A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about a New York Times story reporting on an unexplained doubling of dog bites over the past fifteen years. The doubling was mysterious because dog ownership and the total number of dogs had increased only incrementally over the same period.
Now comes a New York Post story exploring the record number of dog bites that the Big Apple saw last year. According to the Post, toy breeds, such as chihuahuas and Shi Tzus, were the “major culprits” behind the dog bite uptick. One veterinarian says that since toy breeds are often toted around in purses to places that other dogs don’t go – such as department stores – strangers are having more contact with dogs and getting bit more often.
I’m not sure whether Gotham’s problems with toy breeds explain the national doubling in dog bites. I think the Chihuahua-in-a-purse phenomenon tends to crop up more in urban areas. And as someone who spends a lot of time with a teacup chihuahua, I don’t think that a typical bite from a toy dog is going to rack up nearly twenty thousand in medical bills – the average cost of medical treatment for a dog bite.
