The REAL Dog Bite Statistics Plus Media, Myths & Colleen Lynn EXPOSED

By Sloane Quealy-Miner

Colleen Lynn

DOGSBITE.ORG website is not run by an “expert” in the field of canine behavior. It is run by a woman with a grudge.  Her name is Colleen Lynn and she was the victim of a dog bite in 2007. Because of this incident that involved one individual dog she has decided to enact revenge on ALL pit bull type dogs.

Colleen Lynn blatantly lies on her website when she claims that pit bulls lead dog bite fatalities. She gathers all of her information from media reports, no questions asked. Clearly she doesn’t ask questions because most of what is reported in the media surrounding pit bulls and “attacks” is incorrect and has been repeatedly proven to be untrue.

Many question the truthfulness of Colleen’s account of what happened to her in June of 2007. Her story has changed multiple times. Pit Bulletin Legal News thoroughly investigated the incident and published these never before seen documents. It is clear to myself and many others “that Ms. Lynn never published the Seattle Animal Control records regarding the investigation because the story she is now telling bears very little resemblance to what actually happened, and are in total conflict with the only other witness involved: the dogwalker.” 

While Colleen’s blatant disregard for the truth on her website  is not a surprise and not unexpected, it is important for all of us to have the correct information easily available. Thankfully there is the National Canine Research Council whose dedicated staff comb through the details of every dog bite related fatality.

I encourage everyone to spend time carefully reading the invaluable information on NCR’s website including the 2010 Dog Bite Fatalities NCR and 2011 Preliminary Dog Bite Fatalities Report

The National Canine Research Council “re-interviews sources the media has reached, and located others they have not, among whom may be police investigators, animal control officers, coroners, veterinarians, health department officials, dog owners, and eye witnesses. They have obtained incident reports, bite reports, human and animal autopsy reports, summaries of judicial proceedings, and crime scene data and photographs when available.”

Access the National Canine Research Dog Bite Statistics HERE
NCRC’s informative section on ineffective laws including breed specific legislation HERE
FAQ’s regarding dog bites HERE and Breed Specific FAQ’s HERE

Dog bite-related fatalities are exceedingly rare. In 2010, 33 fatalities occurrd within a population of more than 308 million and a canine population estimated at over 78 million. NCRC is currently investigating 31 incidents in a dog population of over 78 million that occurred during 2011 thay may qualify as dog bite related fatalities. A final tally is subject to change as a result of NCRC’s thorough investigations. Their final report will be available the first week of 2013.

It is important to recognize that when attempting to research dog bites, researchers have frequently failed to acknowledge the relevance of stressful or inhumane situations that humans often force dogs to endure. At NCRC, they  urge people to consider what the world looks like from their dog’s point of view.

“There are at least two parties involved in a dog bite; a dog and one or more humans. Dog behavior cannot be understood or analyzed apart from humans, or the situations in which humans have placed dogs.”

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Local Media Going Crazy over New Dog Bite Incident

A pit bull type dog bit a child on Sunday in Dartmouth – and CTV news is now questioning (again) whether or not we should ban pit bulls.

They’ve got a poll going on asking whether or not pit bulls should be banned – so if you’re reading this on December 11th, 2012 – you can go put your voice in there if you want.

The story is that the 4 year old child was with another person at a house – so she didn’t know the people at the house she was at where the dog was at – and she bent down to pet the dog – and it bit her on the forehead, and it was a pretty bad bite.

No one can minimize the impact of the bite – the little girl’s injuries, and the parents anger should not be brushed away.

The child’s owner wants the dog destroyed and restrictions placed on the breed.

As well, city councillor Gloria McCluskey has entered the frey and said “she agrees that mandatory training is needed for pit bull owners. It’s a serious situation and it’s time we looked into this. Some of them are probably lovely dogs, but there’s a history of pit bulls attacking humans and other dogs.”

Last year when there was another incident – we get about one incident per year in the HRM like this – so you can tell that there is really an epidemic of pit bull maulings going on in this end of the country – Gloria McCluskey also got involved – (I guess she fancies herself a dog legislation expert) and at that time she asked City Staff to look into making bylaw A300 tougher in regards to pit bulls – she wanted to “introduce a notice of motion at city hall calling for stiffer fines against the owners of dogs that attack people or pets, and wants consideration for a possible ban on aggressive breeds. “There have been bans in other jurisdictions of breeds known to be aggressive”, she said. “people who train their dogs to attack or who have experienced aggressive behaviour from the dog should not be out walking that dog in public without proper controls.”

That was in September 2011 – and the report still hasn’t come back – it’s supposed to come back sometime in the next few months – things happen very slowly at the HRM City Hall I guess when it comes to dogs!

I am not at all interested in re-victimizing the little girl or her parents – when a dog bites a child it is a very serious thing and it should never happen – and when it does happen there should be serious consequences.

But each time it happens people like me have to speak up and say that the dog who bites the child had NOTHING TO DO WITH THE DOGS BREED.

It had to do with the circumstances – who was supervising the dog and the child, what was the dogs background, what was the age of the child – was there an adult present – and if not – WHY NOT?

Why did that child’s parent let that child go to that house without an adult present? Why was the adult in the house taking a nap?

These questions have to be answered – because every dog in the province of Nova Scotia could potentially be affected by this incident.

We as dog owners and dog advocates can not let hysteria take over – and let the media, and politicians rule our world like they did in Ontario.

We cannot let that happen.

It is times like this right now – that we need to be very careful – and speak up – in conversations with our friends, our MP’s, our city councillors – our dog friends – speak up – and do not let this incident turn into breed specific legislation of any type.

Bylaw A300 as it’s written right now is sufficient to deal with the dog bite incident that happened with the poor child on Sunday – I hope that the child’s parents take the time to read the bylaw – and talk with animal services and understand that what is place right now is sufficient – in the HRM we have dangerous dog legislation – that deals with dangerous DOGS – not dangerous BREEDS – because that’s what we have – DOGS.

I really hope sane heads prevail.

And local media – stop sensationalizing – you are doing no service to your readership – we are watching you right now – and we are close to stopping watching you. Take heed – especially you CTV News…..shame on you.