In April of 2012, an unattended, eight-week-old boy in South Carolina was killed by a dog while his father slept in another room. I stumbled upon the story by accident as I was researching dog bite fatalities for another article. It was mainly reported in the local online news sites. Over the next week or so, I asked friends and clients if they had heard about this baby’s death. Their reactions were strikingly similar: “Oh my God! No, I hadn’t heard that! Was it a pit bull?”
The dog that killed baby Aiden was a Golden Retriever.
In December of 2013 the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association published the most comprehensive, multifactorial study on dog bite fatalities to date. The purpose of the study was to determine what factors contribute to the makings of aggressive dogs, as well as which factors did not. The following is an excerpt from that study:
“Based on an analysis of all DBRFs (dog bite related fatalities) known to have occurred over a ten-year period, the researchers identified a striking co-occurrence of multiple, controllable factors:
- no able-bodied person being present to intervene (87.1%);
- the victim having no familiar relationship with the dog(s) (85.2%);
- the dog(s) owner failing to neuter/spay the dog(s)(84.4%);
- a victim’s compromised ability, whether based on age or physical condition, to manage their interactions with the dog(s) (77.4%);
- the owner keeping dog(s) as resident dog(s), rather than as family pet(s) (76.2%);
- the owner’s prior mismanagement of the dog(s) (37.5%);
- the owner’s abuse or neglect of dog(s) (21.1%).
Four or more of these factors were present in 80.5% of the cases.”
The study also concluded that family dogs were rarely involved involved in fatal attacks. While witnesses, and media reports referred to these dogs as family pets, in truth they were kept on the property as resident dogs. This distinction is vital. In short, resident dogs simply live on the property with little positive interaction or guidance from humans. They are neither trained, nor socialized, and therefore revert to their natural, predatorial instincts. A resident dog is likely to perceive a small, warm, wiggly baby as prey. A child that screams in response to a bite will further intensify the prey drive of these truly dangerous dogs. According to the JAVMA study, over 76 percent of dogs involved in fatal attacks were resident dogs, despite media reports that referred to them as pets.
Breed was NOT a contributing factor in the attacks.
Pit bull haters, start your engines! But before you start calling me names and blowing up the comment section with junk science, I would respectfully encourage you to look at some of the other findings in this study. According to said study, the breeds of the dogs involved could not be accurately identified in over 80 percent of cases. Media reports, animal control officers, journalists and witnesses contradicted each other and routinely misidentified breeds. In fact, breed attributions were only correctly assessed 18 percent of the time. If you think it’s easy to identify a dog’s breed, especially a pit bull, check out these findings from a study by the National Canine Research Council. In this study, 687 people were shown pictures of 22 different breeds of dogs. The participants included nine veterinarians, seven veterinary technicians, and 15 animal control officers. Over half of the participants, including the professionals, claimed to have firsthand experience with pit bulls. Of those surveyed 30 percent mistook a Boxer for a pit bull, 45 percent mistook a mastiff for a pit bull, and only 2 percent correctly identified the pit bull without also misidentifying the other breeds pictured. Yes, you read that correctly - 2 percent. In a group that included professionals like myself, and individuals who claimed to be knowledgeable about the breed. I have clients whose neighbors are terrified of their “illegal” American Bulldogs. When my wife owned Boxers, complete strangers would scold her for owning a “banned” breed. Not only has breed been scientifically proven NOT to be a factor in dog bite related fatalities, the breed most commonly blamed is misidentified 98 percent of the time.
Local
There is a great line in the movie “The Horse Whisperer” where Robert Redford states “I don’t help people with horse problems. I help horses with people problems.”
Miami does not have a pit bull problem. We don’t even have a dog problem. We have an irresponsible owner problem. Or as Robert Redford put it “people problems.” The father of baby Aiden was charged with illegal neglect of a child. The father of the four-year-old Miami boy, Javon Dade Jr., who was killed by a resident dog or dogs, was charged with manslaughter. While it is appropriate and just to hold dog owners accountable for the actions of their dogs, no charges or sentences will bring these children back. We must put aside our breed-based assumptions and take an honest look at the portrait of a dangerous dog. And in that same process, we can go a long way towards solving our people problems as well.
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