Ruby and Sadie: Ruby was voted Companion Animal of the year by the Minnesota Veterinary Medical Association (Photo Credit: Pat Bettendorf )*

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How many faithful dogs served their masters well in Minnesota can never be known. What is known, is that throughout the years many people in Minnesota 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 Minnesota.

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 successful in drastically reducing the number of reported dog-related injuries in Minnesota and throughout the nation.

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Ruby, a rescued "pit bull" dog, was also inducted into the Minnesota Animal Hall of Fame on February 3, 2007.

Ruby is a certified therapy dog. She also "performed" in the Lakeshore Players Theatre (in White Bear Lake) production of Cheaper by the Dozen.

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Wallace

Within two years of being rescued from an animal shelter, Wallace, the "pit bull" dog pictured above, became a world champion disc dog. He has been featured numerous times in magazine and newspaper articles, and on television.

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 that have been injured interacting with a dog, which may or may not have involved canine aggression.

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

Dog bite numbers reveal that there is no "dog bite epidemic" in Minnesota, and that all types of dog-related injuries in the state have dramatically decreased in 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 an increase in the human and dog population, cities and counties in Minnesota have had have extraordinary decreases in the number of reported dog bites from the early 1970s:

St. Paul has seen a decrease in the number of reported dog bites from 1,346 in 1971 to 212 in 2006.

Minneapolis also has seen drastic reductions in the number of dog bites over the past 3 decades:

Source: Minneapolis Public Health Department

Source: St. Paul Animal Control

National Canine Research Council

Over the past 45 years (1965 - present) there have been four (4) dog bite-related fatalities in Minnesota, an average of one (1) fatality every decade.

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 three (3) different breeds/types of dogs have been reported to be involved in these incidents.*

In 1981, an unsupervised 2-year-old boy was killed when he approached a chained dog in Frazee.

In 1984, loose roaming dogs attacked a 7-year-old boy playing catch with his friends in Plymouth.

In 2007, Zachary King Jr., 7, was killed by a dog his father had tied to a pole in the corner of the basement. The dog was tied on a short lead with little room to move and no available water. The dog remained this way, standing in his own urine and feces for more than 24 hours. Zachary Jr., had gone into the basement and approached within the very short reach of the dog. The dog had a previous bite history. Zachary King Sr., was charged with involuntary manslaughter.

In 2008, Hennepin County District Judge Kevin Burke found Zachary King, Sr., not guilty. However, since August 2006, Minneapolis Animal Control had contacted Judge Kevin Burke 15 times about two dogs he owned. Most of the calls were for barking, but Burke did receive two warning letters when his dogs bit another dog on a walk and a mail carrier had to use chemical irritant to stop one of the dogs from charging at him. Seven of the reports were marked as unfounded. Judge Burke claimed his previous dealings with Animal Control had no impact on his ruling in favor of dog owner/parent Zachary King Sr.

In 2010, an unattended, 10-day-old infant was killed by a dog in Independence.

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

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

In 2007, seventeen (17) Minnesota children died as a result of maltreatment (abuse, neglect).

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

National Canine Research Council