DOG bites are on the rise but should we crack down on specific breeds or target careless owners?

IN the early 1800s the dog breeders of Britain faced a dilemma. Parliament had banned the old blood sports of bull and bear baiting to end the cruelty of letting dogs rip into trapped animals. yet watching dogs fight – each other, or rats in a pit – was still immensely popular.

So breeders developed another fighting dog, one that was tough, determined, well-muscled but designed to be submissive to humans in case its handlers had to step in. it became known as the pit bull terrier.

Fast forward to 2011 and the submissive qualities seem to have been forgotten. Today, "pit bull" is shorthand for an aggressive, dangerous dog. In a horrific attack in August, four- year-old Ayen Chol was mauled to death in her

Melbourne home by a pit bull cross, and this week a man was charged over the attack.

Ayen’s death provoked outrage and prompted the Victorian government to immediately strengthen laws which will require unregistered pit bulls to be destroyed. There were even calls to ban the breed entirely. here, the Weatherill Government is also considering tougher laws – but has yet to reveal its plans.

A solution may not be so easy to find. Is the problem the breed of dog, or the way the owners treat them? around the world, countries have different approaches. Italy and Holland in recent times have lifted bans on restricted breeds because the laws have been ineffective. instead, they are concentrating on punishing owners who mistreat animals.

In Australia, despite steps taken to control so-called dangerous dogs, the number of dog bite injuries is on the rise, and most attacks are by family pets. In the wrong hands and the wrong circumstances any dog can be a weapon.

AT the Hahndorf Animal Shelter kennel manager Robyn Page sees first-hand what humans can do to dogs. She has taken in dogs that have been badly beaten, starved, encouraged to be aggressive and dogs that have just been abandoned. Dogs such as Alexis and Shyloh. both are around 12 months old although it’s hard to be precise because they were dumped and left to fend for themselves. both are lucky. they ended up at the Page’s shelter, a kind of nirvana for discarded, neglected and abused dogs who need a second chance in life. If they had ended up in a council pound they would be dead by now.

The shelter rehoused a record 245 animals last year. Dogs can be big, boisterous and expensive to keep and Page says some people simply choose to abandon their pets when they lose that puppy cuteness. "People love the cute," she says. "but they don’t love it when they become like teenagers and act all gangly and disobedient."

But there may be something else happening as well.Alexis and Shyloh are part of a trend. As many as 40 per cent of the dogs at the shelter are, like them, staffy crosses – a mix of staffordshire bull terrier and something else. Alexis has some mastiff thrown in. No one is sure about Shyloh. the numbers are not unique to this particular shelter. the RSPCA reports staffies and kelpies are the two breeds most often dumped by uncaring owners.

One theory as to why so many dogs end up on the streets is that staffies are being lumped in with perceived dangerous dogs such as the demonised American pit bull terrier. the staffy shares certain breeding characteristics and history with the pit bull and there is a physical resemblance to the untrained eye.

Like all dogs, Page says, staffies can be the product of their environment. If they are mistreated and abused the dogs will likely have "baggage". the key is love and respect. "the problem with some of the dogs that come here is they have not been socialised," Page says. "If you lock them up in the backyard, don’t take them for walks, they don’t see much of the world."

Both Shyloh and Alexis turned up at the shelter in July. when they arrived they displayed many of the symptoms of the unloved dog. they were aggressive, suspicious and jumpy. they didn’t like one another, they would fight. Three months later it seems a

personality transplant has taken place. At first glance, there is no doubt that there is something scary about these dogs. they are powerful, with muscular shoulders, triangular heads and strong jaws. If they wanted to, they could inflict severe damage.

And yet Alexis and Shyloh today carry all the threat of an angry goldfish. they play with each other, come and sniff and seek affection, and generally gambol about. Page hopes they will find good homes soon.

The reputation of dogs like these is also undermined by the human company they keep. Dogs such as pit bulls and staffies are popular breeds among gangs like the bikies. the pit bull in particular has acquired a reputation as a menace to society.

ONE staffy terrier owner, who wanted to remain anonymous, says attitudes to her dog hardened considerably after the Victorian tragedy. "Since the attack people have been abusing me on the street, picking up their dogs and children, muttering horrible things about me and my dog under their breath and crossing to the other side of the road," she says.

"Usually people have a giggle at her when we are walking as she is such a sook she lies on her back in submission to even small fluffy dogs. but now the owners of these small fluffy dogs think she is going to attack and kill their dogs."

Sue Swalling, a fierce advocate for her staffies, lives in Callington. She has owned the breed since 1966 after seeing one in the pet shop at Harrods department store in London. She has let her children play with them and now lets the grand kids do the same.

