This year so far, the most common victim of a fatal dog attack is a child, and her killer is her parents’ pet dog. During the first 6 months of 2010, 11 canine homicide victims were young children. Of these, 9 were killed by the family dog. One was killed by dogs running at large, and the other by chained dogs.
Family dogs killed 14 of the 16 dog bite fatalities from January through June 2010. In addition to the 9 children, there were 5 adult victims who were killed by pets living in the decedent’s home or being kept there for some reason.
Pit bulls were identified as the killers in 9 cases, and as the probable killers in two more. Rottweilers were identified in 4 fatalities. A Siberian Husky was identified in one case, and might have been involved in one other. More details are given at Dog Bite Law: Dangerous and Vicious Dogs.
So what’s the lesson from these grim statistics? Clearly, it is that parents must choose an appropriate dog for the household, as well as train and maintain it adequately. Additionally, kids must be closely supervised around dogs.