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I agree, it is a relatively small number of dog bites that are fatal. Granted larger then we would like, but not nearly as bad a lot of people and the media make it out to be.
The big problem is that most studies just lump all bites into the same category. Any dog owner can tell you there is a big difference between an accidental bite (during play you brush against a tooth), and a bite during a mauling. Plus there are many stages inbetween most of which are not serious.
In my studies I found the most disportional group of people to get bitten is young males, but I did see some studies dispute this. Kids in general also tend to have more serious bites (face, neck, etc) then people (hands, legs), but this is a simply explained. The average child's head/neck is around the same height as a medium dog, the average adult is several feet higher. Kids are also more likely to carry out behaviors that aggitate dogs, and less likely to know when a dog is aggitated.
The problem with most dog bite studies is that they barely scratch the surface in size and quality. I doubt many would hold up to any type of statistical analysis. There is also little repetition of findings between studies I have seen. So before you go believing any quote from a survey, make sure you get the original and see exactly what it says, because I bet you take it to have an entirely different meaning.
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