Bite force links from PubMed

Bite club: comparative bite force in big biting mammals and the prediction of predatory behaviour in fossil taxa. Published in 2005, full article available.

Interactions between jaw-muscle recruitment and jaw-joint forces in Canis familiaris. Published in 1989, full article available.

Interesting stuff, though not sufficiently dog bite-related for a place in the sidebar. These links will continue to be accessible via the “bite force” category.

No drastic changes, but I’ve reorganized the site layout and other features in order to make everything more user-friendly. The new search feature is from Google’s Blogger Beta in Draft, and it’s terrific. I’ve removed the SnapShots feature. Categories [labels] have been edited and expanded.

Dog Bites: Information and Statistics was begun in November 2007, and within a month was appearing among the first twenty results for dog bite and dog attack statistics using Google Search — often in the first ten, and occasionally at the top. I welcome the visits and the responsibility.

The words I wrote in the first post are as heartfelt today as ever:

I’m not interested in cherry-picking studies to make specific breeds look good or bad: in fact, I believe the “safe breed”/”dangerous breed” dichotomy is one of the reasons dog bites are as common as they are. The aim of Dog Bites: Information and Statistics is to counter the ignorance and urban legend surrounding the topic by providing the most factual and up-to-date statistics on dog bites and dog attacks.

The purpose of this site is to provide easy access to solid research on dog bites: to provide links to peer-reviewed studies and reports from the most respected sources. A narrow focus, but an important one, and I look forward to adding more studies from the U.S. and abroad. Thanks for reading!

I’ve added a PubMed study on canine bite force, the only one of its type that I’ve been able to find: Measurement of bite force in dogs: a pilot study.

The abstract:

A force transducer was developed to measure bite force in dogs. A total of 101 readings was obtained from 22 pet dogs ranging in size from 7 to 55 kg. Bite forces ranged from 13 to 1394 Newtons with a mean for all dogs of 256 Newtons and a median of 163 Newtons. Most measurements fell within the low end of the range, with 55% of the biting episodes less than 200 Newtons and 77% less than 400 Newtons.

1 newton = 0.224808943 pounds force, so 1394 newtons would be 313.38 pounds force, according to OnlineConversion.com. The dogs in the study ranged in weight from 15.4 lb to 121 lb.

From an Animal Planet news story:

Sept. 15, 2003 — Cheetahs chomp hard and even humans can bite through an ear, but one animal reigns supreme when it comes to possessing the strongest bite — the alligator.

American alligators, Alligator mississippiensis, have the most powerful bite force ever measured. According to a recent study published in the Journal of Zoology of London, alligators snap their strong jaws shut with a force of 2,125 pounds, or with about as much force as a mid-size sedan falling on top of someone.
[...]
“Bite force is linked to the size of an animal,” explained Kent Vliet, a University of Florida zoologist who headed up the study. “Since the report was published, we measured the bite of a wild gator, even bigger than Hercules at 13 1/2 feet in length missing the end of his tail. He bit down with a force of 2,960 pounds.”
[...]
To put the record measurement into perspective, hyenas, which are bone-crushing mammals, have a bite force of 1,000 pounds, slightly more than the 940 recorded for lions. Dusky sharks manage 330 pounds of force, and a common dog, the Labrador, bites with 125 pounds of force. Humans surprisingly beat out the pet dog, and measured in at 170 pounds of force.

When Brady Barr measured the bite force of various animals for a National Geographic program, a hyena again was measured at 1000 psi pounds of force. A lion’s bite force measured 691, a shark 669, and a Rottweiler 328 psi pounds of force. A German shepherd came in at 238, and a pit bull’s bite was measured at 235 psi pounds of force. As far as I can tell, there are no studies of any kind, peer-reviewed or not, showing canine bite force to measure more than the 328 psi pounds of force recorded by Brady Barr. If you know of any, please share.

I often run across dog bite articles and related sites on the internet that may be entirely factual, but lack references.

From time to time I’ll post links to some of those sites on the other blog. The stats may be accurate, but without documentation of sources and clear information on the nature of the studies that produced the statistics, you might want to take their numbers with a grain [or more] of salt.

Caveat lector. Just because it’s on the internet doesn’t make it gospel.

This site is now listed on the blogroll at Pet Connection:

the online home of the weekly pet-care feature syndicated to newspapers, magazines and Web sites throughout the United States and Canada by Universal Press Syndicate.

