i don't know what to put as a title!

I'm not sure if this is the right forum to post this in, but I remember seeing or hearing about a list of the top dogs that bite, and I need to find that list. I searched the forum, and I tried searching online but I'm not coming up with anything. Maybe I'm not searching for the right thing and my brain is fried cause it's so hot, but I want this list!!! The reasoning behind having this list is because yesterday I went to a training for CPR/first aide, and one of the topics we covered was dog bites, and I really got into it with this one girl because all she did was bad mouth pit bulls, and I argued and argued and argued that they are not aggressive dogs because of their breed, it's because of their OWNER!!!! GRRR..I was so angry, and she was saying that the pit bull is the number one dog that bites people, and I KNOW THEY ARE NOT!!! The EMT that was doing our training was on my side, and he was surprised at how upset I was becomming, but I want to educate this woman!! I want her to see that not all pit bulls are bad, all these people had to say at the training was how bad pitbulls are and how mean and vicious they are and I just asked them, have you ever been around one? Have you ever seen what a beautiful animal they are, if they are trained by the right person?!?!?! I'm going to keep searching but if someone could help me out with this I would love you for life!!!!

Glad to see you're standing up for what you believe in. I gotta go now, but I'll be on later to try and help you look for that list. Tell me if you find it in the meanwhile.

Ok, I found this in another post, just by chance. Hope it helps you.

"It's interesting, the highest bite rates are from chihuahuas and daschunds, we have no Rotties and only a couple of pit bull clients that require muzzles on a regular basis."

That's from one of my posts, I just wanted to issue the disclaimer that that's from my experiences working for a vet, the lapdogs are invariably more likely to be agressive, from everything I've seen in my 2 1/2 years there. I think that REPORTED bite claims do show Rotties, GSDs, Pits, Dobies, etc as ones with the highest rates, but all statistics are shakey, think about the likelihood of someone reporting a chihuahua for snapping, and the likelihood of someone reporting a Rottie for doing the exact same thing...it's not exactly a level playing field as far as formal reports go.

That's exactly what I was thinking! I know a friend had a shih tzu that bit like 8 people and none of them reported it. And they weren't just scratched, but actual cuts.

I agree that most bites are not reported, and of course the majority of bites that are recorded are the ones by dogs who people automatically assume to be "vicious" breeds based upon what kind of dog they are, i.e. pit bulls, rotties, etc. I vividly remember seeing a list of top biters, and pitbulls were way at the bottom. Come to think of it...I think where I saw it was on that video on the deviant art webpage about the truth of pitbulls....maybe there's a clue there!! Thanks everyone for your help!! I will keep you updated!

Are you sure? Chihuahuas are really loving dogs. Mine has only bit me once, but that was when we first got her and she was really scared and timid. I've had her for nearly 5 years now.

I also think that people are only going to report bites from bigger dogs, as little dog bites don't do much damage (unless you were to bring them up to your face), and bigger dogs usually have stronger jaws. I hate it how the news only does reports on dog bites if they are stereotypically 'vicious' dogs. It's so unfair.

Here's a webpage I found with the top 9 dog breeds that bite the most, but I'm not sure how accurate it is, even though it was a '27 year study'.
http://www.trivia-library.com/a/9-dog-breeds-that-bite-the-most.htm

I do believe that it's the larger dogs that get reported......I feel small dogs are much more " nippy"...but wouldn't be considered biters.

Ok I found this webpage...
http://www.unaughtydogs.com/id25.html
It shows the statistics in a county in Nevada...the pit bull is still high up there on the list, but so is the chow, shepards, terriers, labs, etc. Which does help support my argument with this woman from work...but I'm still looking...

Ok...I also found this...
"Pit Bull and Pit-bull-type dogs (21%), Mixed breed dogs (16%),
Rottweilers (13%), German Shepherd Dogs (9%), Wolf Dogs (5%),
Siberian Huskies (5%), Malamutes (4%), Great Danes (3%),
St. Bernards (3%), Chow Chows (3%), Doberman Pinschers (3%),
other breeds & non-specified breeds (15%)." http://www.fataldogattacks.com/statistics.html

Still not looking so good for the pitbulls, but I am building my argument!!! I tried going to the webpage about the pitbull problem on the deviant art website, but I tried loading the video, but, because it's on a new link I couldn't get it to load. I'm starting to think that there was part of the video comparing statistics of which dogs are higher on the list that bite, so I tried to email the girl that runs the website, but I can't get my email to load! GRR!!! So if anyone can get that video to load can you let me know if it has anything about dog bite statistics on it? Thanks!! I'm gonna keep looking for a little bit longer, but I need to get to bed.

