Some People!!!

[fireworksinjuly]

I have both big dogs and little dogs...and can tell you honestly my big dogs are safer to be around then my little dogs....my small ones are feisty little ones, where as the big ones just wanna cuddle...

that would make me really mad, cuz I KNOW big dogs are safe

[Zoee]

Well your first comment "your dogs wont take care of you when your old" no, but they sure know the route to do thier business and to get me home after a night of drinking.

[flyndog]

Fatal attacks on humans by Yorkies? I'd love to see that report. Do you have a link?

[Crossfire Bulldogs]

Any dog, treated harshly or trained to attack, may bite a person. Any dog can be turned into a dangerous dog. The owner most often is responsible -- not the breed, and not the dog.

Although genetics do play some part in determining whether a dog will bite, other factors such as whether the animal is spayed or neutered, properly socialized, supervised, humanely trained, and safely confined play significantly greater roles. Responsible dog ownership of all breeds is the key to dog bite prevention.
( taken from dogbite law.com )

Flyn - Haven't seen anything on a Yorkie fatality but did read of a Pom involved in a fatal attack in California about 4 years ago.

[Carrie]

Yup, little dogs are dangerous all right. My little savage Chihuahua boy viciously ran a black bear off my property and was about to kill it, but the bear ran too fast, fearing for his life. It's a good think Jose finally obeyed me and came. He would have torn that poor bear to shreds with those massive jaws! My Doberman wouldn't dare do something like that.

[GSD]

I thought only large dogs were vicious??

"The most horrifying example of the lack of breed predictibility is the October 2000 death of a 6-week-old baby, which was killed by her family's Pomeranian dog. The average weight of a Pomeranian is about 4 pounds, and they are not thought of as a dangerous breed. Note, however, that they were bred to be watchdogs! The baby's uncle left the infant and the dog on a bed while the uncle prepared her bottle in the kitchen. Upon his return, the dog was mauling the baby, who died shortly afterwards. ("Baby Girl Killed by Family Dog," Los Angeles Times, Monday, October 9, 2000, Home Edition, Metro Section, Page B-5.)"

from this website
http://www.dogbitelaw.com/PAGES/statistics.html

about two thirds down the page.

[Sayuri]

Sorry Flyndog...got it off of an old pediatric journal from a local practice(JAMDA I think) and I have no clue how I would find it again. It took ages of searching and intense research and I'm not quite certain I want to invest the same amount of time to find it, lol! I was trying to find some way to prove that any breed could be dangerous if put in the wrong circumstance, and that was one of the best studies I found.

Trust me, it piqued my curiousity just as much as it must be rousing yours. The article didn't explain how it happened at all - I imagined some hapless owner tripping over the dog and falling down the stairs - but apparently all the fatalities really did involve the dog actually attacking. I suspect a very young child must have been involved, and the dog was likely in the type of circumstance that Crossfire suggested.

I'm of the same mind as Crossfire - you put a dog in the wrong situation, regardless of breed, and it can be made dangerous. (That was exactly what I garnered from the studies I read through). It is up to people to do the correct research, find the right breed for their lifestyle, do the training, etc to ensure that their dog does not end up a statistic. I've met incredibly friendly Shibas (my breed) and Shibas that I would not want to touch with a ten foot pole. They don't make it on bsl lists, thank God, but it always gives me a bit of a laugh, because I imagine hysterical lawmakers might sing a different tune if they knew Shibas have been successfully used to attack and kill wild boar. They're capable of pretty horrendous damage - but in the right hands they're not going to use those capabilities at the wrong time on a human being, dog, or another family pet.

Very much the same goes for other breeds - I've met wonderful, friendly examples, and some pretty unfriendly ones - in no case did it ever have anything to do with the breed.

[Crossfire Bulldogs]

Originally Posted by GSD

I thought only large dogs were vicious??

