National Canine Research Council

Over the past 45 years (1965-present) there have been ten (10) fatal dog attacks in Arkansas, or an average of one fatality every four to five years.

At least seven (7) different breeds/types of dogs have been identified as participating in these incidents.

The victims were 3 adults and 7 children.

All the dogs involved were intact (not spayed or neutered).

More than half the child victims (n=4) were killed by chained dogs.

In 1987, a 3-year-old boy was attacked and killed after he wandered out, unsupervised,  to a dog chained to a large tractor tire  staked to the ground behind his home.  (Harrison)

In 1991, a 2-year-old boy wandered out to one of two dogs chained in backyard of the home where his mother was renting a room.  He was found dead near the large, male dog.  (West Fork)

In 1999, a mother and her 3-year-old daughter were giving water to a chained dog, when the dog attacked and killed the child.  (Proctor)

In 2009, a 2-year-old child wandered 4 blocks from his babysitter’s home and  into a yard where a dog was chained to a dog house (pictured above).  (Prescott)

There have been two convictions of a dog owner whose dog(s) have been involved in a fatal attack in Arkansas:

In 1996,  a 4-year-old boy, Damon Koehn, was attacked and killed by his neighbor’s large pack of loose roaming dogs.  The dogs had a history of running loose and behaving aggressively.  The owner, Daniel Doiel, pleaded guilty to negligent homicide and received a 1 year sentence and fined $1,000— both to be suspended if he performed weekly community service for six months and did not keep dogs on his property for one year.  The court also required that he write a letter of apology to the boy’s parents.

In 2001, Carl Smith was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 3 years in prison, after his dangerous ownership practices resulted in the death of neighbor by his dogs in Moreland.  The victim, 51-year-old, Carolyn Shatswell, was walking past Smith’s home when his dogs ran out and attacked her.

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In spite of the recklessness of some dog owners, dogs still pose an incredibly low risk for causing a fatality in Arkansas:

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services:

In 2007,  twenty (20) Arkansas children died as a result of maltreatment (abuse/neglect).

In a  single year, 2007, more than twice as many Arkansas children died from maltreatment than the total of all children killed by dogs in the state over the past 45 years.

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People in Arkansas routinely accept far greater risks from ATVs, bicycles and swimming pools than any that are associated with companion animals.

National Canine Research Council