But we’re more than a pet column, as we hope you’ll find out exploring our Web site. We’re best-selling books on pet care, and we’re a popular pet-related Web log. You can search our archives for answers to your pet questions, and check out some helpful links we’ve collected.

Thanks to Gina Spadafori and the Pet Connection crew for this recognition.
______________________________

I’ve added the year of publication, in brackets, to all of the PubMed studies listed here.
______________________________

A search for “dog bite” on PubMed will bring up a number of abstracts which deal with individual cases and their treatment by surgeons [for example]. Breed of dog is rarely mentioned in these abstracts, and since the articles do not constitute studies of multiple dog bites within a specific population, they are not included on this site. This abstract is an example.

The single most important action to prevent dog bites is the most obvious, though not always the easiest one: parental supervision of young children around all dogs, including the family dog.

The single most important thing to read — and I wish every dog owner would read it — is Chapter 3 [Socialization, Fear and Aggression] of Jean Donaldson’s classic book on dog training, The Culture Clash. This chapter could save a child’s life. I can’t emphasize enough how important the information in this chapter is for parents and dog owners.

This site is meant to be a collection of the most factual and authoritative studies on dog bites. Of course all the studies posted here were carried out in an effort to learn more about dog bites in order to prevent them — see the PubMed article on child swings, for example.

So while dog bite prevention is a paramount concern, a collection of links to the internet’s many dog bite prevention articles is, as they say, beyond the scope of this site. The primary exception is the definitive report by the Task Force on Canine Aggression and Human-Canine Interactions, listed in the AVMA section of the sidebar.

Both the AVMA and the CDC have pages on dog safety. The SFSPCA has excellent pages on dog aggression and dogs and kids, as well as information [and on-site classes] designed to help introduce the family dog to a new baby. Dog Bite Law, a huge site I plan to link to and discuss, has material on dog bite prevention as well. For a community approach to dog bite prevention, the AVMA report is unsurpassed. I hope visitors to this site will take advantage of all the links in this post.

[There is a permanent link to this post in the sidebar.]

The CDC has never issued a report or press release naming “the types of dogs most likely to bite,” nor has the CDC ever released a list of dogs they consider “highest risk.”

From the CDC:

“There is currently no accurate way to identify the number of dogs of a particular breed, and consequently no measure to determine which breeds are more likely to bite or kill.”

“There are several reasons why it is not possible to calculate a bite rate for a breed or to compare rates between breeds. First, the breed of the biting dog may not be accurately recorded, and mixed-breed dogs are commonly described as if they were purebreds. Second, the actual number of bites that occur in a community is not known, especially if they did not result in serious injury. Third, the number of dogs of a particular breed or combination of breeds in a community is not known, because it is rare for all dogs in a community to be licensed, and existing licensing data is then incomplete. [Source: AVMA Task Force on Canine Aggression]

When in doubt, call the CDC or the AVMA and ask.

1236. Wound care for bites vs. other wounds // Issue regarding dog bite to hand of small child // Suture or phrophylactic abx of bites from dog, cat, rodent, monkey, human

September 26th, 2009

1236. Wound care for bites vs. other wounds // Issue regarding dog bite to hand of small child // Suture or phrophylactic abx of bites from dog, cat, rodent, monkey, human

by reuben in animal bite
leave a comment

Back Top

Tags: card

1235. High risk mammalian bites by species, location, wound type, and patient characteristics
1237. Antibiotic choice for dog/cat/human bite prophylaxis, if pen allergic, duration of Rx // Most important preventative action vs. herpes B virus, basic management of possible herpes B exposure // Management of infected bite wound

You must log in to post a comment.

MADACC releases dog bite numbers from 2012

MADACC releases dog bite numbers from 2012

Posted on: 6:26 pm, March 7, 2013, by Katie DeLong

Milwaukee Court Case Dogs

MILWAUKEE (WITI) — MADACC, the Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission has complied numbers regarding dog attacks in the Milwaukee area from 2012. This, after a toddler was attacked and killed by two pit bulls in Walworth County on Wednesday, March 6th.

