A Bite of Reality...

"Jake"





In June of this year, a three year-old child in Moore, Oklahoma, loses his entire arm due to a multiple pit bull attack. 12 year-old Nicholas Scott Faibish is killed at home by the family’s pit bulls in San Francisco, California, June 2005. Both of these instances received national media attention. More recently, Monica Keen of the Sequoyah County Times reported that a two-year old boy has been severely mauled by a pit bull terrier north of Muldrow, Oklahoma, on Wednesday, November 2, 2005.

According to the American Kennel Club (AKC), breed specific legislation against pit bull dogs, or pit bull dog types, has already been passed and is currently enforced in seven cities in Colorado. The State of California has passed a similar breed specific law. The AKC monitors and reports state bills and legislation on its Legislative Alerts web page. Accessed on November 5, 2005, the AKC has posted for the year 2004 and the current 2005 calendar year approximately 104 alerts concerning various types of dog related proposed bills and legislation throughout the United States. Should and can the local, state, and federal governments solve the problem of dog bite related injuries and death with breed specific legislation? I don’t think so.

As a veterinary health professional I can tell you from personal experience and observation that dog-bite related injuries are a real problem. Additionally, the Centers for Disease Control recognizes this as a national problem.

According to the CDC’s National Dog Bite Prevention Week web page which was reviewed on August 18, 2005, the CDC reports that more than 4.7 million people are bitten by dogs each year. This same article gives the following statistics:

a. Annually, 800,000 Americans seek medical attention for dog bites.
b. Approximately half of these are children.
c. Of those who are injured by dog bites, 386,000 seek medical care in an emergency department.
d. Approximately 12 deaths occur each year due to a dog bite related injury.
e. Boys are at greater risk than girls, and children between the ages of five and nine years of age are at the greatest risk of being bitten.

The medical costs that my hospital incurs due to injuries that are incurred by biting dogs affect our workman’s compensation rates. As a result of severe dog bite injuries my facility loses productivity. Additionally, my staff suffers needlessly due to biting pets.

The Insurance Information Institute states that dog bites cost the insurance industry approximately $320 million dollars in 2003. These types of costs are usually passed on to the consumer in the form of higher insurance premiums.

The obvious economic costs of dog bite related injuries are tremendously outweighed by the needless deaths, maiming and the life-long physical and mental disabilities that are suffered by the victims. A solution other than breed specific legislation must be developed.

There are several factors that must be considered in solving this problem. Current local leash laws should be enforced and policed to encourage responsible pet ownership. Those laws that are outdated and that are irrelevant to today’s current society should be updated.

Local laws should restrict the number of pets owned by citizens who live within the city limits and the ordinances should require the neutering of all pets. If a pet is to be used for breeding, a special license should be required. All pets should be vaccinated and a license required for individuals to sell pets or give them away. Pet population control methods for feral animals should be implemented, monitored for effectiveness, and adjusted as needed. Municipalities should provide low-cost spay and neuter clinics for low-income pet owners. Additionally, all animals should be permanently identified with a microchip and proper housing and secure fencing should be provided. Chained animals should also be enclosed by a secure fence. Finally, city ordinances should be developed to specifically address vicious animals and be strictly enforced.

Public education can be made readily available through city hall, the local shelters, the library, and the public schools. The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) provides several educational resources on its website such as the publication “Educational Resources for Dog Bite Prevention”. Additionally, the AVMA does not promote breed specific legislation. The CDC provides material in conjunction with its annual promotion of “Bite Prevention Week” in the month of May. Insurance companies, animal welfare organizations, and many civil groups also provide helpful information and materials for the general public.

Proper breeding programs should be encouraged and implemented. Animals that do not pass temperament tests or do not meet the breed’s standard and guidelines should be spayed and neutered. Owners who breed mixed breed animals should be required to apply for and maintain special licensing and meet animal quality standards including temperament testing.

Rescue groups and organizations should be licensed, monitored, and required to meet specific standards. All animals must be spayed or neutered and pass a temperament test before being adopted. Additionally these animals must be permanently identified with a microchip.

Pet populations that are found in communities with high crime rates should be closely monitored and policed with all leash laws being strictly enforced. Permanent identification of pets, such as microchipping, will encourage pet owners to act more responsibly in the care and control of their pets.

Responsible dog owners or their pets should not be punished for crimes that they did not commit. Responsible pet owners have their pets spayed and neutered and also keep them contained.

The CDC’s article, “Which Dogs Bite – A Case-Control Study of Risk Factors”, states that dogs that bite were predominantly unneutered males. It was additionally reported that females that had had more than one litter were more likely to bite. This same study also states that the owners of biting dogs were less likely to have their pets licensed or vaccinated and that the dogs that were chained were more likely to incur serious or fatal bites to the victims.

How will the municipalities enforce breed specific legislation? Can this type of legislation become problematic in the future? Will this type of law only affect the citizens who are compliant leaving the lawbreakers untouched?

In the article, “A Pit Bull Primer”, Janet Wells with the San Francisco Chronicle gives an in depth look into the situation of breed specific legislation and reports on the Denver, Colorado, pit bull ban ordinance. The citizens of Denver are reacting. She reports that the city is being compared to Nazi Germany. An underground railroad has been formed in Denver to transport pit bulls out of the city to a shelter that is willing to take them in according to the Rocky Mountain News Article “Pit Bulls Go Underground”.

Once you have banned pit bulls, you will soon discover that the other breeds of biting dogs will be vying for this unenviable number one position and that the criminal element concerning vicious dogs will still exist.

While the study in the article “Which Dogs Bite – A Case-Control Study of Risk Factors” was completed in 1993, it sheds some significant light on how statistics can change throughout the years during a breed specific ban.

This study reported that the breed most likely to inflict a bite wound was an unneutered male German Shepherd less than five years of age or a mix of that same breed. Chow Chows and Chow/Shepherd crosses were listed as second. Akitas were third in the report.

The study was conducted in Denver County, Colorado, where the breed specific ban of all pit bull terriers and pit bull-type dogs has been implemented since 1989.

There have been six reported dog bite related deaths in the state of Colorado from 1979 through 1994 according to the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Review dated May 30, 1997. The aforementioned MMWR also reported that during the 1995 – 1996 time period that there were 25 dog bite related deaths in 14 states with the predominant killer breed being Rottweilers. Two of those deaths were in the state of Colorado.

Oklahoma’s breed specific legislation is already here. Oklahoma State Representative Paul Wesselhoft is proposing pit bull ban legislation according to the Oklahoma House of Representatives Media Division. The representative has become personally involved with the family of Cody Yelton; the three year-old boy who lost his arm earlier this year in Moore. The proposed breed specific legislation would affect the entire state and not just a single municipality. Wesselhoft is preparing to introduce the new bill in the next legislative session.

State Bill 247 declares that an emergency exists and became effective July 1, 2005. The bill was sponsored by Senator Jim Reynolds. The original language within the bill stated, “Potentially dangerous or dangerous dogs may be regulated through local, municipal and county authorities, provided the regulations are not breed specific.” The words “provided the regulations are not breed specific” have been stricken from the bill.

House Bill 1282 became effective on November 1, 2005 and contains breed specific legislation also. There are several other pieces of legislation with breed specific wording. Will this legislation be effective? No it will not. Potentially, it could be the catalyst that would make this bad situation become worse. This is a societal problem. Not a specific breed problem.

People train these dogs to be vicious. Dogs chained on the front porch of a home are not household pets. We need to address the sector of society that trains dogs to attack people and actively seek out these individuals and animals and remove the threat. We need to make our neighborhoods safer and help protect our children.

If we ban pit bull and pit bull-type dogs other breeds will replace them. Larger and more dangerous dogs are already being bred and more are being imported into the United States from Europe and South America. The AKC only provides a small glimpse into the hundreds of fighting type breeds of dogs that are available throughout the United States.

Dog fighting is still an honored sport in Japan and the Tosa is one of their most feared fighting dogs with certain varieties of Tosas weighing up to 200 lbs. Last updated on October 13, 2005, the Stonewall Kennel website boasts of importing 23 Tosa dogs into the United States. The Stonewall Kennel is located in Tennessee.

The Argentine Dogo is a fierce South American fighting dog. The AKC website shows that the contact for the Argentine Dogo of America Club lives in Temple, Oklahoma.

The Cane Corso originates from Italy. Insights to this breed can be found on the International Cane Corso Federation website. The Cane Corso can weigh up to 145 pounds. It is an ancient breed and was developed as a warrior dog by the Romans. It was bred to kill people. The International Cane Corso Federation strongly warns prospective owners to think twice before obtaining one of these dogs. Blue Steel Kennels is one of several that breed Cane Corso dogs here in Oklahoma and their website warns prospective buyers of unscrupulous breeders of the Cane Corso.

These dogs are already here in the United States and we cannot ignore the cross-breeding of these dogs and the ready availability of these animals. Additionally, wolf-hybrids are another major concern for the public and are common within the state of Oklahoma.

I know personally that Oklahoma has hundreds of commercial dog breeders. Some of these breeders have USDA licensing but many of them do not and are known as puppy mills. Kennels that breed dogs for profit are particularly dangerous to the unsuspecting public.

All dogs bite. According to the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control over one-half of the victims are bitten by their family pet. It is my personal experience that most biting dogs weigh less than 30 lbs. These dogs can easily maul a small child. Once any dog has bitten someone there is an increased risk that it will bite again.

While the pit bull is listed as the number one killer in the MMWR study we cannot neglect the remaining breeds that have killed people. Banning pit bulls will not address these breeds of dogs:

1. Rottweilers
2. German shepherds
3. Huskies
4. Alaskan malamutes
5. Doberman Pinschers
6. Chow Chows
7. Great Danes
8. St. Bernards
9. Akitas

The breed of dog that I encounter in the clinical setting that is most likely to bite is the American Cocker Spaniel. I have been bitten by a german shepherd dog, a chow chow, and a rottweiler; however, one of my most severe bite wounds was delivered by a lhaso apso mix.

I assure you that I have personally handled thousands of dogs. Hundreds of them are pit bull dogs and mixes thereof. I do not have a fear of the average pit bull dog that is kept as a family pet or as a show dog. Additionally, I am seeing an increasing number of imported dogs that are larger, faster, and potentially more dangerous than the pit bull come into our Oklahoma City practice. Most dogs that have poor temperaments and/or lack training will bite irregardless of breed.

The United States and the state of Oklahoma do not have a dog breed
problem. The maiming of our children is only the symptom of a societal illness that can result in death. As with any illness the cause must be found, an effective treatment plan implemented, and a cure sought.

I ask you today to write your senators and representatives and support legislation that will address the true problems that cause dog bite related injuries and death. Breed specific legislation is only a bandaid, not a cure.

T.J. Morgan