While it would be wonderful to assume all dogs are trained equally. In a perfect world, anyone who adopts a dog, treats him or her with kindness, trains him or her and exercises him or her daily. Those things alone can make the difference between a dog being aggressive and one who is submissive - even a watchdog. According to a recent survey, there are approximately 75 million dogs in the United States. Dog bites are a common and normal childhood fear, and in the media dog bites are often depicted as comical (we all remember Peter Sellers' famous line "Does your dog bite?" from the Pink Panther movies) or related to dog fighting or law enforcement. But what's the reality about dog bites? How frequent are they and how serious are they potentially? And what should be done to prevent them?

Some Statistics

Several years ago the Centres for Disease Control (CDC) published some interesting statistics suggesting that dogs bite about 2 percent of the US population, which is approximately just over 4 million individuals, each year. Of those bites, the CDC estimated that 1 in 6 bites warrant medical attention. According to the U.S. Health Department's 2008 research, the number of dog bites resulting in hospitalisation has increased and the majority of the people bitten were children under five years old or seniors over age 65. And according to the U.S. Postal Service, over 2500 of the nation's letter carriers get bitten annually. So what does this mean for you? It means that you have a 1 chance in 50 of being bitten by Rocky, Shadow or even Sandi.

Danger Signs

How can you tell if a dog is likely to bite? Are there any ways to predict dog bites? According to research and statistics compiled, there are several situations in which dog bites are much more likely to occur. While of course this does not mean that every chained dog will bite, or that all chows (or other breeds identified as being more likely to bite) are dangerous, having an awareness of these statistical correlations may help keep you or your children that much safer.