Talk:Fatal dog attacks in the United States

Guidelines for Fatal Dog Attacks in the United States

Standardization of breed names

Please use these guidelines to help keep breed names accurate, consistent, and organized. Currently, the main page contains a variety of different formats (capitalizations, hyphenations, and sometimes spellings) for breed names. For example, the Labrador Retriever is capitalized in a variety of ways including: Labrador Retriever, Labrador retriever, and labrador retriever. While there are a number of different suggested ways to capitalize and hyphenate breed names, the recommendation of this guideline is to follow the format that the American Kennel Club and United Kennel Club use which is to capitalize all names in a breed name, for example: Labrador Retriever. In the case of mixed breeds, the format is also to capitalize all breed names but not the word "mix", for example: Labrador Retriever-Husky mix. In the case of pit bulls, since "pit bull" is not a proper breed but a dog type (a category of dog consisting of at least 4 breeds as listed on the pit bull Wikipedia page), the proper way to capitalize pit bull is with both names lowercase: pit bull (unless it is the first word in a sentence, or it appears as the beginning word(s) in a list/column, then it would be: Pit bull and "bull" should not be capitalized). If one of the proper pit bull breeds is identified, then all of the names in the breed name would be capitalized (like any other proper breed), for example: American Staffordshire Terrier, American Pit Bull Terrier, and Staffordshire Bull Terrier. If the number of dogs involved in an attack is more than one, for consistency it should be listed as: Breed (2). For example, if two German Shepherd dogs are involved, then it would be listed as German Shepherds (2).

Examples of breed name format, as recommended:

• Labrador Retriever
• Labrador Retriever mix
• Labrador Retriever-Husky mix
• Doberman Pinscher
• American Pit Bull Terrier
• pit bull
• pit bull mix
• mixed breed dog
• pack of dogs

Examples if two dogs of the same or mixed breed are involved in an attack, as recommended:

• German Shepherds (2)
• Doberman Pinschers (2)
• mixed breed dogs (2)
• pack of dogs (2)
• pit bulls (2)
• Doberman Pinschers (2), German Shepherds (2), pit bull mixes (2)

Identification of breed(s) involved in incidents

The dog breed(s) or dog type(s) identified in the "Category of Dog" field should match the breed information provided in a news or law enforcement source. In the case that there is a variance (or disagreement) of the breed(s) involved in one or several news sources, then both breeds should be listed in the "Category of Dog" field. For example, if one news source describes the dog as a "mixed breed dog" and another news source describes the dog as a "Mastiff", then the "Category of Dog" field should include both descriptions as: "Mastiff or mixed breed dog". In this case, both news sources should be provided as references - one source to substantiate the breed as a "Mastiff" and the second source to substantiate the breed as a "mixed breed dog".

Note: In the case that a dog's description includes multiple (three more) breeds, then by definition it is a mixed breed dog and should be listed as a "mixed breed dog" in the "Category" field; however, the various breeds (if known) can be described in the "Circumstances" field.

After investigation, sometimes there is a final issued statement about the breed. In such an instance, the breed column should be corrected. The various earlier mentioned breeds MAY be noted in the circumstances, but should NOT be left remaining in the breed column.

Dogbitelaw.com and Dogsbite.org as reliable sources

The use of these sites as references for the number of children killed each year appear to violate Wikipedia:SELFPUBLISHED guidelines. I recommend removing this material or finding a better source. Astro$01 (talk) 12:03, 1 June 2022 (UTC)

Aside from that, is there anything in particular about it that you object to? – Illegitimate Barrister (talk • contribs), 18:24, 1 June 2022 (UTC)

The only thing I'm really concerned about is the source, as the information itself seems appropriate to me in the context of the rest of the introduction. Astro$01 (talk) 01:39, 2 June 2022 (UTC)

I have deleted the information from Wikipedia:Self-published sources identified since there doesn't appear to have been any effort to find WP:RS for this information. Astro$01 (talk) 03:00, 16 June 2022 (UTC)

Other decades

Were the articles covering the 2000s and 2010s deleted? FinnSoThin (talk) 21:28, 25 June 2022 (UTC)

Yes, they were deleted. Someone slipped a deletion request in under the radar for one page and the admin apparently decided to delete a few extra pages as well. See Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of fatal dog attacks in the United States (2014) Astro$01 (talk) 11:32, 27 June 2022 (UTC)

This page is absolutely, undeniably used for anti-pitbull advocacy. I believe that is its purpose.

There is a thread today in an active anti-pitbull subreddit with more than 50,000 users decrying the deletion of old data while advocating users to make their own edits. This is a subreddit that, if monitored because moderators delete evidence hourly, you can continually see users advocate putting all pit bulls to death and discussing the graphic ways they personally want to harm pit bull type dogs. There is no question Wikipedia is being weaponized by these groups. 97.113.92.117 (talk) 16:20, 23 July 2022 (UTC)

Problem article

The previous discussions on the talk page have valid points in their criticisms of this article.

First of all, dogsbite.org should not be considered a reliable source, nor should its owner, Colleen Lynn. At the most, it should simply be used as a guide to point to the more reputable sources (similar to how you should not cite Wikipedia, but the sources that Wikipedia itself cites). At the worst, its run by a biased individual who's been accused of presenting misleading statistics and information.

Second, it's very tenuous to list the breed of dog. According to the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, "identifying a dog's breed accurately is difficult, even for professionals, and visual recognition is known to not always be reliable." I'm not sure what the policy is on this with regards to when news reports claim to know the breed involved, but at the very least, this should be added in the header.

Third, why is it only bites for the past few years?

This article is a mess, and these issues need to be addressed. Riffraff913 (talk) 19:58, 29 August 2022 (UTC)

Also interesting that the first paragraph makes reference to a study about pit bulls being responsible for more fatal dog attacks than other breeds, yet makes no mention of all the research that says otherwise, that breed is a poor indicator for such uses, or about how difficult it is to define a breed (particularly without genetic testing). Riffraff913 (talk) 20:23, 29 August 2022 (UTC)