Worrying Smarter: Singing the ATV Blues

by Natalia E. Pane, M.A., M.B.A

“My name is Cynde Nichols. I live in Caldwell, Idaho. I have 3 boys and 3 girls. My family and I were avid atv riders. We own 5 atvs. A suzuki 80, a 250 trail boss, a 400 scrambler, a 425 magnum and a 700 sportsman. My husband and I have rode atvs for 11 years. My husband and Murphy were up camping and we were going to meet them in 2 days. They were riding the 700 sportsman just down the road from camp to see if they could see fish in the river. Murphy was riding in front on the 700 sportsman with his dad driving. They slid on some loose gravel and the 4 wheeler flipped. Throwing my husband and Murphy off…”

This is how just one of the nearly 70 stories on “Concerned Families for ATV Safety”[i] begins. These are families who lost children in ATV accidents and do not want you to suffer their fate. ATVs are dangerous enough that the federal government even has a special website designed just to address ATV accidents, recognizing how deadly these vehicles can be if not used properly: www.atvsafety.gov.

ATVs are one of the deadliest forms of transportation for our children. ATVs are responsible for 40% more child deaths than bicycles. For children ages ten to fourteen, ATVs are responsible for three-times the numbers of deaths as motorcycles.[ii] Boating, skateboarding, and other activities don’t even come close.

For younger children, a common incident is an attempt to travel up too steep a hill ends in the ATV flipping over and crushing them.  Other incidents include getting knocked off, and not having a helmet to protect them because, for example, they were just going for a quick ride around grandpa’s yard. Even small bumps can have big consequences. I read one story about a child who died when he and his father were done with their ride and simply pulling the ATV back into the garage. The little hump entry into the garage was enough to shoot the child off.

For ten to fourteen year olds, about 75 percent of the time, the child who died was the driver of the ATV.[iii]  The driver-incidents were equally divided between collisions (e.g., hitting another ATV) and noncollisions (e.g., flipping the lone ATV). Of those who died, only about one in five (20 percent)[iv] was wearing a helmet.

Heads up to West Virginians: you have two times the rate of fatalities compared to any other state, factoring in population. Next in line are North Dakota, Alaska, Wyoming, Kentucky, Idaho, Montana, Vermont, Mississippi, and South Dakota.

Recommendations from www.atvsafety.gov include:

• Every rider should take a hands-on safety course. Formal training teaches drivers how to control ATVs in typical situations. Drivers with formal, hands-on ATV training have a lower injury risk than drivers with no formal training.
• Always wear protective gear—especially a helmet—when riding an ATV. Select a motorcycle or other motorized sports helmet and make sure it is certified by the US Department of Transportation and/or the Snell Memorial Foundation.
• Do not drive an ATV with a passenger or ride as a passenger. The majority of ATVs are designed to carry only one person. ATVs are designed for interactive riding—drivers must be able to shift their weight freely in all directions, depending on the situation and terrain. Interactive riding is critical to maintaining safe control of an ATV, especially on varying terrain. Passengers can make it difficult for drivers to control the ATV.
• Do not drive ATVs on paved roads. Because of their design, ATVs are difficult to control on paved roads. Many fatalities involving ATVs occur on paved roads.
• Do not permit children to drive or ride on adult ATVs. Children are involved in about one-third of all ATV-related deaths and hospital emergency room injuries. Most of these deaths and injuries occur when a child is driving or riding on an adult ATV. Children under sixteen riding adult ATVs are twice as likely to be injured as those riding youth ATVs.
• Do not drive an ATV while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Alcohol and drugs impair reaction time and judgment, two essential skills for safe ATV use.

One-sentence take away: Children should drive their own, child-sized ATV and not ride with an adult or on an adult ATV—and always wear a helmet.

Blog first published Sept 7, 2014 on Calvert Education blog.http://blog.calverteducation.com/featured/worrying-smarter-singing-the-atv-blues/

Grappling with the Worst Fear: Child Abduction

Kitsap County, Washington is still reeling from revelations that one of their 17-year olds on the local high school wrestling team has just been charged with the abduction and murder of his 6-year old neighbor. Similar stories have appeared in the last month in New York (two sisters), New Hampshire (a teen returning abducted while walking home), and Philadelphia (a student abducted at her elementary school)--but all these children returned alive.

Child abduction ranks at the top of parents’ concerns for their children,[i] and it’s one of the most common questions I get. So, just how common is it?

Estimates[ii]—albeit rough estimates because the numbers are so low—are that one in six hundred thousand children is abducted by a stranger annually. Children are one thousand times more likely to be abducted by their own mom, dad, or close relative, often for reasons far from that child’s well-being, including bitterness during a custody battle.[iii]

Despite the comparisons, some might say, “Less than one in a million? That is more than I thought! After all, it is much more likely than winning the lottery, which is easily one in a few million!”[iv] And stereotypical abduction is also still fifteen times more likely than a child’s death from being hit by lightning. Here’s what little can be pieced together.

Research, again based on very small numbers, suggests that stereotypical abductions are most likely to happen:

1.      About the age you start thinking you’ve made it past this worry (average age is about 11).

2.      By someone younger than you might think (almost 60 percent of abductors are under twenty-nine and many are in their late teens).

3.      Right near your house (within three blocks, but includes the front yard).

Victims

The typical victim of abduction and murder is a white (75 percent) girl (74 percent) about twelve years old (average age was between eleven and twelve) from a middle-class (35 percent) or blue-collar (36 percent) family living in a single-family residence (71 percent) with a good family situation (50 percent) and considered a low-risk (84 percent), average kid.[v] 

Don’t think of kidnappings as about kids under ten; twelve- to fourteen-year-olds show the highest rates of stereotypical abduction and two times the rate one would expect based on their numbers in the population (see graph). Boys are not immune to stereotypical abduction. While girls are still disproportionately represented, almost one-third (31 percent) of the kidnapping victims were boys. For many kidnappers, this is a crime of opportunity not necessarily dependent on child gender.  Whites and blacks were also disproportionately represented. Eighty percent of the victims were white (though only 65 percent of the population) and 20 percent were black (15 percent of the population).

For those who are concerned about infant abduction, there are disproportionately low rates and estimates are that fewer than twenty occur annually. One study[vi] that looked at infant abduction over ten years (1983–1992) found that the abductors were usually women, disproportionately black (43 percent), and abducted male and female infants at about the same rate. Three-quarters of the infants were recovered within five days.

