement and killed a girl in the alleyway nearby. During their abandonment, in desperation, they had consumed paper, cardboard, rubber bands, rat poison . . whatever they could find. At the time of the attack, both dogs were suffering from starvation,and the effects of the rat poison. The media, incredibly, described these animals as "family dogs."
In 2007: Four dogs belonging D. Cockrell escaped from her property and killed two of her neighbors. Cockrell was sentenced to 43 months to 15 years after pleading no contest to felony charges of owning dangerous animals causing death. (Livingston County)
In 2007: Prosecutors accused Christopher Fura, 20, and his stepbrother, Jason Winters, of being criminally negligent when they took their large, recently adopted dog, Chopper, to a gathering at a Warren home even though they were aware the dog was aggressive. While Fura and Winters were in another room playing video games, the dog attacked and killed 4-month-old Kylie Cox.
Fura was convicted and received 36 months probation with the first six months held in the Macomb County Jail. Winters, 23, was sentenced to 36 months of probation on an involuntary manslaughter charge.
In 2008: Robert Howard, 55, came to the assistance of a neighbor who was trying to fight off a stray dog that was attacking her dogs. It was reported that Howard was bitten in the calf by the stray dog. The bite proved to be fatal as it punctured his tibial artery. The dog repsonsible was never located or identified by authorities. (Detroit)
In 2009: 11-month-old Leonard Lovejoy was killed by a dog in Easpointe.
Also in 2009, David Whitenack, 41, was killed by 3 dogs belonging to his terminally ill landlord. (Huron)
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In February 2011, a ten-day-old infant was killed by the family dog in Kalamazzo.
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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 and dangerous ownership practices of some dog owners, dogs still pose an incredibly low risk for causing a fatality in Michigan:
| Michigan: Recognized Risks |
Year 2007 |
| Tobacco-related fatalities: |
16,000 |
| Total (alcohol & non) traffic deaths: |
1,087 |
| Alcohol-related traffic fatalities: |
304 |
| ATV-related fatalities: |
42 |
| Bicycle-related fatalities: |
24 |
| Persons drowned in swimming pools: |
11 |
| Fatal hunting accidents: |
3 |
| Persons killed by dogs: |
3 |
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services:
In 2008, 59 Michigan children died as a result of maltreatment (abuse/neglect).
In the single year of 2008, more than twice as many Michigan 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 Michigan routinely accept far greater risks from ATVs, bicycles and swimming pools than any that are associated with companion animals.
National Canine Research Council
