Dog bite month, not just a week

Dog Bite week used to be in April, but now it gets a whole month. June. The 2025 National Dog Bite Awareness Campaign by the United States Postal Service (USPS) takes place throughout the month of June 2025. The theme for the 2025 campaign is "Secure Your Dog, Keep Deliveries on Track". When I was the Vet Med librarian at Ohio State I kept a huge file on this topic--injuries and hospitalizations and deaths. My motto: All Dogs Will Bite. And it's primarily a male problem. Male dogs owned by young men biting young boys.

"About 4.5 million persons sustain animal bites in the US per year, about 750,000 of which require medical attention. Bites are a combination of laceration, crush, avulsion, and puncture injuries and can cause abscess, cellulitis, and lymphangitis.[17] Most dog bite injuries are soft tissue injuries, fractures, sprains, strains, or crush; less than 1% are skull fractures and damage to intrathoracic, abdominal, pelvic, or intracranial cavities. Dog bites account for 60% to 90%, and cat bites 5% to 20% of bites receiving care. Results from a retrospective study of dog and cat bites in California found dog bites highest in boys younger than 10 and cats highest in women older than 80, mainly occurring in residences and during the summer.[18]" StatPearls, Animal bites, 2025 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK430852/

Deadly dogs

How awful for the pet owner. Can't even imagine how terrible to experience this. A Yorkshire terrier (adorable, fluff balls) being walked by his owner on a leash, was attacked and killed by two pit bulls off leash in the Columbus Polaris area (heard on radio, don't have link). The pit bulls have been put down. I know those of you who have pit bulls love them and claim they are gentle, but they have been bred to attack and kill if they perceive a prey or a threat. All dogs will bite, but some have the strength and jaws to be lethal.

When I tried to find a link, I was horrified by the number of stories about Yorkies being killed by pit bulls that came up for different states and years.

Dogs and coyotes

I was reading the advice of our city government (UA Insight Upper Arlington, OH) on roaming coyotes, and danger to pets left outside (small dogs, cats). The conclusion was that while people are at risk from dog attacks, there is virtually no information that they are attacked by coyotes. So I checked that and found an interesting article in Wikipedia on fatalities involving dogs. I looked at the 2013 and 2014 stats, and it appears most fatalities are female and most aggressors are pit bulls or pit bull mix. A number of these fatalities involved the owner or family or relative of the owner. In a number of cases, the owners of the dogs had been cited or warned, or the dog had bitten or killed another dog.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_dog_attacks_in_the_United_States#Summary_tables

Owners of Pit Bulls, Rotties, and German Shepherds are extremely loyal to the breeds and their own dogs.  But all dogs will bite, and some breeds are more aggressive than others, and some owners less responsible about training than others.

Photos of the 4 dogs who mauled and killed an 80 year old amputee in a wheel chair. 

 Toddler killed by her family’s 7 pit bulls. in Georgia last year. There was also a setter and a beagle in the home which didn’t join in on the attack. There were 4 generations in the house at the time and all the dogs were familiar with the baby.  The mother (18) has been charged.

2-year-old Je’vaeh Mayes died  after a pit bull attacked her in the backyard of her family’s home in Feb. 2014.

This happened to a woman in Dayton this month; owners have been arrested. Mastiff pit bull mix.

All dogs will bite; maul; or kill.  Especially in a pack.

Ouch! Now that hurts!

We had our summer house sprayed for spiders yesterday--perhaps the second time this season. Now the windows will need to be washed again. But, here's the big news. The owner of the spray company didn't do the application this time. Apparently, the day before he was at a job and a dog bit him in the scrotum and he had to have stitches! So an assistant came out to our place because the owner will be laid up for awhile.

Dog bites are serious, folks. And remember this word from a former veterinary medicine librarian who has seen the photos of torn up faces of children--ALL DOGS WILL BITE. Don't ever encourage young children to pet a dog in the park or on a walk, even if the owner assures you it's OK. Most dog bites are by young male dogs, owned by young males, and the victims are most often male children.

Take a Bite Out of Road Rage

While enjoying my morning paper and coffee at a Lane Avenue shop, I observed the long term effects of driver rudeness and bad manners, or as it is known, “road rage.”

A young man driving a forest green, late-model car slowed down to make the sharp turn into the coffee shop parking lot. Behind him, the driver of a white, older-model automobile honked, probably because the young man thought turn signals were just for sissies. The rudeness of the second driver (white car) prompted the first driver (green car) to come to a full stop while negotiating his turn just to teach the other guy a lesson. He then made a well-known gesture with his finger for emphasis. As these two immature whiners glared and made threatening motions, they were oblivious to the cars accelerating behind them from the near-by traffic light. Two other cars driven by young people, probably on their way to classes at Ohio State, collided.

Tough-guy (white car) appeared as though he was going to pull into the parking lot from the side street and pummel macho-boy (green car), but when he saw the accident, he drove off. The first driver disappeared quickly into the coffee shop absolving himself of blame to all within earshot.

I haven’t read any physical profiles of rage-roadies, but I know that dog bites are usually a guy thing, and I suspect road rage is also. A thumbnail sketch of a dog bite is: young male adult owns young male dog which bites male child. It’s not that female dogs never bite or that girls are never victims, but statistically, you need to protect your male children from guys who own male dogs. Well, little boys can mature, dogs can be neutered and children in your care can be kept away from Pit Bulls, Rottweilers or German Shepherds, the breeds that cause the most fatalities in children.**

But is there a solution for road rage? Yes. You can’t leave the testosterone at home, but men (and women) can practice good manners, empathy and common sense while driving. The next time someone cuts in front of you, instead of swearing and making obscene gestures, say “dog bite” and smile.

Fortunately, those two young adults were not injured, but they needlessly will have the burden of the rudeness of two older drivers on their driving record and check-book for a long time to come.

**JAVMA 210, no.8 (April 15, 1997):1148-1150; JAMA 279 no.1 (January 7, 1998):51-53; Pediatrics 96 no.5 (November 1995):947-950 and 97 no.6 (June 1996):891-895.

Written in 2002