OMAHA, NE -- Labrador retrievers generally are meaner and more dangerous than pit bulls?
I've seen that argument made several times in news stories by those who oppose ordinances targeted at pit bulls and pit bull mixes, such as the ordinances we have had for two-plus years now in Omaha.
Those who think pit bulls get picked on have numbers to prove their point. Very often, in cities and counties across America, Labs account for a greater number of dog bites than do American pit bull terriers and their close relatives.
And there we saw it again in an article in Thursday's paper headlined "Pit bulls lag Labs in 2011 dog bite data." According to the Nebraska Humane Society, in the first six months of this year, Labs had tallied 35 bites in Omaha, 12 more than pit bulls.
Absolutely accurate numbers.
Which is better than assuming something is accurate, as when I assume that, in that same time frame, Omahans were bitten fewer times by pit bulls than they were by biting flies.
I'm also assuming the pit bull bites caused more damage than the fly bites.
"If you just see the total number of dog bites in any given area, it can be very misleading," said Colleen Lynn, founder of DogsBite.org, a Texas-based organization that tracks dog attacks and dog-related legislation around the country. "And those numbers can be used to mislead if they're taken out of context."
Although solid numbers are hard to come by, it would appear, after a review of numerous dog licensing and registration statistics from around the country, that there are about three or four Labrador retrievers in this country for every pit bull.
In 2008, the City of Lincoln dug into its dog bite statistics in a way that Omaha has failed to do. That year there were 39 bites from a registered population of 5,448 Labradors, while the city's 858 registered pit bulls accounted for 60 bites.
That's one bite for every 140 Labs in the city compared with one bite for every 14 pit bulls.
Now let's go deeper into those numbers for Omaha.
Of those 35 Labrador bites, only eight broke the skin of the victim (a Level 3 bite, by the society's scale) and none of the bites reached the crippling Level 4 and Level 5 bites.
Pit bulls led the way in Level 5 bites, which involve "mutilation or missing parts," with two, while six other breeds were responsible for one Level 5 attack each. Pit bulls had five Level 3 attacks and one Level 4.
Indeed, the fact that the pit bull bite numbers are lower than those of Labradors is likely because of new laws the city put in place in 2008. In September 2009, the Humane Society's Mark Langan reported that pit bull bites were down from 83 to 54 compared with the same period the year when muzzling and other pit bull restraint laws were not yet in place.
When it comes to dog bite statistics, remember that Labradors and pit bulls are still apples to oranges.
Although the data as released by the Humane Society was hard to navigate and place in context, and although it does seem at times that the society's leadership takes the stance that all dogs are equally super and that no dog needs be targeted by legislation, I don't think the numbers were skewed to downplay the destructive potential of pit bulls and their close relatives.
"I believe those bite numbers are lower for pit bulls now because owners are really worried about making sure their dogs are properly trained and restrained," said Pam Wiese, a Humane Society spokeswoman. "That heightened awareness is a very good thing."
(Omaha World-Herald - July 15, 2011)
