Dog bites on the increase...

[EasyToEatTiger]

Here... www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19194802

I often wonder with stats like this (and of course there is always the old adage - There's Lies, Damn Lies and then Statistics) if it's not really an increase in bites, but more of an increase in reporting them.

Also, what constitues a "bite" - My dog bit me - but it should not go towards these stats as what actually happened was I managed to put my hand in her mouth when she was barking - don't ask, I still can't figure out how I did it . She didn't break the skin, but did break a bone. Of all dogs I have owned or have known, she is the most unlikely dog to bite deliberately, so had I've told the hospital what happened, this would have been recorded in the above stats.

The other thing is that hospitals are now recording and reporting this information, whereas they didn't used to.

It may also be due to an increase in dog ownership, for example there are thousands more car accidents than there were a hundred years ago, so cars must be becoming more dangerous right?

So, I feel that this is just an inflammatory piece of meaningless journalism, as someone else said on another thread "Family buys Staffie and it becomes a wonderful family member" just doesn't sell as many newspapers

It's just a slow news day. There's only so many times they can give Olympics updates.

i can believe this. I do think that there are a lot more careless owners than there used to be perhaps, certain dogs are now more of a status symbol than a pet and people take them on and don't bother to train them and I could certainly believe that this could cause an increase in biting incidents.

what I'm saying I guess is that I don't think there are more "vicious" or "dangerous" dogs out there... just more inept owners

This report does not surprise me at all. People are just so ignorant about training, dog body language and dog behaviour. You only need to read some of the advice given on here to see that.

I totally agree with thisisyesterday there are no more vicious dogs now than there used to be just totally incompetent owners who do not want to learn how dog learn and behave.

That's actually a big increase. The saddest thing is that the group most affected is those under 10 (over 1000 admissions, it says, of children under 10)! That's terrible.

Unfortunately it does seem that many owners don't understand dogs very well. A study in the US earlier this year found that of children attending A and E for a dog bite, a quarter of them had previously had a dog bite, which suggests that their parents were not learning from the incident. A different US study found that the most common scenario for children under 7 being bitten was at home, when they approached the dog, which was laying down or standing still. I expect that would be the same in the UK. Parents need to learn to keep dogs and children separate or well-supervised, and to teach their children never to approach the dog - always call the dog to them if they want to pet it.