Great post. Finally some empirical evidence. And Rhodesians are not present, as well as Giant Schnauzers.

I find that smaller dogs are more nippy than large dogs. This is usually because many small dogs are spoiled--they are allowed to do whatever they want and have no manners, they're owners take no responsibility because it's a "small dog" and he "can't hurt anyone".

i have a min-pin, and am 100% sure he would cause someone serious damage. i wouldnt call it "nippy".....that's why his name is "cujo". (he was rescued..so i dont know why he doesn't like strangers...maybe he never got socialized..???)

http://www.iii.org/individuals/homei/tips/dogbiteliability/
The link above relates to liability issues for certain breeds. Pit Bull is ranked #1.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/duip/dogbreeds.pdf

The link above is the study insurance companies base their findings on.

Summary below:

we have a mastiff X, she is not a vicous dog but she did ACCIDENTLY bite this woman. but she did not report it, we both screwed up.

We had the gates open just before wwe backed the car out, daisy saw a red cattle dog coming up the road and she ran out, the red dog started attacking daisy, Sophie saw it and flew towards it (runing hedlomg into our gate at first) and went to stop the dog, lucky she actually did get out of there because the red dog had daisy on her back.
in the process of saving daisy's life she cut the womans hadnd. But she did not press charges as she had her dog off the lead any way.

but this was an accident and not in her behaviour. We both screwed up and it was all over in about 20 seconds and we had the woman in a bandage helping her. But sophie is a mastiff, american bulldog cross and hasnt got a mean bone in her body. It was half because the woman jumped in and tried to stop whatever was happening. but I just wanted to let you know.

I over see a dog boarding kennel, worked at a Vet clinic for a few years and also work at a grooming shop. Small little dogs can be snippy, but, I have yet to have a small breed dog break my skin. For large breed dogs I am very wary of Rottweilers, Stafforshire Terriers, APBT's, Chows, and many terrier breeds. I have seen first hand at the Vet clinic an APBT (which seemed nice) put a kennel hand in the hospital, it was never reported other than just paper work. A Rottweiler which ripped its owners face off, the flap was actually hanging off him. A chow that caused such structual damage to a dog groomers face that she had to get a few appointments with a plastic surgeon.
IMO, all dogs can bite, but, the outcome of the bite can be more serious due to the size of the dog. I will admit I always muzzle Rottweilers and terriers when I bath or do nails...it's a precaution I always take. I almost had a sweet Rottweiler take my face off when trimming nails, no warning, he had a foot phobia that I was unaware off and didn't stop wagging his tail til I had his paw in my hand. Then it was just lunge and snap.

It's actually common sense, look at what the dog was bred to do and take it from there. If a dog was bred to kill vermin, then that dog has a bigger chance to go past grab bite motor pattern. If people would look at what damage the breed can inflict, then it's doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out that this breed in the wrong hands can be a danger. I have seen the sweetest owners own Rottweilers and APBT's, you think a spoiled little dog is snappy...try dealing with a snappy Rottweiler or APBT or other terrier breed...any dog can be spoiled rotten.

What most of the empirical evidence fails to account for is the gross number of any particular breed that is owned.

The only statistical measure with a chance of being accurate would be one that figured in the number of a certain breed owned to the number of bites from that breed compared to the same criteria for all the other breeds.

And I stand by the quote from Benjamin Disraeli: "There are three types of lies; lies, damned lies and statistics."

Another thing that's not accounted for is the mis-identification of dogs of unknown breeds.

Please make sure to reread the two post just before me! Renee750il hit it right on the head here. I wanted to say that but she beat me two it.

Pitbull type....heck that is at least 25 different breeds.
That is like saying....Hunting type...lol


Plus in Urban area where most bites are counted, Pitbulls are the most popular breed. Just like if you did research on the most dangerous type of car you would find that red cars are involved in way more accidents the green cars...but there are also 20 times as many red cars!

I'm very sure. Lots of times lap dogs ARE incredibly sweet and devoted companions, but when it comes to strangers or even just to being handled in ways they don't like very much, they tend to be very bratty, in my experience. This could be due to spoiling by the owners, it's much easier to let a little dog get away with things than a big dog.

Renee you beat me to the comment about percentage with dog bite reports. It makes sense for dogs like Rotties, pits, GSDs, and even labs to have high bite report rates because those dogs are EVERYWHERE! Less common breeds don't have the population available to even "compete" for any kind of statistics.

Breed identification is a good point too. A lot of times any black/tan dog is labeled as a GSD or Rottie mix.