Perpetrators

The perpetrators were likely to be men (estimates ranged from 86 to 99 percent), but about half of the time they had partners in their crime. Let me repeat that: almost half (48 percent) of the children abducted were abducted by more than one person. Further, more than 20 percent of perpetrators were teenagers (between thirteen and nineteen years old). The research on child molesters suggests that most molest for the first time during their teenage years.[vii] Fifty-seven percent of perpetrators were less than thirty years old. A study of over eight hundred child abduction–murders found that the oldest murderer was sixty-one and the youngest was nine. The median age of those who killed was about twenty-eight.[viii] The image of the older, lone man does not hold up to statistics. Almost two-thirds had prior arrests for violent crimes, with slightly more than half of those prior crimes committed already against children. One in ten murderers had already killed or attempted to kill another child.[ix] To search for registered sex offenders near you, you can search by zip code at the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website, http://www.nsopw.gov/Core/Portal.aspx.[x] You will likely get more information by going to your state’s page (search “sex offender registry”). Map out both the offender’s home and work addresses, and the likely route in between. When I typed one of our local offender’s work addresses into Google Maps, I found out that the unassuming address where he was listed as working was actually a popular gym near our home—a gym with child care services. 

Note the consistent early onset: most molesters begin molesting before the age of twenty, the molestation likely begins within the family, and the early victims frequently do not report. This suggests that it is a big mistake to excuse an older sibling’s molesting a younger one as “experimenting,” especially since early treatment of pedophilia may make all the difference.[xi]

The Scene

Where is the abduction occurring? About one in every six stereotypical abductions (16 percent) happens in the child’s own home or yard. Given that the age of victims is often eleven or twelve, the idea that their own front yard is not safe may be quite disturbing. Two out of five (40 percent) are in streets or cars.

Unlike murderers in general, child abduction murderers were “much less likely to select certain types of victims based on personal characteristics” (e.g., blond hair). Only 10 percent selected victims for those reasons. Forty percent of murderers selected their victim purely because the opportunity presented itself. In another 14 percent they had an existing relationship that let them create an opportunity. [xii]

The National council on Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) analyzed more than 4,200 attempted abductions for the five-year period from February 2005 and March 2010 and found that the five most common lures, often from a car, included offering a child a ride, offering the child candy or sweets, showing the child an animal or asking for help finding a lost animal, offering the child money, and asking the child for directions.

What to Do

A critical finding of a NCMEC study was that “children were their own best protectors.” Simply being with another friend is not enough.[xiii] Among nearly 3,500 cases of attempted abduction, 31 percent of children yelled, kicked, or pulled away and 53 percent walked or ran away. “The child should do whatever is necessary to stay out of the car, because once the child is in that car, it dramatically reduces the chances of escape,” NCMEC Director Ernie Allen said. Only 16 percent received help from an adult.

NCMEC emphasizes that parents also “need to understand that most of those who abduct children are not ‘strangers.’” Teaching “stranger danger” may not be an effective strategy. If children know the person at all, which is true in the majority of cases, they won’t consider the person a stranger.

Abbreviated List of Back-to-School Safety Tips
from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children www.missingkids.com.

1. Teach your children that if anyone bothers them or makes them feel scared or uncomfortable, they should trust their feelings and immediately get away from that person. Teach them it is OK not to be polite and IT IS OK TO SAY NO.
2. Teach your children that if anyone tries to take them somewhere, they should RESIST by kicking and screaming, try to run away, and DRAW ATTENTION by kicking and screaming, “This person is trying to take me away” or “This person is not my father/mother.”
3. Teach your children NOT TO ACCEPT A RIDE from anyone unless you have said it is OK in that instance. If anyone follows them in a vehicle, they should turn around, go in the other direction, and run to a trusted adult for help.
4. Teach your children that grownups should NOT ASK CHILDREN FOR DIRECTIONS or for any other assistance--other than to go to get an adult.
5. Teach your children to NEVER ACCEPT MONEY OR GIFTS from anyone unless you have told them it is OK in each instance.
6. Teach your children to always CHECK FIRST before changing their plans before or after school. Teach your children to never leave school with anyone unless they CHECK FIRST with you or another trusted adult, even if someone tells them it is an emergency.

If your child goes missing, call the police. Police want (or should want) you to call them even if you are unsure whether your child is actually missing. Why? Because if bad things are going to happen, they happen fast. Estimates of deceased victims show that half were murdered in the first hour (47 percent), three-quarters within the first two hours (76 percent), and almost nine out of ten (89 percent) in the first twenty-four hours.[xiv] The sooner the parents call, the better. Remember though that more than half (57 percent) of children are returned alive[xv] and 90 percent of the episodes are over within twenty-four hours.

Take-away: Drop talks of “stranger-danger” and teach your the basic steps for when to run away and how to fight back if approached.

---

[i] Ernest Allen, “Keeping Children Safe: Rhetoric and Reality,” Juvenile Justice Journal V, no. 1 (May 1998).

[ii] Data in this chapter come from the National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children (NISMART) (https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/196467.pdf) unless otherwise noted.

[iii] Ernest Allen, “The Kid Is with a Parent, How Bad Can It Be?,” The Crisis of Family Abductions (1998).

[iv] Check out Discover’s Webmath.com to calculate your odds given the specifics of the lottery: http://www.webmath.com/lottery.html.

[v] Brown, Keppel, Weis, and Skeen, 2006.

[vi] http://www.missingkids.com/en_US/publications/NC66.pdf An Analysis of Infant Abduction.

[vii] Able and Harlow, “Child Molestation Prevention Study” (2002), http://www.childmolestationprevention.org/pdfs/study.pdf.

[viii] Brown, Keppel, Weis, and Skeen, 2006.

[ix] Ibid.

[x] Having said that, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that studies[x] have not found a significant difference in prevention of new offenses resulting from the registries. It is unclear why no effect was found (e.g., did people not use the registries). Overall, rates of abduction in the places studied went down, so the changes may be masked or there may be an overall discouragement because of the registries.

[xi] Child Molestation Research and Prevention Institute, http://www.childmolestationprevention.org/pages/focus_on_the_cause.html.

