Here's some proof of what we've been telling people all along: that the types of dogs which bite, attack and kill in Canada differ from those featured in media-hyped, flawed US studies.
This abstract of a recent study should be of interest to those who are looking for ways to prevent dog bite-related fatalities and who realize that the breed, or more correctly shape of the dog(s) involved is the least important aspect of these tragic events. One problem with this paper is that it relied on media reports as a source for information. I wonder if news media will run this story?
1: Can Vet J. 2008 Jun;49(6):577-81.
Fatal dog attacks in Canada, 1990-2007.
Office of the Dean, Faculty of Medicine, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba. raghavan@cc.umanitoba.ca
In Canada, public debates on dog attacks are dominated by studies from the United States. An electronic search of media reports in the Canadian Newsstand database, for the years 1990 to 2007, identified 28 fatalities from dog-bite injuries. Predominant factors in this case series were owned, known dogs; residential location; children's unsupervised access to area with dogs; and rural/remote areas, including aboriginal reserves in the prairies. A higher proportion of sled dogs and, possibly, mixed-breed dogs in Canada than in the United States caused fatalities, as did multiple dogs rather than single dogs. Free-roaming dog packs, reported only from rural communities, caused most on-reserve fatalities. Future studies are needed to assess if this rural/urban divide is observed in nonfatal attacks and if the breeds that bite in Canada are different from the breeds that killed. Breed representation in this paper and, perhaps, multiple-dog overrepresentation should be understood in the context of the overall Canadian dog population.
