According to the AVMA: “half of all bites are inflicted by the family dog. Only about 10% of bites are inflicted by dogs unknown to the victim.” The AVMA continues, stating, “Dog bite injuries rank third only to bicycle and baseball/softball injuries as a leading cause of emergency admission of children to hospitals.”
The vast majority of dogs join human families as young puppies. In addition, well run shelters have a vested interest in not adopting out dogs with known red flags to families with kids. Dogs are evaluated for possession guarding, extreme fearfulness and for dominance behavior, to name just a few categories, before ever being presented for adoption. This is done to all adult dogs. Obviously, there is no way to prevent 100% of dog bites, but I will stand by the fact that since most dogs are acquired by people as young pups, those persons who adopt screened shelter dogs are not in extreme danger of having their kiddies eaten.
If we must continue to rely on statistics, I think we must eliminate all childhood baseball/softball and bicycle exposure to make sure nobody is hurt in the road to adult status. Think of the healthcare savings!
You are just FULL of information. That’s good. But seriously... every one of them has been a tangent. You do know this... right? I mean, are we ever talking about dog bites? A dog bites man is a non story. This was a little girl having her HEAD RIPPED OFF to the bone of her skull!!!
Don’tcha think we should stick to that? I sure as heck don’t wanna hafta agree with you AGAIN over some point I never made or desired to make. You could probably find we agree on 90% of it. So, let’s not play there.
It’s this 10%... ATTACK. From a dog that was older and that they did NOT have very long and had an unknown history.
I say that it is just too risky... and stand by NEVER. For small children. And say, as I have 16 times now, or more, adults for adults. Puppies for babies.
THAT simple.
You get an 8 year old adult dog, of which you know little to nothing, and turn it lose with your 7 year old, you might as well just TELL it to bite them. That about what I said to start this ball rolling, right?
Just trying to steer us back to the 10%. Unrepentant. I stand by it.