It’s a true and enduring love. "In all the years I have had one, I have not had a dog in any way be aggressive to me," she says. "I have not had one with a mean bone in its body."

The State Government is considering whether it needs to follow Victoria’s example and change the law on dangerous dogs. Environment Minister Paul Caica has received advice from the Dog and Cat Management Board but would offer no comment on the government’s likely position. the issue of uniform national laws for dangerous dogs is also on the agenda for a meeting of the state and federal attorneys-general later this month in Launceston.

There are currently five restricted breeds of dog in South Australia. this means severe limitations are placed on them. they must be desexed, microchipped and must wear a muzzle and be restrained in public. the dogs cannot be bought, sold, or given away. There is a $2500 fine for any breach.

The restricted breeds are the American pit bull terrier, the Brazilian fighting dog fila brasileiro, the Argentine dogo, Japanese tosa and the perro de presa canario, another fighting dog. According to official records the only restricted breed currently in South Australia is the pit bull, of which there are 103 registered. several years ago an Argentine dogo was found in the Riverland but it had been imported from new Zealand and the owner believed it was something else.

All dogs, regardless of their breed, can be dangerous to some extent. the SA Dog and Cat Management Board says there were 535 recorded dog attacks in the 2000-01 year. By 2009-10 that had almost doubled to 994 out of a registered dog population of around 295,000. That was a slight dip on the previous year’s figure of 1058 attacks. What isn’t collated in SA is the breed of dog involved.

The board also tracks the number of hospitalisations. In the 2009-10 year 220 people visited hospital because of dog bite injuries. around a quarter of them were to children under 10, which suggests the family pet, rather than wandering dogs, were responsible. There has not been a fatal dog attack in South Australia since 1987 when four bull terriers killed a 17-month old boy.

A NSW government report published in may pinpointed staffordshire bull terriers and german shepherds as the dogs most likely to be responsible. However, these are two of the most popular breeds in NSW and if the attacks are viewed as a proportion of the overall dog population they fall to 9th and 12th.

Looked at that way, the dogs most likely to attack are pit bulls. According to the NSW statistics, 1 in 76 pit bulls will attack. other popular breeds in the top five are the mastiff, the American staffordshire terrier and the bull mastiff.

But the value of these numbers has been questioned. Ben Luxton, executive officer of the SA Dog and Cat Management Board, says his body does not collect these figures because identifying dog breeds, especially when relying on a person who has being attacked, is unreliable. "If there is a lot of emotion involved you don’t necessarily have a positive identification of the dog," Luxton says. "Do I question the stats coming out of new South Wales? yes, I do."

The identification of American pit bull terriers is highly complicated. Luxton says pit bulls are not recognised as a breed, they are a type. this means it is left in the hands of dog inspectors who judge temperament, muscle formation, physical appearance and jaw power to decide if a dog is a pit bull. it is then up to the dog’s owner to prove that it is not a restricted dog.

The question of what is and what is not a pit bull is causing a great deal of angst in Victoria since the laws were changed after the death of Ayen Chol. Council officers can now seize and destroy any dog they believe to be an unregistered pit bull or cross.

Vets are now being asked by owners to verify that their dogs are not pit bulls and the president of the Victorian division of the Australian Veterinary Association Susan Maastricht says many in the profession are worried about issues of legal liability when it comes to identifying dangerous dogs.

"We are all a bit twitchy about this at the moment," she says. the biggest concern is what happens if a vet declares a dog is not a restricted breed but subsequently attacks someone and is found to be a pit bull. DNA tests are unreliable because no genetic profile of the pit bull has been built because the dog is a product of so many different breeds. In the case of cross breeds the problem becomes even more murky. "At information sessions for vets we have all been saying, ‘Oh my God, what are we going to do about this?’," she says.

The usefulness of breed specific laws is now being questioned in the United Kingdom and the United States. the Netherlands recently repealed its legislation after 15 years as did Italy. Holland has moved to enforce stricter laws on leashing dogs and increased education for dog owners. It’s an approach that judges dogs by their behaviour rather than their breed.

Simon Hallsworth, Chair in Social Research in the Department of Applied Social Science at London Metropolitan University, recently published a paper theatrically called Then they came for the dogs, which blames knee-jerk policy making by the government, and media hysteria, for demonising pit bulls.

"Since the late 1980s, when the pit bull first came to public attention, this canine has found itself the object of an official campaign that has as its stated aim the wholesale destruction of the pit bull as a breed," Hallsworth says. "Not to put too fine a point on it, (it’s)

Britain’s very own attempt at a canine genocide."

