Abstract
YouTube videos of dog bites present an unexplored opportunity to observe dog bites directly. We recorded the context of bites, bite severity, victim and dog characteristics for 143 videos and for 56 videos we coded human and dog behaviour before the bite. Perceived bite severity was derived from visual aspects of the bite. Associations between bite severity and victim, dog and context characteristics were analysed using a Bayesian hierarchical regression model. Human and dog behaviour before the bite were summarised with descriptive statistics. No significant differences in bite severity were observed between contexts. Only age of the victim was predictive of bite severity: adults were bitten more severely than infants and infants more severely than children. Non-neutral codes describing dog body posture and some displacement and appeasement behaviours increased approximately 20 seconds before the bite and humans made more tactile contacts with dogs 21 seconds before the bite. This analysis can help to improve understanding of context in which bites occur and improve bite prevention by highlighting observable human and dog behaviours occurring before the bite.
Highlights
Dog bites are a global public health problem resulting in substantial costs to health care systems[1,2,3], and businesses as a result of time off work, human physical and mental health impacts[4,5,6,7] and affect dog welfare, since dogs that bite are likely to be relinquished to shelters[8] and/or euthanised[9]
Understanding of the contexts in which dog bites occur is crucial for bite prevention
A qualitative study illustrated that some bite victims could not explain why they were bitten or were not aware of the dog’s presence before the bite[26], which suggests that identification of interactions before the bite may not be very accurate
Summary
Dog bites are a global public health problem resulting in substantial costs to health care systems[1,2,3], and businesses as a result of time off work, human physical and mental health impacts[4,5,6,7] and affect dog welfare, since dogs that bite are likely to be relinquished to shelters[8] and/or euthanised[9]. Human population-level risk factors associated with dog bites include young age of the victim[1,10,11,12,13,14] (but see15,16) and male sex[11] (but see[12,15,16]). The physical environment where the interactions are taking place and the dog’s history are suggested risk factors for the occurrence of a bite[5,18]. A qualitative study illustrated that some bite victims could not explain why they were bitten or were not aware of the dog’s presence before the bite[26], which suggests that identification of interactions before the bite may not be very accurate. Dog bite data is gathered through general population surveys e.g.28, veterinary caseloads e.g.17, hospital admissions e.g.1 and interviews with dog bite victims e.g.26. Detailed interviews with dog bite victims or witnesses of dog bites are an alternative to the above methods[26,35], the sample size is typically small
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