Dr. John Fuhrman discusses the risks of dog ownership and dog bite injury studies.
Discussion with Doctor
Prescott, AZ - In July, Dr. John Fuhrman of the Fuhrman Clinic published an informative post and video that discusses risk factors for families that are considering bringing a dog into their home; dog bite injury studies; and breed-related findings within those studies. Some of the medical studies discussed appear in our Level 1 trauma center table. Fuhrman also discusses studies pertaining to pit bull identification and references several high court rulings on the matter.
We encourage you to watch the entire video, which is 30 minutes in length. It is valuable to listen to a doctor discuss medical study findings in an informal, conversational manner. Such findings are not always easily interpretable to lay persons. Dr. Fuhrman emphasizes that children (50%, 1 in 2) are at a higher risk of sustaining a dog bite in their lifetime than adults (20%, 1 in 5) and that "most victims are involved in normal, non-provoking activities before the dog attacks."
About 70% of all dog attacks are from a dog known to the victim, he writes, not the proverbial stray. Most bites also occur inside or near the family's home, particularly bites and attacks to children. "Dog familiarity may confer a false sense of safety," states a 2015 pediatric dog bite injury study. "Unfortunately, familiarity may lead to injury," states a 2017 pediatric dog bite injury study. A 2018 pediatric study found that "parental presence was reported in 43.6% of cases."
"Infants are 4 times more likely to be bitten by a family dog. When infants are attacked, usually the baby is asleep. There is nothing less provocative than a sleeping baby, yet dogs attack them." -Dr. Fuhrman
Breed-Related Findings
What was almost "universally found in the 17 or so papers that I looked at," he states about his literature review, is that "when humans went to the emergency rooms, and when humans went to the operating room because they needed a surgery from a dog attack, and when humans died because of a dog attack, pit bull-type dogs were more responsible for those things than any other type of dog," he states. There were other breeds, but "pit bull was stand out number one."
Dr. Fuhrman then proceeds to quote breed-related findings from over a dozen scientific medical studies, some of which found that pit bulls inflict the highest prevalence of injuries and the highest severity of injuries, compared to other dog breeds. "Of the more than 8 different breeds identified, one-third were caused by pit bull terriers and resulted in the highest rate of consultation (94%) and had 5 times the relative rate of surgical intervention," states a 2015 dog bite injury study.
Pit Bull Identification Studies
Dr. Fuhrman next discusses key "Find the pit bull" studies and points out their flaws. The first one, (Hoffman, 2014), is based on 20 photographs. "No actual dogs were shown to the participants. Instead, one photo of each dog was shown. The photos were not standardized. They were taken at different angles and some do not include the dog’s whole body," he writes. Participants self-selected to take the survey for the study too. "Better to select participants randomly," he writes.
He notes that the second pit bull identification study, (Olson, 2015), coded the dog "pit bull-type" if results from the DNA test only showed 12.5% of the breed's composition. "I think this standard is too high," he writes. "If the dog is 1/8 pit bull by genetic testing, then the authors count that dog as a pit bull. I would not expect the staff to look at a dog that is 1/8 pit bull and identify it as pit bull." Yet, even with this 1/8 DNA standard, "most of the time staff agreed with each other," he writes.
Dr. Fuhrman also questions the conflict-of-interest statement in the Olson study, "None of the authors of this paper has a financial or personal relationship with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence or bias the content of the paper." Yet, the study was funded by Maddie’s Fund. "I invite you to go to Maddie’s Fund’s website, search for 'pit bull,' and decide for yourself if the search results show any bias about pit bulls at Maddie’s Fund," he writes.
Even as a newbie into the area of pit bull identification studies, which often have "self-selecting" study participants, flawed study designs, use non-standardized 2-dimensional photographs, and often lack conflict-of-interest statements, Dr. Fuhrman is clear that something is amiss. Welcome to the world of "Find the pit bull" studies, where conflict-of-interest statements may be wholly omitted and the studies are funded, co-authored or both by pit bull advocacy in secrecy.
Case in point, Dr. Fuhrman was unaware that one study he cited, (Reese, 2020), was co-authored by Laura A. Reese, a pit bull advocate, who failed to disclose her conflicts of interest, "The authors have no conflict of interest in this project," states the study. Reese co-authored a policy paper in 2016, Pit Bulls, Perceptions, And Public Policy,1 laden with decades old pit bull propaganda, and wrote an editorial condemning breed bans after four pit bulls killed a boy in Detroit in 2015.
