"Do you think German Shepherds are mauling and killing people at the same rate of pit bulls in the U.S."

No one is saying pitt bulls don't bite people. And they bit hard. But your use of rate here is interesting, lets see the rate. Disaggregated by the usual things epidemiologists like to disaggregate by.

Otherwise talk of this breed this that breed that can only be driven by headlines, and of course good ol' personal experiences.

Anonymous wrote:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16510617/

Seems that German Shepherds are the worst biters of children in some countries. Would be good to see some decent analysis on this in the USA, but someone who understand statistics, rather than poorly collected data and headlines.

The only pit bull mauling and fatal attack headlines I have posting have been from this year, and from fairly mainstream news sources. Since I live in the U.S., I have been mostly posting links to U.S. cases, though there are so many cases outside the U.S. as well. I am not creating these stories, they are actual incidents of pit bulls/ bully-type breeds mauling and killing people, and sometimes pets. You are more than welcome to post headlines of German Shepherds, or dobermans, or Great Danes, or rottweilers, or chihuahuas, or pomeranians, or golden retrievers, or greyhounds mauling and killing people. This is a public forum, post whatever dog attack articles come up in your news feed, no one is stopping you. Do you think German Shepherds are mauling and killing people at the same rate of pit bulls in the U.S., and that the families of these victims are asking the media to remain quiet about these attacks? For some reason, the families of the German Shepherd (and other breed) mauling and killing victims would rather make pit bulls look bad, instead of warn people about the dangers of German Shepherds? If for some reason you find lots of hidden articles and incidents involving German Shepherds (or any other breed) mauling and fatal attacks, post them! If for some reason the media is involved in a conspiracy and would rather make pit bulls look bad than report the truth about dangerous German Shepherds, and are therefore hiding attacks from other dog breeds, people should know. I seriously doubt that is happening though...

Here is a scientific study, that concludes "Attacks by Pit Bull Terriers are more likely to cause severe morbidity than other breeds of dogs." https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29245098/

Here is one that concludes "Pit bull terrier bites were responsible for a significantly higher number of orthopaedic injuries and resulted in an amputation and/or bony injury in 66% of patients treated, whereas bites from law enforcement dogs and other breeds were less associated with severe injuries." https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29912736/

Here is one that concludes "family dogs represent a more significant threat than often is realized and that, among the breeds identified, pit bulls are proportionally linked with more severe bite injuries." https://sma.org/southern-medical-journal/article/characteristics-of-dog-bites-in-arkansas/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16510617/

Seems that German Shepherds are the worst biters of children in some countries. Would be good to see some decent analysis on this in the USA, but someone who understand statistics, rather than poorly collected data and headlines.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The baby would feed the dog snacks from her hand

https://www.yahoo.com/news/1-old-dies-she-bitten-173706925.html

Feeding a dog snacks from her hand is different than being near the dog's food bowl while she was eating which is what happened. It said the child grabbed at her food. Not justifying what the dog did of course, but it's very different. Dog was also 4 years old so they had it before having the baby. Perhaps baby is just getting mobile. None of these things justify what happened to the child, but they do explain why the dog might have reacted that way.

we have a Newfoundland. The kids could be pulling at its jowls while it eats and I wouldn't be concerned about him reacting. That level of aggressiveness is a breed trait. The only people who don't accept that are the pitbull apologists

My kids did that to our pitt bull when he was eating from his bowl and I was horrified. But he did not care at all, no sign of distress, he is not food aggressive or protective of food, treats, toys. So maybe not a breed specific trait.

https://www.wfsb.com/news/1-month-old-baby-killed-in-dog-attack-family-devastated/article_64f8b55c-b200-11eb-a4cd-cfbc8815680d.html?block_id=994091


A pit bull killed a 1 month old baby last night, in Connecticut. The pit bull was the family's pet dog.

https://kelo.com/2021/05/08/dog-bites-woman-at-empire-mall/


A loose pitbull bites a woman that was walking through a mall parking lot. This happened in South Dakota.