[xii] Brown, Keppel, Weis, and Skeen, 2006, p. 30

[xiii] Gallagher, Bradford, and Pease, “Attempted and Completed Incidents of Stranger-Perpetrated Child Sexual Abuse and Abduction,” Centre for Applied Childhood Studies, Harold Wilson Building, University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Huddersfield HD1 3DH, United Kingdom, 32, no. 5: 517–28 (May 2008), e-pub May 29, 2008.

[xiv] Brown, Keppel, Weis, and Skeen, 2006.

[xv] NISMART, 2002.

Water Safety Quiz!
First posted on Calvert Education blog on June 5, 2014 at http://bit.ly/1okOdZJ 

QUESTIONS

1. Which age group has the highest rate of drowning?  (Hint: It’s the #1 cause of accidental death.)

• Infants (0-1)
• Toddlers (1-4)
• Young children (5-9)
• Pre and early teens (10-14)
• Teens (15-19)

2. True or false: Drowning for toddlers usually occurs in crowded pools when no one is watching.

3. True or false: Boys are more likely than girls to drown.

4. Where does most drowning occur for infants?

5. True or false: Buckets are more dangerous than toilets.

6. True or false: You need to be able to hear what is happening in a pool to know if a child (or anyone) is drowning.

7. Name four things you can do to protect your child from drowning.

ANSWERS

1. Toddlers (1-4). Toddlers have the highest rates of drowning; drowning is the #1 cause of accidental death for toddlers.

Did you guess infants? Reasonable, but generally speaking, parents know to watch infants. Drowning is somewhat constant across childhood, but there are a few ages when it is notably higher. Toddlers have just shy of twice the rate of any other group. Most of these incidents happen in the earlier toddler years. Next highest are infants and teens at about the same rate. The teens are mostly boys who are swimming after drinking alcohol.

2. False. Most drowning occurred in home swimming pools, and most of those who died lived in the house with the pool, were under parent supervision at the time, and were not near the pool (or expected to be near the pool) when last seen.

The image of a public pool swarming with children may be what comes to mind, but most drowning occur in residential (home) swimming pools, and most of the children who drowned were children who lived in that house (65 percent). Fewer than 2 percent of the pool accidents were a result of children trespassing on property where they didn’t live or belong. [I]

Most of these children were last seen in the home, had been out of sight less than five minutes, and were in the care of one or both parents at the time. [II] More than two-thirds (69 percent) were not expected to be in or at the pool. Nearly half of the child victims were last seen in the house before the pool accident occurred. [III]

A typical scenario is more like what happened in Fontana, California, on July 17, 2011. A father was getting ready for work while the mother got their two older children ready for school when they noticed their twenty-month-old daughter was missing. The father quickly found her in the back yard hot tub, but it was too late. The parents each thought the other had the child. “It only took fifteen minutes.” [IV]

3. True. Boys are significantly more likely than girls to drown.

Nearly 80 percent of people of any age who die from drowning are male, [V] and for one- to four-year-olds, boys are almost twice as likely to drown in a pool. [VI] Boys were twice as likely as girls to drown in natural water, perhaps because they are more likely to wander out of the house to a nearby pool, pond, or stream. [VII] For example, last summer, there were three deaths in Virginia from flooding, one of which was a twelve-year-old boy who went into his own backyard to check out the swollen stream and was swept away by flood waters.

4. Yes, infants drown in bathtubs, and it happens FAST.

In San Tan Valley, Arizona, on December 20, 2013, a four-month-old girl drowned when her father left her alone for about ninety seconds to attend to another child. [VIII] For infants, sixty percent of infant drowning deaths occurred in bathtubs and only about 8 percent in swimming pools, a pattern that reverses for toddlers. Got an infant in the house? Then keep drawing that hard line on never turning attention away.

5. True. Buckets, particularly painters’ buckets, are dangerous for small children, especially toddlers.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission found that children drowned in five-gallon buckets (think bright orange or white painters’ buckets) three and a half times more often than in toilets. They concluded, “Of all buckets, the five-gallon size presents the greatest hazard to young children because of its tall, straight sides. That, combined with the stability of these buckets, makes it nearly impossible for top-heavy infants and toddlers to free themselves when they fall into the bucket headfirst.” [IX] The majority of drowning involved children younger than two years old. This shouldn’t surprise you; the whole idea is that when children have a Sputnik-size head, their relatively tiny bodies cannot get it out of the water.

6. False. Drowning is silent; you need to be able to see what is happening.

One of the repeated cautions to parents across websites is that they should not expect to hear a child drowning. Many sites point out that the drowning shown in movies is far from what actually happens; when someone is drowning, even an adult, they are silent. No arms flapping, no splashing, no screaming. The Coast Guard’s guide “It Doesn’t Look Like They’re Drowning” [X] notes that when people, including toddlers, are drowning, they: 1) are not able to call for help (the ability to talk shuts down until breathing is restored); 2) bob in and out of the water but don’t stay out long enough to breathe; 3) cannot voluntarily control their arm movements, so they cannot wave for help, move toward a rescuer, or reach out for a piece of rescue equipment; 4) remain upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick; and 5) unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, can only struggle on the surface of the water from twenty to sixty seconds before submersion occurs. Parents might assume that there would be enough commotion to alert them or other bystanders, but this is probably not the case.

What can you do to ensure your child is safe near any source of water?  Here are some recommendations: [XI]

• Secure access to pools, ponds, etc whether at home or at a home you are visiting.  Ensure either a locked fence around any pool your child has access to or an alarm on the house door that leads to it. If you are visiting a home with a pool or pond nearby, particularly if you have a child that wanders, bring a door alarm with you (inexpensive ones available on Amazon.com; I use a modified window alarm).

• Know where the water hazards are in your area and areas that you visit.  Mistakes in communication happen, so have some system to know when your child may have left the area.

• Check the pool first. If your child is missing and you are in a house with a pool or body of water, check that water as soon as you notice the child missing. (Then check cars).

• Take your child to swim classes. Participation in formal swimming lessons can reduce the risk of drowning by 88 percent among children ages one to four. Learning about the strategies related to various kinds of water may be helpful, too. For example, children near the beach should know that if they are caught in a rip current (a strong current that can pull the child away from shore), they should swim parallel or at an angle to the shore to break free from the current, rather than try to swim against it.

• Use touch supervision.  Adults should provide “touch supervision,” meaning they are close enough to reach the child at all times. Adults should not be involved in any other distracting activity (such as reading, playing cards, talking on the phone, or mowing the lawn) while supervising children.

