When dogs ATTACK

With the number of people being bitten by dogs at the highest level since records began, we ask, who is really to blame?

-  VERONIQUE HAWKSWORTH

Dogs may be (wo)man’s best friend, but a shocking number of adults and children are attacked by the animals in the UK every year. In 2022, over 1,000 surgeries were performed on child victims of dog attacks, with almost 40% of those under the age of four.

Earlier this month, five-year-old FarrahLeigh Nichol was attacked by a dog outside a shop in Teeside, leaving her with facial injuries so severe that she needed surgery. And she’s not alone, as 3,473 attacks on people of all ages were recorded last year.

Currently, four dog breeds are banned in the UK – the pit bull terrier, Japanese tosa, Dogo Argentino and the Fila Brasileiro – but there have been calls for the controversial American bully XL – a newer, larger variation on the American bulldog – to be outlawed too, as it was responsible for a majority of attacks since 2021.

Some experts believe a change in the way we treat our pets, particularly since the pandemic, could also account for the rise in dog aggression, with many dogs kept indoors for up to eight hours per day without proper outdoor exercise. ‘Dogs left on their own are going to get frustrated,’ says Dr John Tulloch, lecturer in veterinary health at Liverpool University. This frustration, coupled with a lack of socialisation during lockdowns, may have led to a spike in aggressive behaviour.

It’s clear that more needs to be done to tackle the crisis, but who really is to blame when dogs attack – the dog, the owner or the victim if they provoke the dog? One mum tells us how her teenage daughter’s life was changed after a particularly brutal bite…