Preventing dog bites when you dont have a hero cat

(source)

Hey Julie!

So much going on I need to take three deep breaths to calm down!

Firstly - we have a winner! Actually - thanks to the awesome crew at SPARCS, we have two! Very excited to meet Marsha P and Kristi M at #SPARCS2014 and want to thank all the excellent people who responded to our giveaway shoutout on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. We hope those of your who werent successful will consider still coming along or joining us on the livestream broadcast.

Secondly - I loved learning about the differences in UK and US shelter workers perceptions of pit bulls and all the associated bits and pieces that went along with that in our latest guest post by Dr Christy Hoffman. Really, really interesting research and I look forward to the next piece of the puzzle (aka new science) in that area.

Thirdly - its dog bite prevention week in the USA right now! We cant all own Tara the Hero Cat (and to be fair, as much as she is worthy of her notoriety and 20million+ hits on the viral video showcasing her ninja skills, she didnt actually prevent the bite - although Im pretty confident she helped prevent it being a whole lot worse). If you somehow missed what on earth Im talking about - check out this clip of amazing Tara (but a warning, it does show security camera footage of a child being attacked by a dog and the subsequent wounds):

Which brings us back to Dog Bite Prevention Week. We dont have a week like this in Australia, so I did some web trawling to check out what you guys have going on over there. 

The AVMA have put up a whole lot of great information and resources about dog bite prevention, including this neat summary infographic:

I was really pleased to see this analysis of information about the role of breed in dog bite risk and prevention, which reminded me of this piece on The Conversation by researcher Dr Rachel Casey from Bristol University in the UK, who has been part of a team investigating aggressive behaviour in dogs.

The broader research in this area (see below for references) highlights similarities across Australia, the UK and the US with most serious dog bites occurring to children by a known dog in a familiar area without direct adult supervision at the time of the attack. But of course - as Hero Cat Tara has shown us this week, not all dogs stick to these trends.

It seems that there are many commonalities to serious dog bites that we can all be aware of to help reduce the risk, given that any dog can bite:

• Supervise children <14yo around dogs, even known dogs
• Dont try to pat a dog you dont know, even if it is on the other side of a fence
• Make sure your dog is well socialised and trained in basic commands
• Keep your dog healthy
• Teach your children to be mindful and careful of their actions around dogs, especially when the dog is tied up, eating or sleeping
• If you are threatened by a dog, remain still and calm with your hands balled by your sides - dont run
• If you are attacked by a dog, curl up in a ball and protect your face

Im off to reinforce messages of safe dog interacting with my pre-school aged daughter now - hope you have a great week. 

Only one month til #SPARCS2014! Squee!

Mia

 

Further reading:

Meints K. & de Keuster T. (2009). Brief Report: Dont Kiss a Sleeping Dog: The First Assessment of "The Blue Dog" Bite Prevention Program, Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 34 (10) 1084-1090. DOI: 10.1093/jpepsy/jsp053

Schalamon J., Ainoedhofer H., Singer G., Petnehazy T., Mayr J., Kiss K. & Höllwarth M.E. (2006) Analysis of dog bites in children who are younger than 17 years., Pediatrics, PMID: 16510617 

Keuster T.D., Lamoureux J. & Kahn A. (2006). Epidemiology of dog bites: A Belgian experience of canine behaviour and public health concerns, The Veterinary Journal, 172 (3) 482-487. DOI: 10.1016/j.tvjl.2005.04.024 

Langley R.L. (2009). Human Fatalities Resulting From Dog Attacks in the United States, 1979–2005, Wilderness & Environmental Medicine, 20 (1) 19-25. DOI: 10.1580/08-WEME-OR-213.1 

Ozanne-Smith J. (2001)  Dog bite and injury prevention--analysis, critical review, and research agenda, Injury Prevention, 7 (4) 321-326. DOI: 10.1136/ip.7.4.321

Thompson P. (1997). The public health impact of dog attacks in a major Australian city., The Medical Journal of Australia, 167 (3) 129-132. PMID: 9269266 

© Do You Believe in Dog? 2014

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Dogged in December wait December !!

Hi Julie,

Photo by Mel Travis | What About Charlie?

goodness me, what happened? I was at the amazing Working Dog Conference 2013, then launching the Global Poo Power! Challenge, I blinked and suddenly its mid-December already? Huh?! Gosh!

Sorry for being absent for a few weeks, Ive been focussed on getting as much content from the #workdogs13 event up on the Working Dog Alliance website as possible, so that everyone can access the fantastic content that was shared by a wide range of speakers. From the conference proceedings, to PDF of presentation slides, audio and even You-Tube clips combining them all, you can now share in everything from Dr Nicola Rooneys keynote presentations, to fresh new research on working dogs; unique stories about dogs used in conservation programs and rescue groups working to provide positive endpoint outcomes; practitioners views on breeding and rearing working dogs and insightful facts and figures about areas like greyhound racing and thoughts on why there is such high wastage. 

The half-dog selfie movement took off at #workdogs13

Check. It. Out: http://www.workingdogalliance.com.au/conference2013/

The Poo Power! Global Challenge went off with a bang... 

(or is that a fart? LOVED your Scientific American Dog Spies pieces on why dog farts stink, Part 1: What are dog farts made of? here, Part 2: How to make dog farts less stinky here - captivating area of research and I do not envy the odour judge who to had to decide if dog farts were scentless or unbearable, or somewhere in between!) and we enjoyed watching the photos get logged on the Global Poo Map. 

Science For Life 365

The student competition part of the Challenge is now over, but dont worry - its not too late to download the free App and start to map the crap! Its super quick and easy to do and I know the Poo Power! team would really love to see some international contributions, so to speak. All details about how to participate as a citizen scientist can be found here.

SciEngage

As for me, well, Im looking forward to closing out 2013 with the fun times in the sun with family, friends and reviewing results from the meta-analysis - as you do. 

Whats on your list, Julie?

Mia

p.s. In case you were wondering, that gorgeous photo at the top of this post (its my legs with my darling old dog Caleb, and my mothers dog, retired Guide Dog Haidee) - taken as part of a shoot done for this Dumbo Feather article 

© Mia Cobb | Do You Believe in Dog? 2013

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