"The most horrifying example of the lack of breed predictibility is the October 2000 death of a 6-week-old baby, which was killed by her family's Pomeranian dog. The average weight of a Pomeranian is about 4 pounds, and they are not thought of as a dangerous breed. Note, however, that they were bred to be watchdogs! The baby's uncle left the infant and the dog on a bed while the uncle prepared her bottle in the kitchen. Upon his return, the dog was mauling the baby, who died shortly afterwards. ("Baby Girl Killed by Family Dog," Los Angeles Times, Monday, October 9, 2000, Home Edition, Metro Section, Page B-5.)"

from this website
http://www.dogbitelaw.com/PAGES/statistics.html

about two thirds down the page.

That's it! That's where I saw it at, in going through several different sites I couldn't remember which one it was on....thanks GSD.

[Carrie]

Well, of course if one leaves an infant unattended like that....I've heard of ferrets killing babies. If someone can't move, a rat or something else small could kill them. Pretty scary and horrifying! But in the usual case of someone, an adult or medium sized child walking along and some dog comes running out and attacking, what size dog is going to do more damage...a toy breed or a larger one?

[Carrie]

Those are interesting stats Crossfire...and terrible.

[Crossfire Bulldogs]

Originally Posted by Carrie

Well, of course if one leaves an infant unattended like that....I've heard of ferrets killing babies. If someone can't move, a rat or something else small could kill them. Pretty scary and horrifying! But in the usual case of someone, an adult or medium sized child walking along and some dog comes running out and attacking, what size dog is going to do more damage...a toy breed or a larger one?

I think it really depends on the dog in question rather than the size. Stats show that the majority of those bitten are children and the highest area for injury is the face if I remember correctly.

I would think that a smaller dog would actully do more damage if it were to attack; small dogs tend to bite, tear, release and bite again where at least in my experience larger breeds tend to bite, hold and then release. jmo

I've been bitten several times over the years by injured animals as well as a few that were given the command to bite me. **Sighs** Everyone loves the police don't they? LOL To be honest I'd rather have a HUGE 150 pound dog bite me than a 40 pounder who hits, runs and then hits again. At least I can get ahold of the larger dog and as the old saying goes.....where the head goes the body will follow.

[RedHotDobe]

Originally Posted by Carrie

If someone can't move, a rat or something else small could kill them.

Okay, not dog related, but one of my old rats (very appropriately name Ratley) would literally chase down the cats any time I had her out for a romp and she smelled them. Rats are fast little guys with massive rattitude!

Now back on the subject, my cousin's Min Pin will bite anyone who tries to pick her up. Granted she is poorly socialized, and from a newspaper ad, but she's very touchy, and will bite when you put your hands under her. If you actually attempt to pick her up, she just gets worse.

But of course we all know big dogs are the evil vicious things that everyone makes them out to be. That's why my (other) cousin lives peacefully with two pit bulls, about 10 or so cats, and her husband. The dogs and one of the cats actually groom each other! And then there's her sister (another cousin) who lives with, at last count, 2 Boxers, 2 piggies, and I think cats. She may have more dogs... seems like she gets a lovely new addition every year. And on top of that she pays to have them shown!

[PitBullie09]

How rude!

[Carrie]

Well, I still would rather be bitten by my Chihuahua with that dime-sized mouth and teeth that I can only see with my bifocals on than my Doberman Pinscher with those massive teeth and jaws, huge shoulder and neck muscles giving that added umph as he would go in for the attack. LOL. They are both pretty sweet and well socialized, but my Doberman has a greater chance of biting someone than my Chi's do. He was bred to be a protection dog. The Chihuahuas were bred to be companions. Let's not forget what the various breeds were selectively bred to do.

[RedHotDobe]

Carrie has a good point... not many of the smaller breeds were bred to protect/guard, but some are good alert dogs. They don't need a huge set of teeth and jaws to bark up a storm though. The larger dogs were bred to protect, guard, etc. so I would think that they would have a slightly greater risk of biting than some of the smaller dogs. All dogs can bite, bigger teeth just mean more damage.