In Conclusion
Dr. Fuhrman concludes by summarizing risk factors for families that are considering bringing a dog into their home for the first time and what breed or type of dog that should be. As he states, the research suggests, even as secondary trends that, "It seems that female dogs are a lower risk for attacking" and, "It seems that dogs which are not chained up are a lower risk for attacking." What should be strongly emphasized, however, is that pit bulls are inflicting the most severe injuries.
"Thing that really should be underlined is that pit bulls are the number one dog for sending people to the emergency room. Sending people to the operating room. And, sending people to the morgue." - Dr. Fuhrman
Dr. Fuhrman also reminds parents deciding on whether to bring a dog into their home that there are many breeds to choose from. "I mean even if it is just the top ten offenders, you scratch those off the list, you are still left with over 200 breeds to choose from," he states. "So, knowing what you know now, along with all of the other information that you are going to use to make your decision. But knowing the medical literature statements on this, what breed would you choose?" he asks.
Lastly, we don't think Dr. Fuhrman studied the pit bull identification studies too deeply. He did not need to. His insights show that a scientific mind just scratching the surface of these studies can find a lot of flaws and false conclusions. We doubt he looked deeply into Maddie’s Fund either, who strives for a "no-kill nation now." But he quickly realized that the funding source for the Olson identification study, "made possible by support from Maddie’s Fund" was not neutral.2
"Pit bull dogs possess unique and readily identifiable physical and behavioral traits which are capable of recognition both by dog owners of ordinary intelligence and by enforcement personnel." - Ohio v. Anderson, 57 Ohio St. 3d 168 - Ohio: Supreme Court 1991
2Dr. Julie Levy, who co-authored the pit bull identification study with Olson is a faculty member of the Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Program at the University of Florida in Gainesville, where the study was carried out. Maddie’s Fund did not just fund the Olson/Levy study, they established and underwrite the shelter medicine program. The Olson/Levy study was also part of a "bigger umbrella study," as noted in the study, involving a large Internet survey of 5922 self-identified "dog-experts" that were shown photographs of the same dogs used in the Olson/Levy study and asked to determine breed. That portion of the study was funded by the National Canine Research Council, a subsidiary of Animal Farm Foundation, both are primary members of the American pit bull lobby.
Related articles:
08/01/22: Level 1 Trauma Dog Bite Studies in All U.S. Geographical Regions: Pit Bulls Highest...
01/12/22: 2021 Fatal Dog Attack Breed Identification Photographs - DogsBite.org
10/20/16: Back Story of the Montreal Pit Bull Ban, What the Vets Omitted and Cited...
08/31/15: Who Can Identify a Pit Bull? A Dog Owner of 'Ordinary Intelligence' Say the High Courts
Sly dog tricks neighbors into thinking it killed mailman
NY Post, Sept 8, 2022
This strikes me as desensitization. Especially due to all the press recently in Iowa re pitbulls and efforts to remove pitbull bans.
Creepy!
Note: The “sly dog” is a 224-lb. English mastiff, which apparently amuses its clueless Iowa owner. The dog’s name Tatanka is the Lakota Indian word for bison.
You don’t need a doctor to tell you that pitbull are most likely to cause serious harm to people. Most people already know that fact.it just the chuckheaded people who refused to believe their lovable pitbull aren’t mean aggressive dogs.
Thank you to Dogsbite for exposing Dr. Laura Reese about the conflicts of interest on her part.
It is the “knee-jerk reactions” of a shocked populace that lead to pitbull bans. The public says, Enough already! This needs to stop immediately! We will not stand by while pitbulls murder citizens!
Here is a “knee-jerk reaction” written in 2021 to the horror of learning about the Detroit child murdered by a pack of pitbulls in 2015. Pitbull advocate Reese’s 2015 editorial against breed bans was written in response to the Detroit press urging action for pitbull bans. Link provided in this Dogsbite
article.
There once was an adorable 4-year-old black boy named Xavier
Who walked with his mom to a school to volunteer
Many pitbulls attacked him
And then disemboweled him
And tore him apart in front of his mom.
Beloved boy child.
What would be the harm in NOT having any sort of dog in the house? Face it, no one needs a dog.
Indeed. Dog BREEDS were designed for a purpose like retrieving, herding, pointing. Most people have dogs as PETS with no consideration for what the dog was designed and bred to do.