Here are the numbers:

Number of Dogs Taken In Classified as “Bite Dogs”: 182

Total Number of Dogs Taken in By MADACC in 2012: 5,329

Percent of Dogs Taken in That Were Classified as “Bite Dogs”: 3.42%

Pit Bulls Taken in As Bite Dogs: 88

Other Breeds of Dogs Taken in As Bite Dogs: 94

Percent of “Bite Dogs” That Were Pit Bulls: 48.35%

Percent of Other Dogs Taken in Classified as “Bite Dogs”: 51.65%

Percent of Overall Dogs Taken in That Were Pit Bulls: 42.76%

Percent of Overall Dogs Taken In That Were Other Breeds: 57.24%

A MADACC spokesperson told FOX6 News people are more likely to bring in a pit bull if they are the owner and it bites them as opposed to a dog like a chihuahua.

MADACC does categorize the attacks based on severity, but it’s on paper and not readily available through a database.

Filed in:

News

Topics:

dog bites, MADACC, pit bulls

lessons from a dog bite

A tragic, dog related death in Union City, CA on Monday June 17 pushed every body’s buttons this week and sent news outlets rushing to file fast-deadline headlines from an alert that was distributed by the local PD. Media inquiries poured in to our corners, as reporters tapped their cell phones looking for someone who would talk for or against pit bulls, “We want to hear your side of the story,” they asked – as if we could divide a young boy’s death into sides. Most of our readers already know that the press is keen on inventing divisiveness and playing spokes people like pawns to sell a controversy, but it’s especially troubling to watch it play out so close to home.

We initially assumed that the ‘Whys’ behind the dog bite were so clear that no one would possibly miss them, and the public conversation would soon shift to bite prevention must-knows. We were discouraged though when this SF Gate article came out, suggesting that “both sides” believed dog bite prevention practices were altogether a useless endeavor. Did they really publish that?

What happened? No adults were nearby to see the bite, but family told police that young Nephi Selu and seven or so cousins were rough housing in the yard with a relative’s dog named ‘Gava’ when Nephi climbed on his back to ride him “like a little horse.” Except dogs aren’t little horses and most are not remotely comfortable with this level of intrusion. Any stress signals from the dog were likely unnoticed because Nephi was just a child at six years old and had mild autism, a condition that inhibits a person’s ability to interpret gestures, cues and facial expressions. During the rough housing, the dog lashed out at the boy with what is reported to be a “single bite” to the top of his head. (Source)

According to Union City police Commander Ben Horner, Nephi’s guardians pulled the dog away without issue and decided he might need “a couple of stitches.” A very bad day for all, and another statistic for the yearly tally of dog bites in this country. An estimated 4.5 million people report dog bites each year. (Source) In most cases, bites are very painful but not life threatening and leave scars, as well as lasting lessons for the recipients.

The dog’s owner then left for work, expecting his nephew to get patched up and sent home from a local hospital. A few hours later the boy was dead. While autopsy results will ultimately shed light on how a single bite injury played out to be fatal, SF bay area neurologist Dr. Aimee Chagnon, MD, explains how a well placed bite on a child’s head can cause such damage.

The pattern of the child’s injury is highly suggestive of an intracranial hematoma (epidural or subdural).  The fact the adult present, a trained police officer, felt there was no serious injury present and went to work after the bite, adds to the evidence that there was little external evidence of trauma.  In addition, loss of life from external blood loss would not have followed the time course of this particular event as head injuries are notoriously heavy bleeders and so would have been obvious. It is well recognized that epidural hematomas are often fatal because they don’t seem bad but the blood accumulates under arterial pressure, so often by the time they get to the hospital the damage is done. It doesn’t take much, especially for a child … It doesn’t have to be a forceful bite, sometimes it’s just really easy to tear bridging veins or, if there was a little skull fracture the middle meningeal artery can be lacerated, causing the epidural hematoma. It in no way necessarily equates with a vicious dog, it can happen with relatively mild injuries that just affect the wrong place, resulting in death. – Dr. Aimee C. Chagnon, MD

Good Dogs vs. Bad Dogs? 

Commander Ben Horner stated,”It’s a mystery as to why the dog chose yesterday to bite the young man.”  Not much of a mystery though to people who work with dogs on a regular basis. In an effort to prevent dog bites, the Internet is filled with materials created by dog experts aimed at helping families recognize canine body language and understand proper behavior with dogs. Nobody was on the scene at the time of Nephi’s bite to recognize the signs of discomfort that escalated, but many were surprised when the dog they all trusted acted out. It’s important to note that even “friendly dogs” can resort to using their teeth if pushed beyond their threshold. From the American Veterinary Medical Association:

Even the cuddliest, fuzziest, sweetest pet can bite if provoked. Dogs bite as a reaction to something. If the dog finds itself in a stressful situation, it may bite to defend itself or its territory. Dogs can bite because they are scared or have been startled. They can bite because they feel threatened. They can bite to protect something that is valuable to them, like their puppies, their food or a toy. Dogs might bite because they aren’t feeling well. They could be sick or sore due to injury or illness and might want to be left alone. – AVMA

Dogs Warn. And Yes, Pit Bulls are Still Dogs. 

