The National Canine Research Council has a great article today about breed identification by the media when it comes to fatal dog attacks.
Yeah, not all that accurate.
Most dog bite reports, including the infamous CDC report, Merit Clifton's report, and reports from an online pit bull hate group rely 100% on media reports for their 'research". The CDC, to their credit, admit that the accuracy of the media reports was questionable -- but it seems that most people fail to read the "conclusions" section of the report.
In this article, the NCRC shows pictures of dogs that were reported as being the same breed, but really bare no resemblence to the breeds they were reported to be.
I've mentioned in this space a lot over the past few weeks about the failings of visual identification when it comes to dog breeds. You can read those posts hereand here. And Lakewood, OH has provided us some recent examples.
BTW, the two dogs pictured in this post are from the NCRC article. Both were involved in fatal attacks on humans between the years of 2002 and 2008. One was listed as a "Chow" and one as a "Chow mix" -- and both count equally against "Chows" in fatal dog attack reports.
Wow. A lot of those pit bulls are wearing their Lab disguises.
Posted by: Lisa | August 10, 2009 at 07:05 PM
If you want to see someone arguing simultaneously that pit bulls are not a breed and that every dog identified as a pit bull IS a pit bull, be sure to go to the comments here: http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2009/08/responsible-pit-bull-owner-law.html
Brent tries really hard, but ultimately you can't argue with someone uninterested in the truth (even as he proclaims he wants an "honest" discussion)
Posted by: EmilyS | August 14, 2009 at 08:59 PM