Holy crow! I hear you on that one!
Oops, that was in response to YQN.
But some of us enjoy a dog in the home. Pit bulls and a few other breeds are the problem as are their owners. We don’t need a lot of things but my dog brings me daily happiness. When people start going against all dogs not just the dangerous ones then the whole dangerous dog issue is just dismissed as being a bunch of dog haters and we will never find a solution to keeping our neighborhoods safe.
Victoria, I would be interested in your comments and others’ comments about several issues that have occurred to me about the impact of the pitbull implosion on dog owners.
–Several dogs have been attacked recently by pitbulls jumping out of trucks. A butter-yellow Golden Retriever w white pantaloons was attacked by a pitbull who ran across several lanes of traffic to reach her. The TV news footage of endearing Lucy’s plumed tail swishing near the owner’s legs made me wonder if being a dog owner might be more dangerous than a solo walker. Isn’t the prey drive of pitbulls more stimulated seeing a dog than a human?
https://citywatchla.com/index.php/cw/animal-watch/25288-pit-bull-attacks-are-not-accidents
In Canada, another dog was attacked by a pitbull jumping out of a truck window.
https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/milo-s-law-n-b-woman-wants-legislation-after-dog-attacked-killed-1.6047958
–I am guessing most dog owners now have doggy doors in their homes. I recall reading about pitbull attacks in a victim’s home where pitbulls apparently invaded through the doggy door. I have to say that really spooks me.
It sounds like those knowing the dangers of pitbulls may reject dog ownership when they would have done otherwise, particularly in these times.
I have had pits run at me without my dog being present so they will come after a lone walker. Some pits do seem to be more focused on a dog if present. I just know for me, as much as I hate the risk now I get too much enjoyment from dogs to give up ownership. I do think for some it is going to be a factor when their dogs are attacked but I have now owned dogs for 45 years. They are part of my life, they keep me active even if only getting up every few hours to take them out, they are company when husband if off doing his daily shopping. I won’t ever own multiple dogs again because easier to grab one away from a pit. No doggie door even though I know my dog would love it, I want to know exactly when she is out due to the pits around. She hasn’t even been threatened by one at fence, just by chance when the ones ran at me when behind my fence, she was inside but I feel too risky. I do think some who have lost a pet brutally and the pit is still next door probably are not going to get another. I have been lucky, my dogs survived but my son was walking both times in the last two attacks and he has a kick on him that makes me wish had put him in Football as a kid. I am older now and just hoping that it doesn’t get too bad in the next 20 years and I can have a dog as long as I can take care of one.
Victoria, thank you. I think I remember that a woman with a pitbull down the way from you was endangering your dog. And animal control wasn’t assisting you. Hope that issue has been resolved and you are safe.
You don’t have to ask all these rhetorical what ifs about single walkers vs dog walkers as the fatality data has your answer right there.
Concerned Citizen, I provided actual attacks, not what-if’s. Rhetorical questions? No, info that hopefully will assist others in staying safe.
People choose dogs by looks. It’s cute to them. I once met a couple with young children in PetSmart that was buying a pair of Akita puppies. Dumb! Akitas aren’t pitbulls, but they are also a fighting, very independent breed.
I wish true pitbull figures were easily available. What I see with pitbulls in public is ill-mannered, poorly trained dogs dragging their owners around. Too often, it’s toward another dog on leash with a handler. In doing so, pitbulls put people and dogs in jeopardy; and that doesn’t indicate what happens in homes.
The whopping 250% increase between the lifetime risk of a dog bite is startling, even though we adults realize that life has changed considerably between the time we were growing up compared to today. It is 2.5 times riskier for a child today to suffer a dog bite, Dr. Fuhrman points out.
When I was a kid, I don’t think there were many pitbulls around. Today they are about 6% of the dog population. With farm dogs, if the dog tried to bite anybody, the farmer shot it. Dogs were not nearly family members like they are today. Farm dogs got lots of exercise and didn’t have separation anxiety. People tend to think of their dogs as babies and don’t play by the rules of dog ownership. If my dog is lying on the floor, I require that dog to move when I want to walk through that area. I won’t try to walk around the dog.
Consider this stupidity. An older gentleman told me his nine month old Shih Tzu female was extremely aggressive toward his wife while sitting in his lap. He asked me about it. I said, “Do you like it? If so, do what you are doing. If not, stand up so she lands on the floor or sweep her off with your arm.”. I didn’t advocate any discipline
other than taking his lap away. People years ago would never have let this behavior get started. This Shih Tzu would have bitten anyone. She thought she owned the house.