The UK passed the dangerous Dogs Act in 1991 after a spate of dog attacks by rottweilers and pit bulls. According to Hallsworth, within five years of the Act being passed 1000 pit bulls had been killed. but in the 20 years since the act was brought in, dog bites in Britain have risen. Of nine fatalities caused by dogs in the UK since 2005 two have been attributed to pit bull types. "In all of these cases the dogs had been neglected or abused by their owners, allowed inappropriate, unsupervised access to small children, or left in the control of incompetent adults," he says. "the dog is often the victim of inhumane treatment; yet, the dog is always blamed and killed."

In Australia, Linda Watson, an academic at Monash University in Melbourne, says there have been 33 dog-bite-related deaths in this country since 1979 and only one of those was ascribed to a pit bull-type until the death of Ayen Chol.

Martin McKenna is one of Australia’s best-known commentators on dog behaviour. an Irishman who grew up with a pack of stray dogs, he now lives here and writes best-selling books on canine behaviour. "We sometimes go too far with the kinds of dogs we breed," he says. "American pit bull terriers in my opinion are a dangerous dog because they try to actively work you out, dominate and then take over," he says.

But it’s not just pit bulls that concern McKenna. most dog owners don’t understand the body language of their pet, he says. We are the two top predators yet we can’t communicate, he says. "this is where a lot of the aggression comes from."

Should laws target dogs or owners? best letter wins theatre tickets. Email .com.au

The National Institute for Environmental Health has announced it has begun enrolling participants for the largest study ever of the impacts of an oil spill on human health.

Dale P. Sandler, the chief of the institute’s epidemiology branch, said the first 1,000 letters would be sent out Monday to a projected 55,000 who will be asked to participate in health surveys.

This particular study will target people who worked in some capacity with the response to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Participants will be those who worked with response efforts in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

“We’re looking at a wide range of health impacts,” Sandler said during a conference call held to announce the start of the study. “We’ve seen a whole series of things that started at the time of the oil spill.”

The initial focus of the study will be on the most commonly reported symptoms, Sandler said.

But she also said only 30 people in the entire survey area have made oil spill related health complaints that were documented by a local health care specialist.

“It’s not all that many complaints relative to the size of the oil spill,” she said. “We’re trying to collect data for all of the workers.”

The 30 whose complaints have been documented “come from a group with elevated levels of symptoms,” Sandler said.

The survey will focus primarily at first on respiratory issues and complaints of long lasting rashes, Sandler said. Stress-related conditions or neurological diseases and other, more general illnesses will also be looked at in the study’s initial stages.

“We’ll be looking at dizziness, watering eyes and, people who feel sick all the time since the spill,” she said.

About half the survey participants will be selected for home visits, where they’ll be asked to take part in physical tests measuring lung function and other factors, Sandler said.

Samples of blood, hair, urine and nail clippings will be taken at the time of the house visits. Researchers will be looking for bio markers they can use to draw “associations,” Sandler said.

Those selected for the health studies will fill out detailed health profiles every two to three years.

Over the long term the study group will be looking at cancer rates, long-term respiratory issues and liver function among survey participants, Sandler said.

“The study is a good thing for Gulf Coast residents,” Sandler said during the conference call. “it will allow Gulf Coast communities to gain needed data.”

The group’s focus will be primarily on oil spill workers. Other agencies, Sandler said, will be charged with looking at ailments reported from groups not associated with the cleanup.

That category of complainants might be the most prevalent in Northwest Florida. recently a number of Okaloosa and, particularly Walton County residents have gone public with concerns about their health.

Many believe the symptoms they are suffering were caused by dispersants being dropped in the waters off Northwest Florida, which is something BP and local officials have denied.

Melissa Neidert sent a letter to the Daily News in which she complains of “cold symptoms” that have gotten progressively worse.

“I have seen doctors about stomach issues, sore throats, lethargy, brain fog, muscle soreness (and) digestive issues,” Neidert said in the letter.

She said test results indicate she has “toxic levels of five separate toxins associated with the oil spill and the dispersant that was used afterward,” the letter said.

Sandler said that symptoms discussed by some reporters during the conference call, like spontaneous bleeding “haven’t been seen in other oil spills.”

She said Gulf Coast residents who didn’t work in oil spill-related capacities but have complaints can go to the National Institute for Environmental Health website to information on where to report their symptoms.

Sandler also said her agency and others are compiling data about where dispersants and other potentially dangerous chemicals might have been dumped during the oil spill, which started in April and reached Florida waters in early June.

“we want to be diligent and get as much data as we can obtain through other federal agencies and BP contractors directly concerning dispersant use,” she said.

