Enforcement of all dog management regulations. Resourcing is often a major barrier to effective enforcement, and this problem needs to be addressed to achieve tangible reductions in dog bite incidents

The facts about dog bites

While genetics are an important factor, the impact of the environment and learning are critical to the behaviour of a dog. The tendency of a dog to bite is dependent on at least five interacting factors:  heredity (genes, breed)  early experience  socialisation and training  health (physical and psychological) and  victim behaviour (Beaver 2001, Seksel 2002, Snyder 2005).

Other factors include the sex and age of the animal, along with a range of other social and environmental factors.

1 Dog bite incidents generally occur either in domestic settings where the animal is known to the victim, or by dogs at large (refer to the definition on page 33) unknown to the victim. While dogs at large are responsible for a minority of dog bites2 , they attract disproportionate media and political interest.

They are the public face of the dog bite problem, and most legislation is designed to control this part of the problem.

 However, most bites occurred in the dog’s own home and involve victims bitten by their own dog (Kizer 1979 cited in Overall and Love 2001). In Australia, 73% to 81% of attacks occur in the domestic environment (Ashby K 1996 quoted in Ozanne-Smith et al 2001, Thompson 1

 Other factors include:  Male dogs are 6.2 times more likely to bite than females (Gershman 1994, Shuler 2008)  Entire (undesexed) dogs are 2.6 times more likely to bite than those that are spayed or neutered (desexed) (Gershman 1994 although see Guy 2001, Messam 2008)

 Chained dogs are 2.8 times more likely to bite than unchained dogs (Gershman 1994, although see Messam 2001, Yeon 2001)  Dogs with “dominance aggression” are more likely to be 18-24 months old (Overall and Love 2001) 

Dogs bred at home are less likely to bite, compared to those obtained from breeders and pet shops (Messam 2008)  Dogs are more likely to bite the older they are when they are obtained (Messam 2008)

 Biting dogs are more likely to live in areas of lower median income (Shuler 2008)  Dogs are more dangerous when acting as a pack (Kneafsey et al 1995, Avis 1999 cited in Patronek and Slavinski 2009; Raghavan 2008) 2 Owned dogs at large in public places (stray, escaped or being walked off-leash) were responsible for 13-25% of reported bites in Baltimore (Berzon cited in Overall and Love 2001), 35% of reported bites to children in Belgium, 38% of reported bites in the Netherlands (Cornelissen 2010), and 42% of reported bites in Toronto (Bandow 1996). Only 10% (cited in Beaver et al 2001) to 27% (Messam et al 2008) of biting dogs are not known to the victim.

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