The Media: A Reliable Source for Dog Attack Data?
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What do these two dogs have in common?
- Both dogs were involved in a fatal attack on a human between the years 2002 and 2008
- Both were reported by the media to be a “Chow” or “Chow mix”
- Both are counted equally as “Chows” by those tallying dog bite fatalities by breed
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What do both these dogs have in common?
- Both dogs were involved in a fatal attack on a human between the years 2002 and 2008
- Both were reported by the media to be a “Rottweiler”
- Both are counted equally as a “Rottweiler” by those tallying dog bite fatalities by breed
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What do all of these dogs have in common?
- They were all involved in a fatal attack on a human between the years 2002 and 2008
- They were all reported in the media to be “pit bulls”
- They are all counted equally as pit bulls by those tallying fatalities by breed
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What do these two dogs have in common?
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They were both involved in a fatal attack on a human between the years 2002 and 2008
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They were both reported by the media to be “pit bulls”
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They are both counted as pit bulls by those tallying fatal dog attacks by breed
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“This Australian shepherd is being held by Brevard County Animal Service and Enforcement.” FloridaToday.com, June 28, 2008
The dog above was involved in a fatal attack in 2008: It is not possible to speculate how or why the media reported this dog to be an “Australian shepherd.” (see above caption)
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This photo is of an Australian shepherd. This dog has not been involved in any attack, it is merely a stock photo to show the breed characteristics of an Australian shepherd.
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New Research Documents the Unreliability of Visual Identifications of Breeds of Dog -
A comparison of visual and DNA identifications of breeds - Victoria Lea Voith, PhD, DVM, DACVB, Professor, Animal Behavior, Western University
National Canine Research Council