My Dog Teaches … About Dog Attacks
 Yes,
I know dogs have teeth. But, to paraphrase Mark Twain, the news
of their use is greatly exaggerated.
The simple fact is that dogs almost never use them to inflict
damage on either humans or other dogs. While I understand that
the fear of dogs may be real enough to some people, it is
factually blown out of all proportion to any actual risk.
One crude way of looking at relative dangers is to examine the
statistics on causes of death published by the National Safety
Council. The odds of dying in any one year by being "bitten or
struck by dog" are under one in 9 million. These odds are so
close to zero that, in the business of living, they can be
discounted as anything to be seriously worried about.
To put it in perspective, here are some comparisons from the
National Safety Council. You are more likely to die by the
following causes:
- Lightning
- A bee or wasp sting (twice as likely)
- Accidental drowning in a bathtub (10 times as likely)
- Accidental suffocation or strangulation in bed (15
times as likely)
- Falling out of a bed or chair (25 times as likely)
Bluntly put, if beds and bees are more dangerous, then dogs
really shouldn’t be at the top of our priority list of safety
concerns.
In talking about dog attacks, what should be of more concern are
our attacks against dogs. If the news media gave a
balanced perspective, there should probably be hundreds of "Man
Bites Dog" headlines for every one that reads "Dog Bites Man".
While it is true that there are some people who abuse animals
that is not particularly what I am referring to. After all,
anyone who would deliberately mistreat a dog under his care is
demonstrating some level of insanity.
What I find more distressing is the attacks against dogs by
people who should have a more objective viewpoint; specifically,
those people in our governments and our courts.
Breed Specific Legislation (BSL) is one example. Throughout the
world, more and more cities, states and countries are banning or
restricting dogs based solely on their physical appearance. This
has resulted in the killing of thousands and thousands of
innocent dogs, not because they are dangerous, but only because
they happen to belong to a particular "visible minority" in the
dog world.
Over 2,000 dogs have been killed in Denver, Colorado alone since
the city enacted a breed ban in 1989. To give one example of the
draconian use of their law, one young woman was victimized when
Animal Control officers entered her mother’s home and seized her
two dogs while she was visiting there. (The woman had moved out
of the city limits a few months earlier to save her dogs from
this very fate, thinking that the law would not apply if the
dogs were kept inside the house while she was visiting.) Within
24 hours, while she was frantically trying to contact people in
order to save her dogs, they were killed. *
Unfortunately, the Denver law has been a model for similar
legislation passed in various places around the world. The "Dog
Owners’ Liability Act" passed here in Ontario was largely based
on it. While a few states in the United States have passed laws
prohibiting municipalities from adopting Breed Specific
Legislation, the frightening reality is that there are hundreds
of areas in the U.S. and around the world that have taken this
faulty, costly and ineffective approach, and the numbers are
increasing at a dizzying speed.
Countries that now have some sort of ban or severe restrictions
on owning dogs of certain breeds include Canada, the United
States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and, of course, the
current champion Italy with its 92 banned or restricted breeds.
(For a list, visit www.understand-a-bull.com)
Let’s face the truth here. Problem dogs, like problem kids, do
not happen as a result of "breeding". They are created by their
upbringing and training, whether that is done willfully or
whether it is done inadvertently from a lack of know how.
Politicians, whatever their motive, are simply twisting the
truth when they demonize any particular breed of dog. As Karen
Delise states in The Pit Bull Placebo, "They are
deliberately ignoring the testimonies of legitimate
professionals (veterinarians, humane society personnel, dog
trainers, breed clubs) and choosing to believe and to validate
the boasts of a criminal, inhumane, machismo group of dog owners
who for a hundred years have touted extraordinary abilities
about their dogs in order to increase their personal and
financial worth. The claims [of the politicians] are almost word
for word the claims of dog fighters."
One would have to be loopy to think I would continue to own my
"pit bull" Hunny if she did naturally what many politicians and
lawmakers claim.
— — —
* From The Pit Bull Placebo: The Media, Myths and Politics
of Canine Aggression by Karen Delise, pp. 101-102
Previous "Petitorial"
articles by David McKague:
Editor’s note:
I would like to encourage dog lovers everywhere
to start a PETITION to have this law thrown out or revised to such
a form where justice prevails. SFR.
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