• Don’t leave infants alone in the tub, ever. It’s not neurotic; it’s good practice based on data.

• Store buckets upside down. Where possible, keep your painters buckets upside down, so they don’t accidentally stay filled or collect water.

• Skip the book and opt for the book on tape when watching the kids at the pool. Use your eyes to keep track of how well they are doing, not your ears.

These steps may not be right for your child, and do not guarantee that your child will be protected. Talk to your health care provider about what is best.

One sentence take away: If you have a toddler, particularly one who wanders, make sure you block access (lock doors, door alarm, etc) to any bodies of water in your home or any homes you visit.

Wishes for happy and safe summer swimming!

Teen Driving: The #1 Focus for Data-Driven ParentsFist posted on Calvert Education blog May 3, 2014 at http://bit.ly/1kFJFZJ

If I asked you to name the #1 way children die from accidents (e.g., falls, poisoning) from birth all the way through age 19, you’d probably say car accidents—and you would be right. Nearly one third of all the accidental deaths of children in the US are from motor vehicle accidents.  But did you know that MOST of those accidents are because of a teen behind the wheel? About one in five or 20% of the deadly accidents across our children’s lives are due to teen drivers. This is one of the reasons why the government estimated that students are about fifty times more likely to arrive at school alive if they take the bus than if they drive themselves or ride with friends.[iii] 

All the other motor vehicle accidents—those without teen drivers but someone birth to 19 dies—don’t even come close to the total number of deaths from teens driving.  The non-teen accidents are only about 14% of deaths (see graphic).

Causes: Inexperience and the Teenage Brain

After studying teen crashes, the Centers for Disease Control concluded that “the main cause of teen crashes is driver inexperience.”[iv] Teen driver error, as opposed to vehicle or environmental factors, accounts for nearly all of the accidents.[v] And this is not because teens simply log more hours on the road on average than other drivers; per mile driven, teen drivers are three to four times more likely than drivers age twenty and older to be in a fatal crash.[vi],[vii]

And the teen driver inexperience interacts with the teenage brain, notable for its susceptibility to peer influence, poor perception of risk, and high emotionality, all of which have been cited as major crash factors.[viii] Nurture Shock concludes that some teenagers are simply “wired” to take big risks and have particularly difficult times in the early stages of driving because of the cognitive load:

“Teenage drivers can score 100% on a paper test of the rules, but when driving, their reaction times are delayed because they have not yet internalized the grammar of driving—they have to think about it. This increases the cognitive load, and their ability to maintain attention is stressed to capacity. They are on the verge of making poor decisions. Put a friend in the car and attention systems are easily overloaded—the driver’s brain no longer proactively anticipates what could happen, glancing seconds ahead and preloading the rules. Instead, he is left to react, and can’t always react accurately, no matter how fast his reflexes are.”[ix]

Some other important facts about teen drivers:

• Teens have the lowest rate of seat belt use among children. In 2011, only 54 percent of high school students reported that they always wear seat belts when riding with someone else.[x]
• A typical teen sends and receives about a hundred text messages a day, and 58 percent of high school seniors admit to texting while driving.[xi]
• The presence of teen passengers increases the crash risk of unsupervised teen drivers, and this risk increases with the number of teen passengers.[xii] Nearly two out of three teen crash deaths that involve sixteen-year-old drivers happen when a new driver has one or more teen passengers.[xiii]
• Although young drivers are actually less likely than adults to drive after drinking alcohol, their crash risk is substantially higher when they do (the interaction with inexperience).[xiv] Nearly one-quarter (22 percent) of fatal teen crashes in 2010 involved a teen driver who had been drinking.

Most crashes happen during the first year, particularly the first few months.

Not surprisingly then, newly licensed teens are particularly at risk. Most crashes happen during the first year a teen has a license,[xv] and crash risk is particularly high during the first months of licensure.[xvi],[xvii]

The good news here is that training and practice are effective countermeasures. As the CDC notes, “There are proven methods to helping teens become safer drivers. Research suggests that the most comprehensive graduated driver licensing (GDL) programs are associated with reductions of 38 percent and 40 percent in fatal and injury crashes, respectively, among sixteen-year-old drivers…[GDL] systems are designed to delay full licensure while allowing teens to get their initial driving experience under low-risk conditions.”[xviii]  GDL programs usually restrict night-time driving, cell phone usage, and passengers (e.g., no other teens), while encouraging through permitting extensive driving experience through minimum hours. To read about your state’s GDL and related safety laws, check out the Governors’ Highway Safety Association’s page: http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/bystate/index.html.

The one-sentence take-away: Get teens as much driving practice as possible, without other children or distractions in the car, before they are on their own.

Babies and Dogs

Dogs are the most dangerous animals to infants and toddlers

Two and a half times as many children age one to four were killed by dogs as died by falling down steps or sticking something in an outlet (CDC mortality data; see Worry Clock or other posts on this site). Dogs are responsible for more deaths to infants and toddlers than spiders, snakes, and sharks combined.  As with many dangers, we tend to focus on the fantastic when the real danger is much closer to home.

Are we talking about many kids dying from dogs? No, these numbers are all small, especially given the fact that 37% of households have dogs,[1] but experts agree that introducing a baby should be taken very seriously with lots of preparation and in some cases may not be appropriate for the well-being of the child—and the dog. 

There are significant amounts of data available on the estimates of dog bites, but I am focused solely on fatal attacks on children, which yield a slightly different picture (e.g., dogs more likely to be the household dog than a chained neighbor’s dog).

At the bottom of this post is a list of fatal attacks to children between 2000-2013, downloaded from Wikipedia and ordered by the child’s age.

Most of the infants were killed by the family dog, in their own homes. Many of the incidents occurred when the responsible adult left the infant or child unattended in a bassinet or play area to which the dog had access. In many households there was more than one dog involved in the attack.

A scan of the incidents will quickly reveal that pit bulls are the most prominent breed (see summary below). But, breed doesn’t tell you everything. A Pomeranian killed a 6-week old girl in 2000, and a Labrador retriever killed a 2-month old in 2008 (albeit under extreme circumstances).  Golden Retrievers, Chesapeake Bay retrievers, cocker spaniels, and even Beagles, for example, have all had fatal attacks attributed to them.[2] Of course, this list does not account for base populations of the breeds. If there are four times fewer Huskies relative to other breeds, then Huskies would actually be more deadly than Rottweilers.

