Four important links for National Dog Bite Prevention Week

This week is national dog bite prevention week.

The week will be blessed with a lot of great information about preventing dog bites and attacks. It will also be sparked by a lot of hyperbole and headlines designed to scare people and drive ratings.  Be smart and recognized the difference.

With that, there are four key stories that launched last week (or over the weekend) that I think are good starting points for National Dog Bite Prevention Week.

#1 - The National Canine Research Council Notes that National Dog Bite Prevention Week is succeeding

The Number of dog bites to postal workers topped out at about 7,000 dog bites to postal workers in 1983. Now, 30 years later, the number is 2,675.  This is a substantial improvement -- and particularly notable as the population of people and the increasing perctage of people who own dogs as pets have driven the number of owned dogs up dramatically during this time.  2,675 is still a lot -- but it is great to see the downward trend.

#2  State Farm  Releases their stats on Dog Bite Claims

State Farm is one of the largest home owner and liability insurance companies in the nation -- and also the largest that does not discriminate on insurance coverage based on dog breeds (except in Ohio -- where they do discriminate because of Ohio State law that declares all pit bulls to be "dangerous").  In 2010, State Farm paid out more than $90 million as a result of nearly 3500 dog bite claims.  In their official press release, State Farm lists their top 10 states for insurance claims. It is interesting to note that Ohio is #3 on the list in spite of the state-wide Breed-Specific legislation and in spite of State Farm's inability to insure 'pit bulls' there. This is the state that has the highest upward swing when compared to overall population  -- again showing that breed specific laws do NOT improve overall public safety -- and arguably make people less safe, not more safe.

I emailed the spokesperson for State Farm to see if they had numbers of bites by dog breeds and she noted that they don't track that information because breed is not a causal factor in bites and because breed identification wasn't reliable in these cases -- something else that has proven to be true over and over again. And you'd bet that a company that has $90 million at stake in this would be making a pretty sound decision.

#3 The US Postal Service Released it's top 55 cities for dog bites to postal workers

  This report has gotten a lot of media play this week.  Mostly, if you look at the list, many of the cities largely fall where they are should based on the size of the populations.  Large cities will have more dogs and likely more bite incidents. Here are a couple of notable areas that have significantly higher bite rankings than their populations would indicate they should have:

Columbus, OH - Tied at #2 in bites, #15 in population

Cleveland, OH - #8 in bites, #45 in population

Cincinnati, OH - #19 in bites, #62 in population

Denver, CO -- #12 in bites, #26 in population

Toledo, OH -- #27 in bites, #66 in population

Arguably no cities have done more harm to 'pit bulls' in the name of public safety than this group listed above - -with all of them being miserable failures in terms of public safety. All of the Ohio cities are under the state-wide breed specific legislation, and Denver and Cincinnati have outright bans on the dogs.  Breed-specific laws do not improve public safety.

Meanwhile, this report has also spurred the fear-mongering that comes with the media. KSHB in Kansas City (you'll see more from them from me this week) reported that "Kansas City is among top cities for dog attacks on mail carriers". Uh huh.  They list Kansas City as ranked #21 (which, the report has the cities numbered oddly and has them listed at 21), but KC actually is tied fore 34th on the list of bites (if you count the number of actual cities) and 37th in total population -- so we're essentially right where we should be for dog bites on postal carriers based on overall population.  But fear mongering is more fun.

#4 Dogs & Storks Proposes a Name Change to the week

They propose "Respect Dogs Week" -- which make a lot of sense.  They have some great commentary on respecting dogs' limits and recognizing warning signs. Very much worth the read.

Also, for your education, doggone safe has put together a quiz to help you understand dog body language to help you stay safe. Take the quiz. I got 9 out of 10 -- and I think the answer to the one I missed was more geared toward kids than someone who has a lot of experience handling dogs that have fear issues -- so I gave myself a pass on it.

Have a good week. 

Comments

[Robert]

In their press release about dog bite stats, USPS said 5669 postal workers were bitten in 2010. Do you know why this number is so much higher than the one you cite in #1? It may be because the USPS uses dog bites and dog attacks interchangeably so their number included attacks?

Here's the link to their press release -
http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/2011/pr11_050.htm

[Brent]

According to the NCRC Press Release, the 2,675 is the number of bites recorded by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The 5,669 in the USPS press release includes all incidents in which a worker reported being bitten or threatened by a dog -- so it includes incidents in which there may have been no actual physical contact with the dog but the dog was "threatening" in some way. I decided to report the actual documented bite number...although I'm sure there were some bites included in the USPS number that are not included in the OSHA nunmbers.

[Jennifer Brighton]

Okay, Brent, I have to brag. I got 9 out of 10 right too on the doggone safe quiz. Thank you Delta Society therapy dog lessons!

[Dianne in DC]

I got 9 out of 10 right too. Now I'm curious as to what others got "wrong". From my experience as road crew for the AIDS bike rides, I said to tell the dog to go home (it usually works).

[Brent]

Dianne -- my guess is that this is designed for kids -- who probably should just ignore the dog. I agree that telling the dog to go home usually works. I missed the one about the dog with it's tail between its legs but wagging it. Given the number of scared/damaged dogs I've fostered, I saw this as a great opportunity to reward the dog with some love to give him more confidence :) Probably not the best idea for a kid though...

[KateH]

Please, please, please, stop saying State Farm does not discriminate! Each of their agents can, and does, decide - on their own prejudicial ideas - to discriminate against any breed they feel like. State Farm allows this, with full backing from corporate. My State Farm agent will not insure Dobermans, Rottweilers, "pit bulls" and several other breeds. I am getting a new agent.

[Brent]

In fairness, State Farm as a company does not discriminate -- althought it sounds like some of their agents might.

[Robert Pregulman]

Thanks for clarifying the USPS numbers.

[Jennifer Brighton]

KateH, I also thought Farmers does not discriminate, but recently talked to a postal worker in my city whose Farmers agent denied his wife and him coverage because they had a dog that looked like a pit bull, even though the vet signed a statement that it was a boxer mix. The agent wouldn't accept the vet's letter and told the postal worker he would have to have a DNA test done. He chose to go with another insurance company that didn't give him such grief.

P.S. On the doggone safe quiz, I got the question wrong about a loose dog. I have taken a few loose dogs home from hiking trails that appeared to be lost and called their owners. We don't have many vicious dogs running around. All the loose ones seem to be happy go lucky. Or maybe I've just been lucky!