The National Institute of Environmental Health study has been funded by the National Institute of Health, Sandler said. The organization “received some funding as a gift to the NIH from BP,” she said.

But that amounted to “a small fraction of the total cost of the study” and BP has no influence over the agency’s findings, she added.

This study is “only one part of a larger effort focused on the health of the entire community,” Sandler said.

“The full range of health concerns of the Gulf Coast Community should be addressed as part of this entire study,” she said.

Q. My 5- year-old daughter had such terrible spring allergies last year. is there anything I can do to prevent the same symptoms this year?

When a person with allergies is exposed to an allergic trigger such as pollen, the body releases chemicals called leukotrienes and histamine. these chemicals then cause the symptoms we classically associate with allergies: sneezing, itchy watery eyes and runny nose.

Most conventional allergy medications target these chemicals to prevent allergy symptoms. Allergy medications are most effective if started prior to the allergen exposure, ideally one to two weeks before allergy season, says the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

Pollen counts can vary depending on climate and weather. in the Southeast, tree pollen will be on the rise in late February; therefore, spring allergy sufferers need to start taking their allergy medications now to get the maximum benefits.

If your child’s allergies were poorly controlled last spring, then this would also be a good time to visit the pediatrician or allergist and review her treatment plan. when pollen counts are high, it is also important to bathe children after playing outside and to keep car and house windows closed to reduce pollen exposure.

If allergy symptoms persist, allergy shots (immunotherapy) may be recommended. for more information about spring allergies and local pollen counts visit aaaai.org .

Dr. Patt is a pediatrician with Charlotte Pediatric Clinic and president of the Charlotte Pediatric Society. she blogs for MomsCharlotte.com. E-mail questions to living@charlotteobserver.com and put “pediatrician” in the subject line.

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The Baptist Health system was recognized Tuesday for being among the fastest in the country at getting stroke patients from the front door to clot-busting therapy — a development remarkable for how far the city has come in stroke care in the past two years, observers said.

The American Heart Association added the Baptist system to its Target Stroke Honor Roll — one of 32 hospitals or systems nationwide to qualify.

Baptist officials reported 72 percent of their patients qualifying for tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, got the drug within an hour of arriving at the hospital during a recent evaluation period. The average among participating hospitals is about 27 percent.

“The importance of it is that the more rapidly you get tPA, for those people who are eligible, the better your chances are of improvement,” said Dr. Dicky Huey, medical director of Baptist’s stroke program. “It’s critically important because one minute of brain ischemia or loss of blood supply can kill two million nerve cells.”

The Baptist system has aggressively built up and promoted its stroke care since 2008, when emergency medical officials complained San Antonio hospitals were lagging far behind.

That year, Suzanne Hildebrand, a founder and former president of the San Antonio chapter of Mothers against Drunk Driving, ramped up the pressure when her husband, Ray Hildebrand — who died in July of complications from a fall — suffered a severe stroke and lingered at Northeast Baptist Hospital for hours as doctors tried to transfer him to a hospital capable of treating him.

At the time, San Antonio was one of the few U.S. cities with no hospitals certified as stroke centers. Today it has 10, including the five Baptist hospitals, four in the Methodist Healthcare system, and University Hospital.

More important, hospitals work with EMS systems in a regional stroke alert system, in which paramedics in the field alert emergency rooms to scramble their stroke teams. That’s important because tPA can usually be given only within a few hours of when symptoms begin.

“We were transferring patients out of the city of San Antonio for acute stroke care, and now we’re able to care for them in our own city, in our own facilities,” said Dr. Craig Manifold, medical director of San Antonio Emergency Medical Services. “The coordination of care, the multiple hospital systems who are engaged in this, has just made significant improvements in stroke care in our region.”

“San Antonio took on the challenge, which was a very big challenge,” said Carol Winick, vice president of quality for the American Heart Association. “You’ve got huge, very competitive (hospital) systems in San Antonio. A huge EMS system, which is a bear in and of itself.”

That was a boon to James Patterson, 72, a retired lab manager at Southwest Research Institute, whose face and arm suddenly became numb in August. And even though his wife drove him to nearby Northeast Baptist — experts say people with stroke symptoms should call 911 — he was examined quickly and treated with tPA.

“Within a couple hours, feeling started coming back,” Patterson said. “And I stayed in the hospital three days and left with no aftereffects.”

Symptoms

• Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side.

• Confusion or trouble speaking.

• Sudden vision changes.

• Dizziness or loss of balance, difficulty walking.

On the Web

Target Stroke Honor Roll hospitals

Baptist Health System