Saber: a search and rescue dog, owned by Fleta Kirk of Dallas*
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Above and beyond their place as family companions and in traditional service occupations, dogs in Texas 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 perhpas any other time in the history of the human dog bond. Additionally, 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.
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*Saber, a 10 year-old Collie, and his owner Fleta Kirk, are members of the MARK-9 Search and Rescue in Texas. Certified in 1996 as an air scent dog qualified for urban, disaster and wilderness work, Saber is crossed-trained in water search, scent discrimination, cadaver work, and trailing. He is an original member of Texas Task Force 1, a statewide disaster response team. Saber has worked many high-profile searches, such as the Force 5 tornadoes in Oklahoma and the recovery operation following the Columbia Space Shuttle tragedy.
Saber was recognized by the Plano (Texas) Police Department Crime Prevention Unit for his work with children, and is a member of the Oklahoma Veterinary Animal Hall of Fame.
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Official State Dog of Texas: Blue Lacy
First recognized by the Texas State Senate in 2001 as "a true Texas breed," the Blue Lacy was designated the official State Dog Breed of Texas on June 18, 2005. Originating in the mid 1800's, the Blue Lacy is named for the Lacy Brothers of Burnet County. The Blue Lacy Game Dog breed is officially recognized by the National Kennel Club (NKC).
National Canine Research Council
What is a dog bite?
While the question seems simple enough, the answer is not often 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 reported to have been injured interacting with a dog, which interaction may or may not have involved aggression.
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 significantly lowering the number of reported dog-related injuries throughout the country.
Texas Children's Hospital in Houston
In 2006, 1,299 children aged from 1 day to 18 years were admitted to Texas Children's Hospital in Houston for all types of unintentional injuries.
The third most frequent cause of injury-related hospitalization was for animal bites or stings, with 119 patient admissions, including:
non-venomous arthropods bite: 55
dog bites: 22
venomous snake bite: 21
Thus, more than twice as many children were admitted to Texas Children's for arthropod bites (spiders, scorpions, etc.) as were admitted for injuries from dogs.
Source: Unintentional Injury Surveillance Report: Texas Children's Hospital, 2006
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Study on cases of severe bites as reported by 83 (out of 254) Texas counties. This is not a report of the number of bites in Texas, only of severe bites in 83 counties: texas-bite-study
National Canine Research Council
Over the past 45 years (1965 - present) there have been 66 dog bite-related fatalities in Texas, an average of one to two per year.
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.
The victims were 18 adults and 48 children.
At least eighteen (18) 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 Texas had been spayed or neutered by their owners.
A significant number of the dogs involved were either being used for breeding and/or lived their lives at the ends of chains. The majority of the fatalities involving children were the result of unsupervised children and unfamiliar dogs (chained, yard dogs).
A number of cases also resulted in convictions for criminally negligent owners and/or parents.
In 1974, an unsupervised 2-year-old boy was killed after he wandered over to his neighbor's chained dog. (Houston)
In 1975, a 2-year-old boy was killed after his father's dog broke loose from a rope tying him to a tree. The dog ran into the house and attacked the boy. (Fort Worth)
In 1979, a 5-year-old boy was riding his bicycle when he was attacked by his neighbor's two loose roaming dogs. (Wills Point)
In 1980, an unsupervised 3-year-old boy was attacked after he wandered over to a neighbor's chained dog. (Ellis County)
In 1980, a 7-year-old boy was attacked by two of his aunt's kenneled dogs. The dogs were used for breeding purposes. (Gatesville)
In 1981, an unsupervised 2-year-old boy was killed after he wandered over to a neighbor's chained dog. (Sundown)
In 1981, a 2-year-old girl was killed by her parent's yard dog, when the dog ran into the house and attacked the child. (Parker)
In 1981, an unsupervised 5-year-old boy was killed while playing with his neighbor's loose dog. (Cameron)
In 1982, an unsupervised 17-month old boy was attacked by loose neighborhood dogs while riding his scooter. (Van Zandt)
In 1982, a 1 year-old boy was killed after the family's yard dog barged into the home and attacked the boy. (Lubbock)
In 1982, an unsupervised 1 year-old boy opened a gate to a neighbor's yard where two guard dogs were kept. (Houston)
In 1983, B. Rognaldsen of Dallas received a 1-year sentence for criminal negligence after her 1-month-old daughter was killed by her dog. The dog had a known history of aggressive behavior and had "gnawed" on the baby's crib. The night before this eminently preventable tragedy, according to the trial testimony, Rognaldsen was "very intoxicated and acted as though she was also on drugs." She awakened in the morning to find her child mauled to death.
