Dog attacks: What you don't know
By STEVE HOPKINS - Sunday News
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AUCKLAND is the dog attack capital of New Zealand. And, if you live in the middle of the North Island, then after the notorious pitbull terrier, the breed most likely to savage you is favourite family pet, the labrador.
Those are some of the findings from a Sunday News investigation into canine attacks, prompted by the mauling of two young girls a week ago. The horror attacks have reignited calls for tougher laws governing dangerous dogs.
Last year, more than 2500 Kiwis lodged claims with ACC after being bitten by dogs in the Auckland region. Canterbury was next worst with more than 1200 claims.
ACC has paid more than $10 million to just under 50,000 dog bite victims in the past five years.
Its figures are believed to give a more accurate picture of dog attacks, because only a quarter of such incidents are reported to authorities.
In about 75% of attacks, the dogs are known to the victim.
In the latest incidents, a five-year-old girl suffered multiple wounds to her face, neck, arms and legs after being turned on by two bulldog-pitbull crosses while she visited neighbours with her dad in Taneatua, near Whakatane.
On the same day, a three-year-old girl was left scarred for life after being attacked by a pitbull at a friend's property in Wairoa, Hawke's Bay.
A two-year study has been carried out across 13 North Island district councils, covering the greater Waikato and Bay of Plenty, into dog attacks. Labradors were the second-most featured breed.
Of 311 reported attacks since December 2007, the Labrador was responsible for 31, eight less than the pitbull. Bull terriers, Staffordshire bull terriers and German Shepherds rounded out the top five.
Other findings from the council study, completed by animal control veteran John Payne and presented to Local Government minister Rodney Hide last month, were that unregistered dogs were almost nine times more likely to be involved in attacks, and de-sexed dogs attack just as frequently as dogs that haven't been neutered. Male dogs carried out 64% of attacks.
A possible factor for the Labrador being included in the roll of shame is it being the nation's favourite dog. Kiwis have registered 39,482 of the breed, followed by the huntaway, 31,397, border collie, 22,866, Jack Russell, 18,926 and fox terrier, 18,523.
Unsurprisingly, ACC statistics show animal welfare workers are the occupation most regularly bitten by dogs with 63 claiming compensation for wounds last year. Accounting and bookkeeping clerks were the next biggest group, with 49 claims. Crop and livestock producers were third, with 38.
Canterbury figured high in the number of serious attacks.
Ministry of Health figures showed in 2008, out of 462 hospital admissions for dog bites, Canterbury had 71, Counties-Manukau 65, and Waitemata 52.
Babies were most at risk with 38 admissions, followed by under-fives with 43.
Payne, a former Institute of New Zealand Animal Control Officers president, said a dog's potential to attack people was based on its breed and sex, plus its personality – "we are all different, so are they" – and who it was placed with.
"The criminal and social background of the owner has more impact on behaviour than the other two influencing factors put together," Payne wrote in his briefing paper to Hide. "This is mainly a people problem."
Payne said part of the reason family pets attack is because their owners humanise them too much. And a "dysfunctional family means a dysfunctional dog", he said.
"Dogs don't love you ... they're satisfied if their needs are being met."