Breed	# Child Fatalities
Pit bull	77
Rottweiler	39
Mixed breed	38
Husky	12
German Shepherd	5

Some of these attacks were linked to maltreatment of both children and dogs, but most were not.

Some attacks were after histories of aggressive behavior by the dog, but many were not, including a significant number that came as a complete surprise.

The mom of Jose Diaz wrote a heartbreaking response to a question about dogs and babies on Babycenter.com that begins, "My son was 5 weeks old when he was attacked and killed by our family dog. I want to get a message across to everyone who has a dog and you either have a baby or are about to have one. Chance (the dog who did this) was the sweetest dog ever and so loving. If a stranger came into the house he would run from them instead of barking. He never even snapped at anybody. But he killed my son in less than a minute..." Read her full response.

Research on all dog attacks (not just deadly ones) has found that

• Male dogs are 6.2 times more likely to bite than females
• Unneutered dogs are 2.6 times more likely to bite than those that are neutered
• Dogs bred at home are less likely to bite, compared to those bred by breeders or pet shops
• Dogs are more likely to bite the older they are when they are obtained
• Dogs are more dangerous when acting as a pack

How can you protect your child and your dog?

First, if your dog has already bitten, you have a dangerous dog (as defined in some legislation), and need to take a number of steps to protect anyone who comes in contact with your dog, especially any child. You are always liable[3] for anything your dog does, but you could also be negligent, because now you should know better. A child having any unsupervised time with that dog likely counts as negligence.[4] It is easy to ignore or diminish clear signs, “it was just a little bite” or “it was an unusual circumstance,” so if there is any question at all, get the dog evaluated by a professional.

From the Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan:[5]

Your child's safety comes first. If, after working with a professional and on your own, you are still not 100% confident about the safety of your baby with your dog, then finding your dog another home to protect the well-being of your child and pet is a step you may have to take.

I am watching a neighbor about to have a baby go through this painful process now. Their dog has previously sent a household member to the hospital from a deep bite. The dog has been aggressive for so long, I doubt that professional help would leave them at the 100% confidence level. Those close to the family know that the dog is aggressive, so it will likely be challenging to find someone to take the dog.  From the outside, it seems clear that adding an infant is inviting disaster for both infant and dog. What do you think? Words of wisdom from those who have been through this?

For those whose dogs have not already shown aggressive behaviors, you still want to prepare your dog for the arrival of the infant and make sure to take certain steps, like never leaving the two in a room unsupervised. Cesar, the CDC, and the ASPCA all have good pages that address keeping children and dogs in harmony.  

Cesar has some great advice on aspects not usually covered, including setting the boundaries of the nursery and claiming your baby’s scent. And he does not think that you should use the dog’s breed as a guide. See: http://bit.ly/1cNbGIX. To avoid bites generally, Cesar recommends vaccinating dogs and teaching submissive behavior.[6]  He also notes that many dogs are attempting to play with infants, and hurt them only unintentionally, like the three month old killed by two Shiba Inu dogs in 2013 (see Wikipedia list).

The Centers for Disease Control on its dog bite page recommends:

• Spay/neuter your dog (this often reduces aggressive tendencies).
• Never leave infants or young children alone with a dog.
• Don’t play aggressive games with your dog (e.g., wrestling).
• Properly socialize and train any dog entering your household. Teach the dog submissive behaviors (e.g., rolling over to expose the abdomen and giving up food without growling).
• Immediately seek professional advice (e.g., from veterinarians, animal behaviorists, or responsible trainers) if the dog develops aggressive or undesirable behaviors.

And the ASPCA describes additional suggestions, including making sure you understand the animal’s body language. Even “good” dogs have bad days, but understanding what they are going through will help you to identify their warnings. See: http://bit.ly/1dcORVq

Dog-Caused Child Fatality List 

Modified from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_dog_attacks_in_the_United_States 