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/stray-dog-attacks-boy-on-porch-of-his-northeast-philly-home-police-say/2806258/?fbclid=IwAR1RyDvPQdsg1tOfdnbCOdO9Y7X3bLywZ_7aZqQiF_O_zYHQ1ynyC2WJsYk

A 5 year old boy was sitting on his own front porch. A stray pitbull ran up and mauled him, leaving the child hospitalized.

https://www.americanpress.com/news/local/sulphur-man-in-critical-condition-after-dog-attack/article_1dbd4a24-af60-11eb-8e8d-c767be29f2cb.html

27 year old man was visiting a family member. When he went in the backyard, the family member's roommate's 3 pitbulls mauled him. The man had to be life-flighted to a hospital.

https://www.live5news.com/2021/05/03/police-pack-pitbulls-kill-homeowners-dogs-back-porch/

Two dogs were hanging out in their own yard, on their own back porch deck. Four loose pitbulls went onto the property and killed the two dogs. The victims here were dogs, but these loose pitbulls are dangerous animals that could easily hurt a child.

https://northeast.newschannelnebraska.com/story/43807384/omaha-woman-hospitalized-after-being-attacked-by-dogs?fbclid=IwAR2HeFxvYHx5slqP4UbR4C4qh7Mi3ikmqIqxjXrN2_lLkyzMObJm_s-Z5eo

Two loose pitbulls attacked a man and a woman who were walking their poodle. The woman had to go to the hospital due to her injuries, the man suffered bite wounds to his arms, and the poodle needed surgery on its leg. This happened in Nebraska.

Pit bulls are awful. Within the last Month I’ve had two encounters while walking my dog where A woman in one case and a teen in the other had an extremely difficult time Controlling their leashed pit bull. In one instance the dog was so strong He pulled his owner off the sidewalk and almost all the way across the street towards me and my dog. I was walking on the sidewalk on other Side of the street and she got within 10 feet of me before I yelled get control of your dog and that seemed to give her the burst of energy to actually control her dog. The second incident was not as extreme, but the owner definitely had difficulty controlling her dog as he did pull her more than she pulled him. If you have a pitbull, it should always be muzzled if out in public.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The baby would feed the dog snacks from her hand

https://www.yahoo.com/news/1-old-dies-she-bitten-173706925.html

Feeding a dog snacks from her hand is different than being near the dog's food bowl while she was eating which is what happened. It said the child grabbed at her food. Not justifying what the dog did of course, but it's very different. Dog was also 4 years old so they had it before having the baby. Perhaps baby is just getting mobile. None of these things justify what happened to the child, but they do explain why the dog might have reacted that way.

Like we needed your "expertise" here. The issue is because of the type of dog, the encounter was lethal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was on Lewes beach one day and a guy with a small pit bull approached another family with another small dog sitting on the beach on a towel and the pit bull reached it's head over and grabbed the little dog's neck, bit it, and shook it, and that was the end of that little dog. Its owner was horrified. She thought the dogs were going to say hi to one another. Nope, just a little casual murder at the beach.

Police were called and there was some question of whether the pit bull would be put down. I don't know what happened.

Omg, how sad foe the owner of the little dog. Wow.

There were two pits in my neighborhood who were out down for killing small dogs. I knew far before the murder they were headed that way as they would lunge at my lab like lions going in for the kill. One was off leashed (!!) Once and attacked said lab and it was like Battle Royale to the death. Lucky he was 80 lbs and got away with only a few lacerations and now other injuries. I hate pits and avoid them on walks with my new dog.

I hate having to pass pitbulls when I’m walking or running.

https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2021/04/29/11-year-old-girl-pit-bull-attack-marynook/

11 year old girl goes to knock on her neighbor's door. The neighbor's pitbull breaks out the front door, and bites the girl on the arm, sending her to the hospital for treatment. This happened in Chicago. If a dog living in a big city cannot handle hearing a child knock on the door, it does not belong living near people.