Dog attack report by breed - Nov 2014

Since the previous report in October, pit bulls have continued to single themselves out with a high rate of disfiguring and fatal attacks against humans. The dogs that commit the attacks are not, as some like to infer, abused, neglected or mistreated animals. Virtually all of the dogs involved in these attacks have been well treated "family pit bulls", many of which were also well-behaved before launching the sudden, violent surprise attack.

A quick review of the top 5 breeds associated with fatal attacks since record keeping began in 1982 shows pit bulls as the worst offenders with Rottweilers a very distant second, followed by Huskies, Wolf hybrids and Bullmastiffs, which had previously displaced German Shepherds from the top 5 and are moving up the list very quickly. Given current trends, fatalities from Bullmastiffs are expected to surpass those from wolf hybrids within the next few months, and from huskies within the next year or two.

A picture is, as they say, worth 1000 words, so here is a pie chart presentation of the fatalities listed in the spreadsheet snippet above:

We find it rather telling to compare the distribution of attacks by breed over the past 30 some years to what we're seeing in the past 2 years. As pit bulls have increased to about 6% of the dog population, their share of fatal and disfiguring attacks on humans has simply swamped all other breeds combined - this despite the fact that the vast majority of pit bull attacks are committed against defenseless animals. Their violence against humans is merely the faintest echo of their violence against animals

You may download the full report for your study here