Having just talked to a shaken friend who recently got bitten by a Dachshund, it made me wonder who the bad boys are in the bite world now. As I came across this info, it doesn’t look like much has changed in the last 20 years.
In the mid-1990s The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted its first study into the dog breeds involved in deadly U.S. attacks between 1979 and 1996. During that time, the Pit Bull was involved in 60 fatal attacks, the Rottweiler was recorded in 29 and the German Shepherd was in 19.
According to the most recent research, the breeds responsible for most fatal attacks have remained the same. DogsBite.org compiled a 13-year fatality report identifying breeds of dogs involved in U.S. attacks from 2005 to 2017.
The Pit Bull is still the breed/type of dog responsible for the most fatal attacks with 284 incidents identified, 66%of the total. The Rottweiler comes in at a distant second with 45 fatal attacks over those 13 years while the German Shepherd is third with 20. Surprisingly, some breeds which are not known for aggression, such as the Labrador Retriever, make the top-10 list with 9 attacks on record.
The average cost per claim for dog attacks has gone up 90% from 2003 to 2017, due to increasing medical costs and higher settlements. Canine-inflicted injuries accounted for more than a third of all homeowners’ liability claim dollars paid out in 2017, costing nearly $700 million. As well as hundreds of fatalities, dog attacks also resulted in 28,000 reconstructive surgeries in the U.S. in 2015 while hospitalization stays went up by 86% between 1993 and 2008. Today, the cost of a dog-bite related hospital stay in the U.S. is $18,200.
Condensed from this Statistica article.
Related Posts: