"Sonya" a therapy dog for Canines for Combat Wounded
Photo credit: John Gurzinski

Throughout the years, many people in Nevada have relied on dogs to assist in everyday life and to provide companionship. Today, while dogs continue to serve in many of their more 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 Nevada.

There are an estimated 283,940 households in Nevada that own a dog(s) -- with a total population of 459,000 dogs.* The percentage of Nevada households with dogs, and the average number of dogs in each household is consistent with the national averages reported by the American Pet Products Association.

However, Nevada enjoys a lower rate of incidence of dog bites (111 bites per 100,000 persons) than the national average (129 bites per 100,000).

In 1998, Nevada began offering a dog bite safety course in every first grade classroom. Five years later, the Nevada Department of Agriculture produced a video entitled BowWowOw! , which was to be shown as part of the course.

Nevada realizes the value of dogs and understands that dog bites are a preventable injury, and that education can further reduce the already low incidence of dog bite injuries.

*Estimate from 2001 survey conducted by the American Veterinary Medical Association.

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 aggression).

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

Dog bite numbers reveal that there is no "dog bite epidemic" in Nevada. Between the years 1999 and 2003 there were an average of 2,370 dog bites per year in Nevada. This is an incidence rate of 111 dog bites per 100,000 persons, and is lower than the national average of 129 bites per 100,000 persons.

Only 3.4 % of all dog bite injuries in Nevada, between the years 1999 and 2003, were serious enough to warrant admission to a medical facility.

Interestingly, for 4 out of the 5 years, the average length of stay in a hospital / medical facility was longer for victims of cat bites than for victims of dog bites.

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.

Nevada realizes that dog bites are a preventable injury and that dog bite education is an important tool in reducing the number of dog bites to children.

Nevada's BowWowOw program illustration

Source: All dog and cat bite data: "A Special Report on Dog and Cat Bite Injuries and Costs in

Nevada, 1999-2003." Bureau of Health Planning and Statistics and the Department of Agriculture, May 2005.

National Canine Research Council

Over the past 45 years (1965 - present) there have been six (6) dog bite-related fatalities in Nevada, an average of one (1) fatality every seven (7) 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 four (4) breeds/types of dogs have been reported to be involved in these incidents.*

The victims were 1 adult and 5 children.

Two of the fatalities in Nevada were by animals identified as wolf dogs. One case involved a 10-week-old infant left unattended with the animal (1982). The other victim was a 73-year-old woman killed by her son's eight wolf dogs (2007). This is noted due to the fact that wolf dogs cannot be classified as a domestic dog, and arguably should not be grouped alongside domestic dogs without an acknowledgement to the wolf, ( i.e., "wild") component of the animal's make-up.

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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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Dogs pose an incredibly low risk for causing a fatality in Nevada:

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

In 2007, twenty-one (21) Nevada children died as a result of maltreatment (abuse/neglect).

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

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

National Canine Research Council