In 1984, J. Traxler of Conroe received a 5-year sentence for reckless injury to child when his 4-year-old stepson wandered into the proximity of a dog Traxler had chained to a utility pole. Traxler's comment, "that boy knew better than to get near that dog" undoubtedly helped to convict him. He was allowed to serve this sentence concurrently with a 10-year-sentence for drug possession.
In 1990, an 18-month-old girl was killed when she approached one of her father's chained breeding dogs. The father claimed he had bred "hundreds of dogs over the past 10 years." He also claimed he could not understand why the intact male dog would have attacked the girl, since the child used to "ride the dog like a horse." (NCRC - How could a man who claimed to have bred hundreds of dogs fail to appreciate that a chained dog might object to an 18-month-old riding it like a horse?)
In 1993, a 5-year-old boy was attacked and killed in his backyard by a dog his father had recently obtained to breed with his other dogs. (Dallas)
In 1997, a 17-year-old was attacked and killed by her neighbor's three loose roaming dogs. (Lampasas)
In 1999, an unsupervised 2-year-old boy was attacked and killed after he approached a dog chained to a tree. (Howard County)
In 2000, an unsupervised 4-year-old boy was attacked and killed after he approached a neighbor's dogs chained in an alleyway. (Lubbock)
In 2000, an unsupervised 3-year-old girl was killed after she wandered out to one of at least a dozen dogs her father kept chained in their backyard. (Smith County)
In 2004, an unsupervised 2-year-old girl was attacked and killed by her grandmother's yard dogs. (Fort Worth)
In 2005, Lillian Stiles was attacked and killed by a neighbor's six loose roaming dogs. The law of Texas, as it stood, did not afford an opportunity to hold the dogs' owner criminally responsible for failing to secure his dogs. This prompted Stiles' family to petition the Texas legislature to establish criminal penalties for reckless dog owners. In 2007, the legislature passed H.B. 1355, known as Lillian's Law. Lillian's Law allows a prosecutor to charge a dog owner with a third-degree felony if the owner "with criminal negligence" fails to secure a dog which later causes serious bodily injury to a victim in an unprovoked attack. A third-degree felony is punishable by two to 10 years in prison and a possible $10,000 fine. The charge can be raised to a second-degree felony, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, if a victim dies.
In 2006, a two-year-old El Paso child was killed after she wandered over to a neighbor's chained dog. There was no shade afforded the dog from the hot summer sun, other than that from the doghouse to which he was chained.
In 2006, two stray/abandoned dogs attacked and killed a child in Harris County. Although the media labeled the dogs as "pit bulls" -- and politicians began discussions about banning the "breed" after this incident -- no animal control professional directly involved in the case identified the dogs as "pit bull" dogs. It was not possible to visually identify the breed of the dogs involved. However, the dogs' poor physical condition indicated to authorities that the animals had been abandoned for some time prior to the attack:
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In 2007, a Friendswood woman was attacked and killed in her backyard by her dogs. At least 4 different media sources ran headlines proclaiming "Pit bull kills its owner in Friendswood." Newspapers and TV stations reported there were 3 dogs in the yard when the woman was attacked and one media source identified the dogs to be: An Alaskan Collie, a Golden Terrier, and a "pit bull" dog.
Investigation into this incident later revealed that the "pit bull" was actually a Catahoula / American bulldog mix. This dog was determined to have inflicted the majority of the bites to the victim. However, the Golden Retriever was ultimately determined to have also participated in the attack and was euthanized. The Australian Shepherd, was deemed to not have participated in the attack and was not euthanized.
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In 2007, the intact, male dog attacked and killed a young Bell County boy.
Not only did the media report this dog to be a "family dog," - but also reported the boy had "grown up with dog" and "had the dog since it was a puppy." These claims proved to be untrue.
