Dog bite

Dog bite
Dog biting a training sleeve
Specialty	Trauma medicine Emergency medicine Plastic surgery Pediatrics

A dog bite is a bite upon a person or other animal by a dog. More than one successive bite is often called a dog attack, although dog attacks can include knock-downs and scratches. Though some dog bites do not result in injury, they can result in infection, disfigurement, temporary or permanent disability, or death. Another type of dog bite is the "soft bite" displayed by well-trained dogs, by puppies, and in non-aggressive play.^[1] Dog bites can occur during dog fighting, as a response to mistreatment, by trained dogs working as guard, police or military animals, or during a random encounter.^[2][3]

There is debate on whether or not certain breeds of dogs are inherently more prone to commit attacks causing serious injury (i.e., so driven by instinct and breeding that, under certain circumstances, they are exceedingly likely to attempt or commit dangerous attacks).^[4] It is recognized that the risk of dog bites can be increased by human actions such as abuse or bite training, or through inaction such as neglect, carelessness in confinement or lack of control.

Significant dog bites affect tens of millions of people globally each year.^[5] It is estimated that 2% of the U.S. population, 4.5–4.7 million people, are bitten by dogs each year.^[6] Most bites occur in children,^[7] with nearly half of all children in the U.S. being bitten by a dog at least once by the age of 12.^[8] In the 1980s and 1990s, the U.S. averaged 17 deaths per year.^[9] Between 2011 and 2021 approximately 468 people were killed by dog bites in the United States, averaging 43 deaths per year.^[10] Between 2018 and 2021, deaths were more than doubled for both males (age 15 to 37) and females (age 20 to 44).^[11] Animal bites, most of which are from dogs, are the reason for 1% of visits to emergency departments in the United States.^[7]