Scary dog attacked woman at beach. (Guess what breed.)

 First face transplant - dog bite victim.  Breed involved:  Labrador.

No surprise to me!

When a Dobie, GSD, Rot, Pit, bites... it's because the breeds are all ticking time bombs and should be wiped out. When another breed does it, it's a tragedy nobody could have predicted.

So the media goes!

 Breed often plays no role.  It's not fair to any breed to single them out whether it's a pit bull or a golden retriever or a labrador retriever.   I understand the point of the thread and lord knows we aren't facing BSL with the retriever breeds, yet, but my point is that in most cases it's a human failure that has NOTHING to do with the dog's breed.

JackieG

 Breed often plays no role.  It's not fair to any breed to single them out whether it's a pit bull or a golden retriever or a labrador retriever.   I understand the point of the thread and lord knows we aren't facing BSL with the retriever breeds, yet, but my point is that in most cases it's a human failure that has NOTHING to do with the dog's breed.

My thoughts exactly! 

Actually it can be the human failure when making the original breeding choices.  Temperment is an inherited characteristic although the full process is not close to being understood.  Random breeding can lead to tempermentally unstable dogs.  Match that with poor puppy management and you have a disaster in the making. 

My brother in law the long term ER doc (and owner of goldens) has indicated he sees lots of Golden bites.  The human failure of allowing toddlers and dogs unsupervised around food is a common explanation he gets when asking for the details.

Johnny&Tessy

JackieG

 Breed often plays no role.  It's not fair to any breed to single them out whether it's a pit bull or a golden retriever or a labrador retriever.   I understand the point of the thread and lord knows we aren't facing BSL with the retriever breeds, yet, but my point is that in most cases it's a human failure that has NOTHING to do with the dog's breed.

My thoughts exactly! 

^ ditto

It seems like good Bully owners tend to take caution, because they know they are powerful dogs and need to be controled, but even good retriever owners seem to tend to believe the stereotype that ALL retrievers are the typical "great family dog", so they dont bother training or controling them. I know thats not always the case, but Ive noticed it several times before. Just like those parents with their kids at Petco or any other pet store, that freak out if their kid trys to pet a Pit bull type dog, but doesnt think twice about the kid going up to pet a lab or a little fluffy dog.
I wish people would just realize that dog bites have less to do with breed, and more with HUMAN errors.

mrv

My brother in law the long term ER doc (and owner of goldens) has indicated he sees lots of Golden bites.  The human failure of allowing toddlers and dogs unsupervised around food is a common explanation he gets when asking for the details.

  Goldens are also one of the mosf popular purebreds in the country.

Yup  and it is the random backyard breeding that is likely one of the reasons for the temperment changes combined with poor management and ownership skills that contribute to the bites that occur.  Folks tend to believe the "hype" about the great family dog and so they fail to provide the appropriate training and supervision to keep canines and humans safe.

 We have a darling GR at the shelter right now.  OTOH, the scariest dog in our neigborhood is...you guessed it...a DA GR.  Go figure.

mrv

Yup  and it is the random backyard breeding that is likely one of the reasons for the temperment changes combined with poor management and ownership skills that contribute to the bites that occur.  Folks tend to believe the "hype" about the great family dog and so they fail to provide the appropriate training and supervision to keep canines and humans safe.

 I wouldn't say there has been a general temperament change in the breed. Of course there are some aggressive Goldens and some people don't care what kind of temperament they are breeding. The majority of Goldens I run into, even poorly bred ones are still pretty Golden-like though. But you're going to have more Golden bites than less commonly found breeds, just because there are more Goldens out there. I would guess there are probably way more Golden than Fila bites, not because Goldens are more aggressive than Filas but because they so greatly outnumber them. Also more popular breeds are likely to have a wide range of owners, not all of who are responsible and less common breeds are likely to have a higher percentage of "better" owners.

I hope this isn't off topic but I do have a question about dog bites on humans. (If it is too off topic, I'll make a different thread.)

My insurance company accepts my GSD, though they do not accept pits, presas, dobies, akitas, chows, etc. on Dogs 101 they mentioned German Shepherds are the number one biters in America. What? Then why do insurance companies accept them and not other breeds? I am just confused by all these "statistics" and conflicting results because of them.

 The book the Pit Bull Placebo by Karen Delise details the intricacies of how the breed of dog involved in the bite has become the story. It's no longer about a person getting bit, it's about the breed of dog doing the biting that people are interested in reading about.

Beejou

I hope this isn't off topic but I do have a question about dog bites on humans. (If it is too off topic, I'll make a different thread.)

My insurance company accepts my GSD, though they do not accept pits, presas, dobies, akitas, chows, etc. on Dogs 101 they mentioned German Shepherds are the number one biters in America. What? Then why do insurance companies accept them and not other breeds? I am just confused by all these "statistics" and conflicting results because of them.

I dont like Dogs 101, they dont seem to have a clue what they're talking about most of the time. I wouldnt trust all the info you hear from that show..

The book the Pit Bull Placebo by Karen Delise details the intricacies of how the breed of dog involved in the bite has become the story. It's no longer about a person getting bit, it's about the breed of dog doing the biting that people are interested in reading about.

The Pit Bull Placebo is a great book. Its so true, how that any attack involving a pit bull type dog gets tons of news coverage, yet attacks involving other breeds (non bully type) get hardly any. This book gives the other half of the story of many attacks, like the dogs health and living conditions, and the circumstances of the attack ( i.e. "child left unsupervised in yard with chained, intact male pit bull";) not just the breed of dog involved and the injuries to the victim, that the news storys tell.