It wasn’t just farmers. I learned that at six when my dog nipped the neighbor kid for the second time. I learned then, you’d better not let your dog bite anyone.
Most dog breeds still have teeth capable of killing other animals, some have the ability to kill large animals. People don’t respect that.
I knew of Staffordshire Terriers because I read every single dog book in the library growing up including AKC books that included every dog that could be registered at the time. At age 8 made a decision that it was not ever going to be a dog for me due to it’s dog on dog aggression. I really didn’t hear of pits until a low class neighbor had one and in 1980 and it was killing his wife’s dogs. I ran into them now and again for the next 20 years but did have my dog and then my daughter attacked by pits, two different decades and dogs. It seems that since that Mike Vicks publicity they are everywhere. Oh and two more dogs attacked by pits, No other breed has ever caused my family injury. OH and you are right, people allow little dogs to be horrible because so cute to them. NO, my small dogs still have rules.
That’s what I’ve been saying, folks. As an old geezer, biting behaviour wasn’t tolerated. Yah, occasionally some elderly person with an old, small, nippy dog didn’t put their dog down (it was put up or put down if there were grandkids) but dogs over 10lbs were shot or euthanized for biting. Thus, their breeding time, if they ever had any–was limited.
I agree Rachel, one of the most important tactics that all true dog people do is tell their dog to “move”. This is an important indicator of the relationship between human and dog. That and training “place” or “go lay down” can cut out 90% of potential household and later, training problems with relatively little effort.
Dog trainers keep saying it–owners don’t listen.
I love this dog but it is my last one. I’d consider a small dog but with the pitbull explosion? Nope. Too dangerous.
People with large breed dogs, especially pitties and rottweilers (there are others) MUST report ownership of such dogs to homeowner’s insurance. Not a question of being “breed prejudice” but they are the ones who PAY OUT damage caused by their dogs. They have a list of the most likely ones to bite and cause injury, including death–pit bulls and mixes are on top of the list. Doberman Pincers are also on that same list along with German Shepard just below that. Pit bulls are also hard to contain because they are expert escape artists and they can bend up a fence with their powerful jaws.
And you expect the owners of such dogs to actually do such a thing? Good luck with that.
An acquaintance of mine left her Rottweiler and GSD at my house when insurance was going to inspect her house. Neither of these dogs was aggressive. Both purebred. Rottweiler was three legged.
Nothing like aiding and abetting insurance fraud. And how many times have we read on this site that the dogs weren’t aggressive — until they were?
I had handled these dogs many times. The GSD was originally from my kennel. Pitbulls are unpredictable, but GSDs are predictable. In my experience, Rottweilers were nice or they weren’t. I’ve seen more temperament issues in male Rottweilers than females. Since that time, I don’t deal with the owner of these dogs at all. She’s an animal abuser but tries to nail other people for abuse when they aren’t guilty.
Rescuing dogs and cats but not vaccinating. Letting fleas kill animals. Etc.
I was a child in the 1950’s in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I remember regularly seeing dog catchers patrol our neighbourhood in a van. Dogs had to be licensed and wear collars with tags..There was visible enforcement of laws. I have not seen that in decades.
The problem is not we do not have laws. We have stopped enforcing them. I feel Toronto has degenerated into lawless anarchy regarding the responsible ownership of dogs. Politicians spout meaningless platitudes about protecting public safety without providing funds and human resources to provide that protection.
In Toronto we do not need new laws. We need people to enforce existing laws. I want to be able to ride my bicycle on public recreational trails and see uniformed by-law enforcement officers every couple of hours. I have not seen one in over fifty years.
Peter, I’m with you 100% there. We have BSL, nobody is enforcing it because the beasts are everywhere.
Recently city hall passed idiot laws outlawing training collars. That’s a recipe for disaster, right there. Big dogs, small people being dragged around by dogs in harnesses. It’s lunacy. If we even cut out the biting problem, some of these folks are going to be dragged into traffic.
Never used to hear dogs barking much here. Now half the dogs I pass are straining at the lead lunging and barking. It’s frightening just to walk out the door. And these same loonies just run their dog into my trained dog claiming, “See? He wants to play!” Never mind the fact that I have an old dog now, or that I am old and could break a hip from their leaping brat dog.
They’ve lost all common sense.