You’re taking your daily walk,
and you see a dog approaching.
It's scowling, and its body is tensing up.
As it bares its teeth and flattens its ears,
you realize that this dog
doesn’t want a treat.
It wants you.
Every year, in the United States,
about 14,000 people
are hospitalized with dog bite injuries.
And in an attack,
you might have to face
more than one or two dogs.
Fatal, multi-dog attacks involving
more than three dogs have risen 164%
since the late 1980s.
In 2019,
attacks involving more than
three dogs caused 38% of all deaths.
And pit bulls were involved
in 78% of those attacks.
If a dog attacks you,
trying to run away is not likely to help.
Most likely, you will not
be able to outrun a dog.
And running away can awaken
a dog’s prey instinct to chase and catch you.
And dogs who hurt people
most likely do so because of their ancestry.
These dogs were bred for hunting,
working,
and baiting large animals like bulls.
People encouraged
those dogs' aggressiveness,
and bred them for their aggressive traits
to help them better perform their tasks.
And centuries later, those traits are still
coded into dogs’ DNA,
especially in
Dobermans,
Rottweilers,
pit bulls, pit bull mixes,
and wolf hybrids.
Lists of dangerous dog breeds often include
German Shepherds and Akitas too.
And the dogs we call pit bulls
are often controversial.
Many people don't realize that
pit bulls are not a breed.
The term pit bull refers to
the American Staffordshire Terrier,
American Pit Bull Terrier,
Staffordshire Bull Terrier,
and American Bully dogs.
They're descended from the English
bull-baiting dog,
which was bred to bite and hold
massive animals, including bulls
and bears.
A pit bull attacks by biting its target,
then shaking its head back and forth.
So, if you have a pit bull,
it’s essential to evaluate,
socialize,
and continually train your dog.
The dog always needs to know
how you want it to behave,
and not just rely on its instincts.
But if the dog is threatening you,
and it's a pit bull
or one of the other more aggressive breeds,
what can you do to survive the attack?
The best way to prevent an attack
is for the owner to train their dog
not to attack.
And the owner should always make sure their
dog is in the house,
in a secure yard,
or on a leash.
Hopefully, the dog's owner will take
appropriate action if their dog bites someone.
But don't count on it.
Data from 2019 shows that
40% of people killed by dogs
involved dogs with a history
of being aggressive toward people.
About 21% of the killer dogs
had a history of being aggressive
toward other animals.
And shockingly,
13% of the dogs
had bitten or severely attacked the victim
in the past.
So if a dog bites or attacks you,
stay away from it in the future.
If an aggressive dog confronts you,
the most important thing to do
is to stay calm.
It's normal to feel fear or anxiety,
but don’t give in to it.
And don’t start yelling or kicking at the dog.
It's like psychological warfare.
An aggressive dog wants you
to be stressed out before it attacks.
So if you remain calm and in control,
it slows the dog down
and messes up its plans.
Stay calm and assertive.
That lets the dog know that you are not afraid,
and it demands the dog's respect.
When the dog senses
that you are not threatening it,
and you are not threatened by the dog,
it will probably lose interest.
Then the situation is likely to de-escalate.
It might seem safe to pet an unfamiliar dog.
But you can never be sure
of the dog’s temperament.
This is good advice
for you and your children.
In 2019,
27% of the people who were bitten to death
by dogs were children only nine years old
and younger.
Another 6% of people killed by dogs
were 10 to 18 years old.
And the largest group of people
killed by dogs,
67%, were adults age 19 and older.
You might know that you're planning
to pet a dog,
but the dog may not always know that.
So give an unfamiliar dog some space.
A pit bull mauled a seven-year-old girl
on the Upper West Side
of New York City in 2020.
Her mother gave her a dollar,
and the little girl walked up
to give it to a homeless woman with a dog.
When the child approached,
the pit bull latched onto her face,
and slammed her into the sidewalk.
The little girl's mother,
and the dog's owner,
could not pull the dog away.
Another bystander came to help,
and finally the dog got off the child.
The little girl was bleeding profusely
and had to be treated at a hospital.
So, if you don't know a dog,
keep your distance.
Avoid direct eye contact
with an aggressive dog.
Instead, stand slightly sideways,
which also makes you a narrower target,
and keep the dog in your peripheral vision.
Making eye contact
may incite the dog to lunge at you.
And if it does lunge,
protect your face, chest, and throat.
But what if you realize
that's not a dog attacking you.
It's a wolf.
We have tips for surviving that too,
right here on How to Survive.