Dog Biting Case Study Dog attacks have always been a burning issue for the media and today, the media is filled with sensational headlines of dog bites. These newspapers use statistics from the centers for Disease control (CDC). According to media, there are certain breeds of dogs that can be fatal to one's life. In-spite of so much awareness about dog attacks, no organization has been able to investigate the number of individual dog attack cases and record the number and circumstances of fatal dog attacks on a yearly basis till date, continuously. However, we can control this problem by understanding the events and behavior, that contribute to a fatal dog attack. According to a study conducted on dog attacks, it is concluded that there are three main factors that contribute to canine aggression towards humans.
A dog attack is a serious matter and one must understand that a fatal dog attack is an extremely unusual event. Only around 20 deaths per year in a dog population of more then 53 million yields a small percent of dog population (.0000004%) involved in a human fatality. Most of the people around the world, think that one can be safe from dog attacks if certain breeds of dog are considered, potentially dangerous to human beings. However this is not the practical way out, as there are millions of breeds of dogs all over the world. Most people think that since only a small portion of any breed is implicated in a human fatality & it's not only unreasonable to characterize an entire breed of dogs as fatal to human life but it also does nothing to prevent fatal or severe dog attacks. Pitbulls (a particular breed of dogs) have been considered as the breed, most responsible for fatal attacks. Being a victim of bad publicity, one severe or fatal attack can result in either restrictions or out right banning of this breed in a community. It was reported that, there have been 36 different breeds of dogs, involved in fatal attacks in the United States. This is case of extreme shock for all of us as we consider dogs as our protectors, companions and guardians. There seems to be an ever growing expectation of a "behaviorally homogenized" dog - "Benji" in the shape of a Rottweiler. It is found that certain breeds of dogs, especially trained for protection, or with an elevated prey-drive are often aggressive or dangerous. However, the root cause of this 'aggression' does not lie in a particular breed of dogs, but their trainers or masters (owners who fail to provide them obedience training). One must understand that there is no breed of dog is inherently vicious, since all breeds of dogs were created and are maintained exclusively co-exist with us. It is only when we obtain more knowledge, become more humane and responsible in our treatment of dogs, can we hope to lessen future dog bites.
|
Dog Teaching |
Dog Behavior Problems
All rights reserved. Copyright ©
DogTeaching.com 2009