Investigation into the incident found that the dog was 4-5 years old and had resided in the Dallas/Fort Worth area with a previous owner. The grandmother had only owned the dog for a short time before bringing the dog to the boy's home. In August, 2009, a Bell County grand jury indicted Brenda Ellen Parker, the boy's grandmother, and Misty L. Lovitt, his mother, on a count of manslaughter and a count of reckless serious bodily injury to a child.
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In 2008, there were 2 dog bite-related fatalities:
Tanner Monk, 7, of Stephens County, was attacked and killed by his neighbor's loose dogs. The owners of the dogs, J. Smith and C. Watson, were convicted under the provisions of Lillian's Law and both received seven-year sentences and $5,000 fines.
Pablo Lopez, 5, was attacked and killed by his uncle's chained guard dog in Hidalgo County.
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In 2009, there were 5 dog bite-related fatalities:
January 15: Brooklyn Grace Milburn crawled through a slat in fence in her backyard and was attacked and killed by a neighbor's dog. (Fort Worth)
March 26: Tyson Miller, 2, wandered out of the mobile home he had being living in for the past two weeks. His mother, Melissa Miller woke up after noon and began searching for the boy. The child was found dead near a chained dog in the back of the yard. Miller was later found guilty of criminally negligent homicide and sentenced to two years in prison. (Caldwell County)
March 31: Izaiah Gregory Cox, 7 months, was left unattended and attacked by two dogs owned by his grandmother, Irma Berrara. The same dogs had previously injured another of Berrara's grandchildren, causing the young girl to be hospitalized. Berrara was indicted on a charge of injury to a child, but died of natural causes before the case could be tried. (San Antonio)
April 11: Barbara Chambers, 59, was attacked and killed in her backyard by one of her dogs. (Garland)
June 15: Justin Clinton, 10, was attacked and killed by his neighbor's two dogs. The owners of the dogs, Christi and Rick George, were charged with criminally negligent homicide. (Rusk County)
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In 2010: there were two dog bite-related fatalities:
November 10: Kaden Muckleroy, 2, wandered out, unsupervised, into the backyard to where his grandfather kept a dog chained to a tree. The dog was one of 30+ dogs his grandfather kept chained or penned in his yard.
Humane Society officials reported that all of the dogs were found to be "mangy, and they each had plenty of medical issues." Some of the dogs were suffering from such severe medical problems they had to be euthanized immediately. According to shelter workers, at least two of the dogs "were so bad their mouths drooped down so far they couldn't eat." (Rusk County)
December 19: A 3-month-old infant was killed after one of 9 yard dogs entered the home without the mother's knowledge. (Harris County)
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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 a significant number of reckless and dangerous dog owners in Texas, dogs still pose an incredibly low risk for causing a fatality:
| Texas: Recognized Risks |
Year 2007 |
| Tobacco-related fatalities: |
24,200 |
| Total (alcohol & non) traffic deaths: |
3,466 |
| Alcohol-related traffic fatalities: |
1,333 |
| ATV-related fatalities: |
68 |
| Persons drowned in swimming pools: |
66 |
| Bicycle-related deaths: |
56 |
| Death after contact w/bees, hornets, wasps: |
12 |
| Persons killed by lightning: |
7 |
| Person killed by dogs: |
7 |
Note: Even in the most populous states, such as Texas, the number of dog bite-related fatalities per year is always a single digit number. Also, in the populous states, these numbers may fluctuate significantly. For example, Texas had five (5) dog bite-related fatalities over two years (1999, 2000) and then only one (1) during the following three years (2001, 2002, and 2003). Texas experienced an increase in the number of dog bite-related fatalities in the years 2006 and 2007, with a total of 14 during these two years. Then, in 2008, there was a more "normal" two (2). In 2009, there were 5 dog bite-related fatalities, and in 2010, there were two (2).
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According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services:
In 2007, 228 Texas children died as a result of maltreatment (abuse, neglect).
In the single year 2007, more than four times as many Texas 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 Texas routinely accept far greater risks from ATVs, bicycles and swimming pools than any that are associated with companion animals.
National Canine Research Council