	Breed (Shortened)	Victim's name	Age (Yrs)	Circumstances
2000	Mix (German shepherd-Husky mix and Pit bull-Labrador retriever mix)	Jasmine Dillashaw	0	Bitten when left alone in baby swing.[78]
2000	Pomeranian	Girl - name withheld	0	An uncle was babysitting the child and left her alone to prepare a bottle for her. When he returned, he found the dog attacking her.[79]
2001	Rottweiler	Jovanna King	0	Girl killed after dog escaped from its pen.[84]
2001	German Shepherd	Alexander Bennett	0	Attacked when left alone in a bassinet.[90]
2001	Husky	Josie Simone Hearon	0	Attacked when left alone in a bassinet.[91]
2002	Husky	Unknown	0	Details not available.[99]
2004	Mix	Jose Diaz	0	Killed by his mother's dog.[130]
2004	Pit bull	Kamryn Billingsly	0	While she was sleeping next to her mother at a friend's house, the dog grabbed the child, dragged it down the hall, and killed it. The dog was usually kept outside but brought inside that night because it was cold out.[132]
2005	Pit bull	Dazavious Williams	0	Killed when a neighborhood dog grabbed him from his aunt's arms[160]
2005	Husky	Alexis McDermott	0	Killed in her crib by her family's dog[161]
2006	Rottweiler	Ashton Lee Scott	0	Killed by his grandmother's dog[171]
2007	Husky	Trey Paeth	0	Killed while visiting family friends when the friends' two dogs got into his playpen[220]
2007	Rottweiler	Kylie Cox	0	Killed by visitor's dog when her mother set her down to warm a bottle of milk[225]
2008	Doberman Pinscher	Andrew Stein	0	Killed by his family's dog[240]
2008	Jack Russell Terrier	Justin Mozer	0	Killed by his family's dog while sleeping on a king size bed[241]
2008	Labrador Retriever	Zane Earles	0	Killed by the family's 10-12 week puppy that had not been fed in days. The teen mother was convicted of manslaughter for leaving her baby unattended in a swing for over 6 hours with the hungry puppy.[250]
2008	Husky	Alexis Hennessy	0	Killed in her crib by her family's dog[255]
2008	Pit bull	Cenedi Carey	0	Killed by his family's two dogs after being torn out of her stroller[256]
2008	Husky	"Jane Doe"	0	Killed by her family's dog[257]
2009	Husky	Olivia Rozek	0	Killed by her family's dog after the dog pulled the child from a bed and dragged her into a hallway[273]
2009	Mix (Chow-Chow Golden Retriever mix)	"Jane Doe"	0	Killed by her family's dog[276]
2009	Pit bull	Izaiah Cox	0	Killed by his great-grandmother's two dogs. Grandmother indicted for felony injury to a child, but died before case went to trial[281]
2009	Pit bull	Leonard Lovejoy, Jr.	0	Killed by his family's dog[285]
2009	Pit bull	"John Doe"	0	Killed by his family's dog after being brought home from the hospital. The pit bull and a German Shepherd mixed breed dog were both euthanized[291]
2010	Husky	Robert D. Hocker	0	The boy was alone on a bed when the family's dog bit him.[316]
2010	Pit bull	"Jane Doe"	0	Severely injured by her family's dog on February 18, she died of her injuries on February 23[322]
2010	Rottweiler	Justin Lopez	0	Killed by his family's two newly acquired dogs. Dogs were obtained the day before.[325]
2010	Pit bull	Thomas Carter, Jr.	0	Killed while in bed next to his mother who slept through the attack. After the attack the dog went outside and attacked another dog that was on a chain.[326][327]
2010	Pit bull	Justin Valentin	0	Killed by his family's dog[347]
2010	Rottweiler	Janet Vaughan	0	While the child's mother bathed one dog, the child was killed by one of the nine dogs that the family kept in the back yard.[359]
2011	Pit bull	Darius Tillman	0	Killed by family's dog.[368]
2011	Rottweiler	Annabelle Mitchell	0	Killed by the family's dog when left unattended while child's mother was intoxicated. The girl's mother was subsequently convicted of endangering the welfare of a child.[370]
2011	Mix (Bulldog or Dogo Argentino  or terrier)	Salvador Cotto	0	While visiting his aunt and uncle, the boy was briefly left alone in a room with their dog and was bitten. The medical examiner determined that the boy died of cerebral edema as a consequence of a single bite to the head, and ruled that the death was accidental.[384][385]
2011	Bulldog	Michael Naglee	0	Killed by the dog of his paternal grandparents at a family gathering.[386]
2011	Unknown	Addyson Paige Camerino	0	The child was killed in the kitchen of the family's home. There were five dogs in the home, a Pit bull, bulldog, Alaskan Malamute,German Shepherd, and German Shepherd-Bulldog mix. Three of the dogs were involved in the attack, but the news media did not report which three.[390]
2011	Mix (Labrador Retriever-mix or Pit Bull)	Brayden McCollen	0	Killed by family dog.[392] Some sources reported the dog as a Labrador retriever mix, others as a pit bull.[393][394]
2011	Mix (Pit bull-Mastiff mix)	Mya Maeda	0	Dragged from her bassinet and killed by the family dog.[397]
2012	Husky	Howard Nicholson, Jr.	0	Killed by one of the family's four dogs.[409] The victim's mother pleaded guilty to child endangerment.[410]
2012	Mix (Golden Retriever - Labrador Retriever mix)	Aiden McGrew	0	Killed by the family's dog.[417] The death was ruled a homicide and child's father charged with illegal neglect of a child.[418]
2012	Pit bull	Tyzhel McWilliams	0	Killed by a single bite from one of three pit bulls owned by the mother's roommate.[429] Immediately prior to the attack, the dog was on a bed with the mother's roommates who were smoking marijuana. The dog reportedly became "frisky," at which point they pushed it off the bed and it bit the boy. The cause of death was given as "penetrating craniocerebral injuries due to a dogbite."[430]
2012	Mix	James Hudson	0	Killed by the family dog.[440] Animal shelter officials identified the dog as a Labrador - American Bulldog mix. The dog's owner and police identified the animal as a "pit bull mix."[441]
2012	Pit bull	Rayden Bruce	0	An hour before the attack, police responded to the home for a domestic dispute between the infant's parents that included injuries. While the police were taking witness statements, the boy was left alone in a room with the dog and was attacked. The dog had been responsible for a "minor bite" in 2011. It had also been picked up by Animal Services in 2010 for running loose.[443]
2012	Pit bull	Tarilyn Bowles	0	Mauled indoors by family dog when left briefly unattended.[447]
2012	Rottweiler	Dixie Jennings	0	Killed at a boarding kennel owned by her mother.[448]
2013	Shiba Inu	Mia Gibson	0	Attack occurred in the Columbus, Ohio home when the parents were sleeping. Mia was a premature baby who had only come home from the hospital Thanksgiving.[529]
2012	Pit bull	Makayla Darnell	0	Killed by family's dog.[423]