Gava the dog was identified as a pit bull, news that inspired rubber necking and the usual fear based speculation on news sites around the net. Opinion from dog experts was absent from most reports, filled instead with sweeping generalizations including an incredulous comment from Benjamin Hart, Professor of Veterinary Anatomy, Physiology, and Cell Biology at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. Hart shamefully announced to SF Gate readers that we could blame all the trouble on Kava’s breed. He stated, “It’s quite common for a pit bull to show no signs of aggression. “People will call it a nice dog, a sweet dog, even the neighbors – and then all of a sudden something triggers the dog.” Dog safety seemed to take three steps back with this quote, provided by a UC Davis emeritus professor no less. We can only hope that this news article fades into oblivion as social media and credible experts work to daylight life saving dog bite prevention information that was buried with Professor Hart’s comments.

Perhaps Professor Hart missed the third issue of the Journal of Veterinary Behavior back in 2008. That issue documented the research of the Institute of Animal Welfare and Behavior of the University of Veterinary Medicine in Hanover, Germany. Four authors scrutinized over 1000 individual dogs of various breeds during their research to learn if different breeds signaled their warnings differently before triggering into aggression. They concluded that “all dogs, including dogs commonly labeled ‘pit bull,’ signal their intent.” Myth de-bunked. Study link. 

Make no mistake: Whether or not warning signs are recognized, all healthy, normal dogs signal as a way of communicating escalating stress. Canine body language. Warning signs. Dog safely. It’s not rocket science, but as of this week, it has become even more important that our communities and our media acknowledge that we have the power to prevent dog bites, and all without throwing breeds under the bus.

Our sincere condolences to Nephi Safu’s friends and family. Despite media reports, we are all on your side.

Resources for dog safety information:

An uncomfortable but revealing look at warning signs that say, “Please leave me alone.” Video.

Bite prevention info from the AVMA.
The Family Paws Parent Education programs.
Graphics for children on how to avoid trouble with dogs. Credit: Dr. Sophia Yin. Link
BADRAP’s page on dogs and kids. Link.
The Safe Kids / Safe Dogs Project
National Canine Research Council – for science on dog bites.

Preventing Injuries from Dog Bites: What Every Dog Owner Should Do

Dogs, despite their loyalty and gentleness still have the ability to inflict hurt on any individual, including their owners. As it is, domesticated dogs can become aggressive; in fact, there are a lot of contributory factors when it comes to bites and attacks towards humans. For example, trying to remove any food item or water from the dog’s place may cause it to become agitated, which would then lead to an attack or bite.

The same may happen if a dog is sick or in pain. Approaching the dog in such a situation may result in an attack. Even staring directly at a dog may be perceived by the latter as a sign of threat, causing it to bite an individual.

However, it is possible to prevent dogs from biting someone, as long as the owners put their effort in keeping their pets well-maintained and disciplined, especially when it comes to dealing with other people. As such, here are some valuable ways on how dog owners can prevent their dogs from injuring other people:

Training is important. As it is, almost all domesticated dogs are capable of getting trained, not only through tricks, but also in socializing with other people. The latter is more important, as dogs that are highly-trained to be engage with other people are less likely to be aggressive towards them.

Dog owners must know that letting their dogs loose out in the open may cause them to injure other people through attacks on innocent bystanders. That is unless they are trained.

Adult dog owners must also keep an eye on their pets, especially when there are children present. A large percentage of dog bite victims are children age 12 year or below.

Responsible dog owners know that their pet canines are receiving vaccinations, especially against the dreaded rabies virus. As it is, a dog bite can turn out to be deadly, especially if left untreated.

While some dog breeds are gentle, some are known for their aggressiveness that they are often kept as guard dogs. Owners must be able to let passers-by know to be “Beware of the Dog” within the premises.

Meanwhile, dog bites often result in personal injury claims. As it is, a dog owner may be held liable for the dog’s actions if a case of dog bite happens. In this situation, a dog bite victim may seek a Los Angeles injury attorney who can establish a claim against the owner.