A new study published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence has confirmed a link between ownership of high-risk dog breeds and deviant behaviors, crimes against children and domestic violence. Read Ownership of High-Risk ("Vicious") Dogs As a Marker for Deviant Behaviors, J. Interpersonal Violence, Volume 21 Number 12, December 2006 1616-1634.
Researchers at Cincinnati Children's, the University of Cincinnati, and the Cincinnati Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals found that one hundred percent of the owners of high-risk dogs had either one criminal conviction or traffic citation. Thirty percent of high-risk, cited dog owners had at least five criminal convictions or traffic citations. Only 1 percent of owners of low-risk, licensed dogs had at least five criminal convictions or traffic citations.
Categories of criminal convictions examined were aggressive crimes, drugs, alcohol, domestic violence, crimes involving children, firearm convictions, and major and minor traffic citations. For more about this, click below to read the full post.
As I said in People magazine, "There's a direct relationship between bad owners and bad dogs." (Kenneth Phillips, quoted in "Biting Back: When a Dog Sinks Its Teeth In, Attorney Ken Phillips Goes For the Throat," People Magazine, July 17, 2000, p. 102.)
