Shock new study shows the effect dog attacks have on families

Man’s best friend can be a menace to children, with a shock new study revealing the true impact of dog bite injuries on our health system. See the list of worst breeds for dog bites.

Man’s best friend can be a menace to young children with a new study revealing one child a week is ending up in hospital with a dog bite.

Now Sydney Children’s Hospital is calling for a public campaign to educate parents and children how to safely live with dogs.

“It is just educating people (that) if you have dogs in the home, children need to know how to interact with them,” study co-author Dr Ahmad Sulaiman said.

As well as the physical and emotional cost, dog bites cost the public health system almost $2 million over a 10-year period at just SCH.

The study, published in the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons’ ANZ Journal Of Surgery, looked at a total of 628 patients who presented to SCH with dog bites from 2010 to 2020.

New data has revealed hundreds of young children have been admitted to hospital with dog bite wounds. Picture: Isabella Lettini

More than half, 355, were admitted for treatment. Their average age was just five.

“We understand families love their dogs, but it’s important to be vigilant and for parents and children to understand the risks when interacting with our pets,” Dr Sulaiman said.

About 40 per cent of Australian households own a dog and the most recent data shows two people die a year from dog bites, with around 13,000 hospitalised nationwide.

From January 1 to March 31 this year, NSW recorded 1027 dog bites with 69 dogs destroyed. Lake Macquarie and Blacktown councils recorded the highest incidence of dog bites.

On Thursday two dogs in Brisbane mauled a three-year-old girl who suffered face, neck and chest injuries.

The child’s grandmother Dina Puc saved her but is in hospital in a serious condition. Last year Manny Everleigh, 5, died after being mauled by the family dog on Christmas Eve at his Gold Coast home.

Manny Everleigh died after being mauled by the family dog on Christmas Eve at his Gold Coast home.

Talan Peters, a north Queensland toddler, was mauled to death by his family's dog.

In June 2021, a five-week-old baby was killed by the family dog at Kariong on the Central Coast and, in January this year, two-year-old Talan Peters was mauled to death by a Bull Arab dog in Queensland.

The SCH study found children that survive an encounter mostly suffered facial, head and neck injuries and half of all injured were caused by the family pet. The most common breed of dog responsible for bites was the pit bull, a restricted breed.

Last June, Maroubra boy Joey Hodgins, aged four, was mauled by a suspected pit bull at Coogee Oval, suffering lip and nose injuries.

Joey’s father, Ben Hodgins, said they were playing with a ball near the temporary grandstand when a dog suddenly pounced on his son.

Joey Hodgins was left with a maimed lip and nose after the dog attack at Coogee Oval.

“Joey’s ball went within 5m of the dog and something in the dog has switched and he has latched onto Joey’s face,” Mr Hodgins said.

Surprisingly, the usually placid labrador came in second for most bites but they are the most popular breed, with more than 114,000 in NSW.

Lincoln Makin was three when the family farm dog bit him on the face. Caitlin Makin said she never expected their 10-year-old border collie-kelpie crossbreed to be aggressive.

“Our old farm dog was 10 and I never expected it,” Mrs Makin said.

Lincoln Makin was attacked by the family dog.

He underwent plastic surgery for his injuries.

Lincoln, then 3, needed plastic surgery and still carries the scars.

“He has two scars that are visible on his nose and one across his nose,” the Central Coast mum said.

“It doesn’t surprise me the amount of dog bites, I hear people say it is types of breeds but a lot is children’s behaviour around dog’s unknown behaviour. You can know a dog for 10 years and something can change.

“We have dogs now, we have a Great Dane and a wolfhound but we have done a lot of training with them to make sure if they have their ears pulled to make sure they are desensitised.”

Lincoln Makin, now aged 7, with Tilly, a one-year-old Great Dane. Picture: NCA NewsWire/David Swift

Canine behaviour expert Jacqui Zakar said parents need to prepare the family dog when a newborn comes into the house but also parents and children need to learn to read the signs

“Dogs must always give children space, there should be one metre bubble around the child at all times and they cannot enter that bubble unless they are invited. We teach the dog stay away and give space,” she said, adding many dogs give off stress signals that people misinterpret.

“The subtle body language cues a dog will show is what we call calming signals … tongue flicks, yawns … you can see the whites of their eyes because their head is tense. Subtly turning their head away is (another) sign they don’t want to engage and need space; stiff body, or stress panting that looks like smiling – it’s not smiling.

Jacqui Zakar from Dog Sense.

“You might see quick licks that look like kisses, that’s not love, that is not affection, it is appeasement.

“They are politely saying: ‘Can you not get in my face’, but parents will say: ‘Oh look, he’s giving him kisses, it’s so lovely’. It is not what the dog is saying. If it goes on long enough, the dog might think no-one is reading my signals and then the bite. The parents will say it came out of the blue but it didn’t.”

Dr Sulaiman said the cost across the public health system was substantial, with the average dog bite injury $2968.

“It cost the public health system close to $1.9m to treat dog bite injuries at SCH alone over a ten-year period to 2020,” Dr Sulaiman.

“(Now) multiply this by the number of hospitals in NSW which treat dog bite injuries.”

Originally published as Shock new study shows the effect dog attacks have on families