National Canine Research Council

Over the past 45 years (1965-present) there have been nine (9) fatal dog attacks in Colorado, an average of less than one (1) fatality every four (4) years.

At least eight (8) different breeds/types of dogs have been identified in connection with these nine incidents.

The victims were 2 adults and 7 children.

In 1977,  three loose roaming dogs killed a girl in Breckenridge. The owners and caretakers were charged with criminally negligent homicide for the reckless management of their dogs.

In 1985, a 5-year-old Littleton boy was attacked and killed while attempting to play with his babysitter’s dog.

In 1986, a pit bull, kept chained in a carport, attacked and killed an unsupervised 3-year-old child who had wandered over to her.  This was the first documented fatal dog attack in Colorado involving a pit bull.  This incident was used as evidence of the breed’s “dangerousness” in Denver’s 1989 pit bull ban.  However, what Denver failed to acknowledge was that three years prior to the fatal attack, in 1983, another dog  belonging to the same owner inflicted serious injuries to an 8-year-old Denver boy. The owner was sued, charged and placed on probation. Unable (or unwilling) to pay the medical expenses for this child, the civil suit against the owner was dropped. Undaunted by his inability to meet the financial and moral responsibility to the boy who was injured by one of his dogs, the owner proceeded to obtain additional dogs, one of which would later be the dog that attacked and killed 3-year-old Fernando Salazar in 1986.

Instead of instituting laws to severely penalize or punish owners such as this who repeatedly obtain dogs, breed these dogs, and maintain these animals in a condition in which they have the ability and opportunity to attack children, Denver opted to ban the breed of dog.  Banning a breed of dog – instead of addressing dangerous owners – was heralded by Denver as the “cure” for dog attacks.

In 1990, an 4-year-old Arapahoe County boy was running down a road when his neighbor’s loose dog attacked and killed him.  The dog was usually kept chained, but was loose that morning.  The owner was charged with allowing a dog to run loose and harboring a dangerous animal.

In 1994, a Northglen woman borrowed a large dog from a friend for protection. Two days later her daughter was playing on a swing in the backyard when the dog attacked and killed her.  It was later revealed that the dog had a history of aggression and had previously attacked another child the year before.

In 1996, two wolf-dogs attacked and killed a 39-year-old woman who was attempting to get the animals back into their pen.  The animals were a breeding pair. 

In 1998, despite Denver’s pit bull ban, a 21-month-old child was killed by a dog in Denver.   The child was crawling on the floor at his grandmother’s home when the neutered male (non-pit bull) dog attacked him. 

In 2003, three loose roaming dogs attacked and killed a woman in Elbert County. The owners of these dogs had a history of allowing their dogs to roam loose, harass, attack and injure persons in the neighborhood. They were charged with owning dangerous dogs resulting in death. One owner, J. McCuen was convicted and received a 6-year prison sentence.

In 2005, a 7-year-old girl was attacked and killed by one of two newly acquired dogs, a male and a female.  The mother was in the yard with the child and dogs but had gone inside the house for only a few mintues, when she returned she found that the male dog had attacked the child.

In spite the reckless ownership practices of some dog owners, dogs still pose an incredibly low risk for causing a fatality in Colorado:

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

In 2005,  20 Colorado children died as a result of maltreatment (abuse, neglect).

In a single year, 2005, more than twice as many Colorado children died as a result of maltreatment that the total of all children killed by dogs in the state over the past 44 years.

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Fact is, people in Colorado routinely accept far greater risks from ATVs, bicycles and swimming pools than any that are associated with companion animals.

National Canine Research Council