What is a dog bite?
While the question seems simple enough, the answer is often not what we imagine.
Dog bite numbers offer little useful information about canine behavior. Dog bite numbers are simply a tally of the number of people who sought medical treatment and/or reported a break in skin after exposure to a dog’s nail or tooth –- in other words, the number of people reported to have been injured interacting with a dog. The interaction may or may not have involved aggression.
So, if dog bite numbers provide little useful information about canine aggression, then what can Alabama dog bite numbers really tell us about canine / human interaction? First and foremost, they reveal that there is no “dog bite epidemic” in Alabama.
During the past three decades, increased awareness of the importance of humane care and control of dogs, the enactment and enforcement of leash laws, and dog bite prevention education, have all been instrumental in drastically lowering the number of reported dog-related injuries in Alabama and throughout the nation.
Consistent with this trend, and despite significant increases in the human and dog population, cities and counties in Alabama with dog-bite data dating from the 1970’s reveal a steady and significant decrease in the number of reported dog bites:
Source: 2005, 2006 Bite Numbers – Jefferson County Health Department, Alabama
Source: 1975, 1975 Bite Numbers – Animal Bites, a Public Health Problem in Jefferson County, Alabama, Public Health Reports, Nov-Dec 1979, Vol. 94: Jefferson-Cnty-AL-1975-76-dog-bites
National Canine Research Council