National Dog Bite Prevention Week

Posted by Clare Bristow

dog-snarling This week is the American Veterinary Medical Association's Dog Bite Prevention Week, and there has been a number of press articles published on how to reduce the risk of being bitten by a dog.

As dog owners it's our responsibility to prevent our dogs from biting and a big part of it is showing people how to behave sensibly around dogs.

Here are some startling statistics from the US:

dog attacks cause 4.7 million injuries annually and 800,000 of these require medical attention;
Approximately 70% of dog bite victims are children under 15 years of age;
More than 25 different breeds of dogs have been involved in the 238 dog-bite-related fatalities - it's not just Pitbulls doing the biting; and
Of the human deaths resulting from attacks by dogs, 24 percent involve unrestrained dogs off their owners' property and 58 percent involve unrestrained dogs on their owners' property.

I've found that a Guide to Dog Bite Prevention produced by Ontario SPCA neatly summarizes how to behave around dogs - both your own and unfamiliar dogs.

For a longer article, have a read of Dog Bite Prevention from the Dog Scouts of America - the article is very good at explaining why children are prone to being bitten by dogs, how to approach a dog and how to reduce the risk of dog bites in the home.

Dog bite prevention has to be an ongoing education for us, our dogs and everyone who comes into contact with our dogs.

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Keywords: dog bite, dog bite prevention, Dog Bites, how to behave around dogs

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How to Raise a Killer Dog - it's as easy as 1-2-3

Posted by Clare Bristow

There seems to be an increasing number of dog attacks on people; here in New Zealand a woman died at the weekend after being attacked by her nephew's two dogs.

It's easy to blame the breed of dog for these attacks - pitbulls head the list of breeds labelled as dangerous - but in how many of these cases are the owners really to blame?

In Nation News, Glenda Lewis provides us with three easy to follow steps to raising a killer dog:

Step 1 - buy your dog from an irresponsible, preferable one who operates a 'puppy mill';

Step 2 - deprive your dog of attention, affection and training; and

Step 3 - keep your dog chained in a yard and make sure he has no company and exercise.

Click here to read the article.

Seriously, we owe it to our dogs to teach them how to be sociable and not pose a threat to society . . . it's not hard to do and it's called being a responsible dog owner.

Keywords: dangerous dog breed, dog bite, dog care, News, responsible dog ownership

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Dog Bites on the Increase - and 8 ways to reduce the risk it's your dog doing the biting

Posted by Clare Bristow

dog-teeth A scan of this week's papers show that the reported incidences of dog bites is on the increase.

This is a seasonal trend and reflects the facts that people are spending more time outside as the weather warms up, and that female dogs tend to come into season in Spring thereby increasing the number of dogs roaming loose in search of a mate.

As dog owners it's our responsibility to keep our dogs under control and instil good behavior when they are young to reduce the risk of them biting people in the future.
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Keywords: dog bite, Dog Bites, dog safety, puppy socialization, responsible dog ownership

Filed Under Dog Bites, Blog