Aaaaand...it's Dog Bite Prevention Week

[flvegan]

Alright, it WAS last week.

Traditionally, the 3rd week in May is DBPW, and yeah, I missed posting about it. Big pitbull apologist flvegan missed posting about it. Fine, I'm a moron.

Anyway, here are some good tips in regards to avoiding dogbites from that touchy-feely, everybody-loves-em ASPCA...
_______________________________________________

Did you know that 50 percent of all children in the United States will be bitten by a dog before their 12th birthday? Did you know that 800,000 bites a year are severe enough to require medical treatment, while 1 to 2 milion go unreported?

The vast majority of dog bites are from a dog known to the child—his or her own pet, a neighbor's or friend's. You can help prevent this from happening to your child. Please discuss with him or her the appropriate way to behave around dogs. The following activity will help you and your child understand the difference between safe and potentially dangerous interactions with dogs.

The following is a list of pledges that you can recite with your child:

1. I will not stare into a dog's eyes.
2. I will not tease dogs behind fences.
3. I will not go near dogs chained up in yards.
4. I will not touch a dog I see loose (off-leash) outside.
5. If I see a loose dog, I will tell an adult immediately.
6. I will not run and scream if a loose dog comes near me.
7. I will stand very still (like a tree), and will be very quiet if a dog comes near me.
8. I will not touch or play with a dog while he or she is eating.
9. I will not touch a dog when he or she is sleeping.
10. I will only pet a dog if I have received permission from the dog's owner.
11. Then I will ask permission of the dog by letting him sniff my closed hand.

http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=pets_dogbiteprevention

AND, I'd also like to add a quick snippet from our very good friends at the CDC that came out with this statement about the Prevention Week:

A CDC study on fatal dog bites lists the breeds involved in fatal attacks over 20 years (Breeds of dogs involved in fatal human attacks in the United States between 1979 and 1998). It does not identify specific breeds that are most likely to bite or kill, and thus is not appropriate for policy-making decisions related to the topic. Each year, 4.7 million Americans are bitten by dogs. These bites result in approximately 16 fatalities; about 0.0002 percent of the total number of people bitten. These relatively few fatalities offer the only available information about breeds involved in dog bites. There is currently no accurate way to identify the number of dogs of a particular breed, and consequently no measure to determine which breeds are more likely to bite or kill.

Many practical alternatives to breed-specific policies exist and hold promise for preventing dog bites. For prevention ideas and model policies for control of dangerous dogs, please see the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Task Force on Canine Aggression and Human-Canine Interactions.

NICE.

Can I make a point of quoting them in stating, "It does not identify specific breeds that are most likely to bite or kill, and thus is not appropriate for policy-making decisions related to the topic."

I mean, it DOES sort of make a case as far as breeds go, in an epic fail kind of way. If you consider that 82% of their data involves unrestrained dogs, it sort of screams "HEY, STUPID OWNERS, TAKE HEED OF YOUR DOGS YOU IDIOTS!". So then, proving up the claim that because stupid people don't tend to their dogs, people may suffer the related issues. Got it.

Wait...that means that in (from the study) 82% of the time, a dog attack is largely the fault of the person "in charge" of the dog. So then, in only 1 out of 5 situations is the dog even in question, because if the person had done his/her job, well...there'd be no situation to speak of. Got it.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/duip/dogbreeds.pdf

Oh, and what exactly is a "pit bull type" dog? Is that any bully breed? Right. Don't really have the ability to get good data there, eh? Maybe we could back it up and say "any Molosser downbred dog". It's vague, ambiguous and stupid...just like the folks that'd like to ban a breed.

[blondie58]

1. oh, yeah Dog Bite week - which is something

I should have known also, being a letter carrier, but I've been off my job recuperating from rotator cuff surgery. Luckily, I don't usually have problems with dogs, in fact as a kid, I was the only one besides the family who could pet my neighbors dog Lobo, their hybrid wolf dog. But I always respect dogs and realize that their instincts run strong.

I am convinced that dogs smell fear. One of my former regular carriers had been bit one too many times and was a little wary of dogs. His family commented to me "I don't know why Lassie doesn't like Bob. He likes just about everyone."