2001	Pit bull	Tyran Moniz-Hilderbrand	1	Dogs belonged to a houseguest; mother badly mauled in trying to save her son.[86]
2001	Rottweiler	Kristin Ann Jolley	1	The girl was killed after walking up to the chained dog. The dog's owners were charged with starving and mistreating it.[89]
2002	Rottweiler	Girl- no name released	1	While her parents were sleeping, the girl went into the backyard where two dogs were kept chained.[98]
2003	Mix (Malamute-Wolf hybrid)	Andre Angel Thomas	1	Killed while sleeping in the living room of an acquaintance of his mother.[105]
2004	Beagle	Truston Heart Liddle	1	Wandered with his brother from his parents, a farmer and his wife who were working their land, onto an adjacent farm. Got too close to a chained dog, who, although well-fed and watered, appeared to spend most of his time tethered in place.[118]
2004	Pit bull	"John Doe"	1	Killed by his grandmother's dog. The dog bit off one of its owner's fingers when she tried to intervene.[121]
2004	Mix (Pit bull-Labrador Retriever mix)	Isaiah Calandis Smith	1	Killed by a chained dog in his yard.[129]
2005	Rottweiler	Cassandra Garcia	1	Killed when her grandparent's dog grabbed her from her mother's arms[162]
2005	Pit bull	Kylee Johnson	1	Killed by her family's dog[165]
2006	Pit bull	Javelin Anderson	1	Killed by her family's chained dog[184]
2006	Pit bull	Allen Young	1	Killed by his father's four dogs after he was moving to a new trailer and took the dogs off their chains and left them in the new trailer unsupervised with his young son[200]
2007	Rottweiler	Taylor Kitlica	1	Killed by a stray dog her family had chained in their front yard in the hope that the owner would find it[208]
2007	Chow Chow	Elijah Rackley	1	Killed when playing with the puppies of a stray dog his family had chained in the yard[223]
2008	Husky	Abraham Tackett	1	Killed by a neighbor's chained dog, apparently protecting its food[243]
2008	Sheepdog	Addison Sonney	1	Killed by her family's dog[249]
2008	Mix	Iopeka Liptak	1	Killed by her mother's dog[260]
2009	Pit bull	Jasmine Deane	1	Killed by her family's chained dog.[292]
2009	Mix (possibly Akita and Pit bull-mix[293])	Colton Smith	1	Killed at his babysitter's home by his babysitter's dog[294]
2009	Pit bull	Destiny Knox	1	Killed at the home of her babysitter's boyfriend by one of the boyfriend's dogs.[297] The dog was usually kept on a chain outside, but had slipped free from its collar.[298]
2009	Mix (Rottweiler-Labrador Retriever mix[303])	Dallas Walters	1	Killed at his great-aunt's home by her dog during his cousin's birthday party[304]
2011	Pit bull	Nevaeh Bryant	1	Killed by her aunt's three dogs. Her aunt later pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide, receiving a one-year suspended sentence.[396]
2012	Pit bull	Jace Valdez	1	Killed by his grandparent's dog.[407]
2012	Rottweiler	Dylan Andres	1	Killed by neighbor's chained dog.[412]
2012	Mix (Mastiff - Rhodesian Ridgeback mix)	Jeremiah Eskew-Shahan	1	Killed by the family dog.[419]
2012	Pit bull	Jazilyn Mesa	1	Killed by the family dog. The victim's grandfather was charged with negligent child abuse resulting in death.[421]
2013	Pit bull	Daxton Borchardt	1	Killed by his babysitter's two dogs at the babysitter's residence. The babysitter was also injured but survived.[465]
2013	Pit bull & Pit bull-mix	Monica Renee Laminack	1	Killed by dogs belonging to her mother's boyfriend.[466] An autopsy confirmed that the child died of injuries consistent with a dog attack.[467] The child's mother was subsequently charged with Cruelty to Children in the Second Degree.[468]
2000	Pit Bull	Ramani Virgil	2	Playing in the backyard of his Baton Rouge home when he got too close to tethered pet, “Baby”, who bit him repeatedly, severing an artery. Died within hours in the hospital. Family had the dog destroyed.[80]
2001	Mix (possibly including Rottweiler, Pit bull, Beagle, and Labrador retriever)	Donald Bryson Shumpert	2	The nine dogs thought to be involved belonged to the neighbor. The boy was found about 50 yards from his home.[87]
2003	Rottweiler	Lily Krajewski	2	Killed after dogs escaped from their kennel.[100][101]
2003	Pit bull	Somer Clugston	2	Killed by her babysitter's dog when she left her alone in the house. The babysitter was sentenced to one year in jail for involuntary manslaughter. The dog had previously bitten two other children.[109]
2003	Great Dane	Makayla Paige Sinclair	2	Killed by 2 chained dogs when she wandered into their owner's yard.[112]
2004	Mixed-breed dog	Madison Carson	2	Killed by relative's loose dogs.[119]
2004	Rottweiler	Samuel Trucks	2	Killed by two dogs.[120]
2005	Mix (Husky AND Alaskan Malamute)	Samantha Black	2	Killed by her family's two dogs in her back yard[150]
2005	Pit bull	Arianna Fleeman	2	Killed while visiting a friend's home with her mother[155]
2006	Rottweiler	Gemma Carlos	2	Killed by a neighbor's chained dog in the neighbor's yard[185]
2006	Pit bull	Jonathan Martin	2	Killed by at least one of his family's dogs inside his home. His parents were each sentenced to three years in prison after being convicted of involuntary manslaughter and felony child endangerment.[194]
2006	Rottweiler	Julius Graham	2	Killed when a neighbor's dog escaped its pen[195]
2006	Rottweiler	Ariel Pogue	2	Killed by one of her family's dogs[198]
2006	Rottweiler	Louis Romero, Jr.	2	Killed by dogs kept to guard home where parents were drug trafficking. Parents fled to Mexico after boy's funeral[201]
2007	Mix (English Mastiff-mix, Pit bull-mix)	Robynn Bradley	2	Killed while visiting her relatives when the relatives' two dogs escaped from their pen[209]
2007	Pit bull	Carolina Sotello	2	Killed by one of her family's dogs[211]
2007	Pit bull	Brian Palmer	2	Killed by his family's dog, the dog killed a cat a week before Palmer's death.[212]
2007	German Shepherd	Karson Gilroy	2	Killed when he wandered onto a neighbor's property[228]
2007	Pit bull	Holden Jernigan	2	Killed by his grandmother's dog[236]
2008	Mix (Terrier)	Alexander Adams	2	The 40-45 lb dog was eating when the boy approached its food bowl. Dog belonged to the boy's grandmother.[265][266]
2009	Pit bull	Tyson Miller	2	Killed by a chained dog in the backyard[280]
2009	Pit bull	Matthew Clayton "Booter" Hurt	2	After wandering 4 blocks from his home, the boy was killed when he crawled into a dog house where the dog was chained.[295][296]
2009	Weimaraner	Liam Peck	2	Killed by his family's dog[306]
2010	Pit bull	Nathan Aguirre	2	Killed by his family's dog[330]
2010	Pit bull	Jacob Bisbee	2	Killed by three of his step-grandfather's dogs. Grandfather arrested for manslaughter.[337] The dogs had decapitated the family's petAkita and killed the family's pet Chihuahua and parrot within the prior year. The dogs, which were kept in a garage, had previously shown aggression toward the boy.[338]
