Good info
here. Good points to know:
* Dog bites to people of the male gender are approximately two times greater than the incidence involving females.
* Dogs that are licensed with an identifiable owner are implicated in the vast majority of dog bites (compared with strays).
* The list of breeds most involved in both bite injuries and fatalities changes from year to year and from one area of the country to another, depending on the popularity of the breed.
* The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention document that a chained dog is 2.8 times more likely to bite than an unchained dog.
* Canines not spayed or neutered are three times more likely to bite than sterilized ones.
* According to the Insurance Information Institute, dog bites accounted for about one-quarter of all claims on homeowner's insurance, costing more than $321 million in 2003. In 2002, the latest year for which numbers are available, the average claim for a dog bite was $16,600.
* Dog attacks account for one-third of all liability claims on homeowners' insurance policies. According to the Western Insurance Information Service, the insurance industry paid out more than $1 billion in dog-bite claims in 1998 alone.
* In the United States, pit bulls make up one to three per cent of the overall dog population and cause more than 50 per cent of serious attacks.* Of the 27 people who died as a result of dog bite attacks in 1997 and 1998, 67% involved unrestrained dogs on the owner's property; 19% involved unrestrained dogs off the owner's property; 11% involved restrained dogs on the owner's property; and 4% involved a restrained dog off the owner's property.
* In a study reported by a retired professor from California State University at Chino, Robert Plum, it was found that one dog in 55 will bite someone seriously during the course of a year. With respect to breed differences in the tendency to inflict serious injury, Plumb estimates that when a pit bull bites a human, one in 16 (e.g. 1/16) will inflict serious injury; this contrasts with a ratio of 1/296 Dobermans, and 1/156 German shepherds.
