• HikingVet@lemmy.ca
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    6 months ago

    With 8 in a year it isn’t even in the top ten leading causes of death for kids in the US. I remember when it was German Shepherds, then Dobermans. How many of those dogs weren’t trained, and how many of those kids were allowed to fuck with the dogs? These numbers are completely out of context.

    • anyhow2503@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Training your dangerous dog isn’t a requirement to owning it and kids naturally do stupid shit. That’s not a good reason to handwave kids getting mauled or killed. Pitbulls especially will just randomly decide to bite something on occasion, not because something genuinely threatened them. A kid getting overly excited (or scared) of a dog isn’t some reasonable excuse for the kid getting hurt. Looking at the statistics by breed, it’s not even close. Sure there are other dangerous breeds out there, but Pitbulls are relatively popular, owned by idiots who think they are just the cutest little angels (until they bite something they shouldn’t) and were literally bred for their dangerous bite. It should not be a surprise to anyone when that leads to 66% of the all time deaths to dog bites. There are multiple independent studies, showing that they are responsible for about half of all dog bite related injuries and then they have one of the highest rates of severe injuries, because their bite is really powerful and they tend to latch on for longer. There are plenty of breeds who don’t even make the statistic, despite their popularity.