2010	German Shepherd	Aaron Carlson	2	Killed by his family's dog[339]
2010	Pit bull	Kaden Muckleroy	2	Killed by his grandfather's dog, which was chained to a tree.[350][351]
2012	Mix (Labrador Retriever - German Shepherd mix)	Ja'Marr Tiller	2	Killed by two stray dogs.[426][427]
2012	Mix	Jack Redin	2	Killed by neighbor's two mixed-breed dogs after wandering onto the neighbor's property.[428]
2012	Pit bull	Savannah Edwards	2	Killed while visiting a relative who rented living space from the dog's owner.[455]
2013	Pit bull	Isaiah Aguilar	2	Killed in a neighbor's yard by a dog tied up in the yard.[461]
2013	Pit Bull	Beau Rutledge	2	The boy was killed while the mother stepped away to use the restroom. The dog was 8-years-old and neighbors said they had never thought it was aggressive.[482][483][484][485]
2013	Pit Bull	Daniel "Doe"	2	Daniel was mauled by 3 mix-pit bulls at his babysitter’s home.
2013	Pit Bull	Samuel Eli Zamudio	2	Killed by up to five dogs that belonged to his grandmother, in the back yard of her house. Authorities do not know how the boy ended up in the yard with the dogs, and occupants of the house said they heard no screams or other noises, but the boy was found dead with bite marks to his face and neck. Neighbors had complained to authorities about the noise and "stench from the yard" where the dogs were kept. A photo of one of the dogs is available.[517] The boy's grandmother and uncle were later arrested in Colton, California.[518][519]
2013	Pit bull	Jah'Niyah White	2	South Side, Chicago [528]
2001	Rottweiler	Joshua Brown[82]	3	Few details available.
2001	Rottweiler	Sierra Clayton	3	Killed by dog after it broke free from its tether.[88]
2001	Rottweiler	Tristen Gambrel	3	Killed by 3 dogs.[92]
2003	Rottweiler	Wesley Swindler	3	Killed after crawling into the dog's pen.[100]
2003	Pit bull	Tre'sean Forsman	3	Killed by a friend's dog.[103]
2003	Rottweiler	Samantha Grace Bauld[110]	3
2004	Pit Bull	Nathan Roy Hill	3	Killed by a dog chained in the neighbor's yard.[117]
2006	Rottweiler	Quillan Cottrell	3	Killed by his family's dog[176]
2006	Mix (Pit bull, Rottweiler)	Mariah Puga	3	Killed by two of her family's dogs[188]
2007	Pit bull	Dandre Fisher	3	Killed when he tried to climb over a fence into the dogs' yard[216]
2008	Pit bull	Julian Slack	3	Killed in his own home by a neighbor's dog[244]
2008	Pit bull	Tony Evans, Jr.	3	Killed when he wandered next to his neighbor's chained dog[248]
2009	Husky	Dustin Faulkner	3	Killed by his neighbor's dog when it broke free of its chain[279]
2009	Mix (Pit Bull Mix, Collie Mix)	Gabrial Mandrell-Sauerhage	3	Killed by mother's boyfriend's dogs[288]
2010	Pit bull	Omar Martinez	3	The father, boy, and their dog were together in their Apple Valley, CA backyard, but the father stepped inside, leaving the dog alone with the boy, the dog attacked. The aggressive dog kept EMTs away until police arrived and shot it. EMT found him unresponsive and took him to the hospital where he was declared dead two hours later. No charges were filed as of press time.[307][308]
2010	Bulldog	Violet Serenity Haaker	3	Killed when she became entangled in the chain restraining one of the dogs at the family's American-Bulldog breeding facility.[319][320] It was originally reported that a pit bull was responsible.[321]
2010	Sled Dog	Krystal Brink	3	Killed when she wandered into her neighbor's sled dog yard, her uncle's brother later shot all 6 sled dogs to death[328]
2011	Rottweiler	Vanessa Husmann	3	Killed by uncle's two dogs in backyard.[369]
2002	German Shepherd	Colter Kumpost	4	Killed by dog being trained for police work.[97]
2004	Pit bull	Myles Leakes	4	Killed by his uncle's chained dog.[125]
2005	Mix (Rottweiler–German Shepherd mix)	Robert Schafer	4	Killed by his family's dog when he opened the dog's pen[142]
2005	Rottweiler	Asia Turner	4	Killed by her family's two dogs in her own back yard[149]
2005	Pit bull	Cody Adair	4	Killed by his uncle's chained dog[170]
2006	Rottweiler	Dominic Giordano	4	Killed in own back yard by his relative's dog[173][174]
2006	Mix (Mixed-breed dog and Pit Bull-mix)	Pedro Rios	4	Killed by two stray dogs outside his home[204]
2007	Mix (Bulldog-Mastiff mix)	Tori Whitehurst	4	Killed by her family's dog[232]
2009	Rottweiler	Alex Angulo	4	Killed by a least one of his foster family's dogs[271]
2009	Rottweiler	Brooklynn Milburn	4	Killed after crawling through a fence into her neighbor's yard[272]
2009	Boxer	Michael Landry	4	Killed by his neighbor's three dogs when they escaped from their yard[282]
2010	Rottweiler	Ashlynn Anderson	4	Killed by a dog owned by her stepfather, (Ax Men star Jesse Browning).[323]
2010	Boxer	Taylor Becker	4	Killed by a dog owned by a family friend.[344]
2011	Cane Corso	Jayelin Graham	4	Killed by dog belonging to mother's boyfriend.[376] News outlets initially reported that the dog involved was a pit bull.[377]
2011	Rottweiler	James Dowling	4	Killed by his grandfather's dog when it escaped its enclosure.[389]
2012	Pit bull	Kylar Johnson	4	After wandering 1/2 mile from his home, the boy was killed by a chained dog in fenced yard.[414][415]
2013	Pit bull	Christian Gormanous	4	Climbed over a fence and got too close to the neighbor's tethered dog.[459]
2013	Pit Bull	Jordyn Arndt	4	Four year old Jordyn Arndt, was mauled by a pit bull at her babysitter’s home. The owner of the dog, 24-year old Jana Marie Wright, was supposed to be babysitting Jordyn and has been charged with multiple felonies punishable with up to 35 years in prison.[479][480]Neighbors say that they had previously filed several complaints about the dog.[479] The babysitter had a history of arrest on drug-related and child-neglect charges.[481]
2013	Pit bull	Levi Watson	4	Visiting a home in White County, Arkansas. The boy "managed to get out of the home" and "enter a fenced-in area where three pit bulls were being held."[525] Emergency crews brought him to the hospital where he died. At press time, police were investigating which of three pit bulls were responsible; what the fate of the dogs, which were taken into custody, would be; and whether any charges would be filed. The owner was cooperating with the investigation.[526]
2000	Rottweiler	Justin Tabner	5	The boy was attacked after becoming entangled in the chain that restrained his family's dog.[76]
2001	Rottweiler	Kyle Anthony Ross	5	Boy killed at home of his foster mother. The dog was usually kept in a chain-link cage behind the home.[85]
2002	Rottweiler	Victoria Morales	5	The dog was a prize-winning show dog. It was a 120-lb male. The dog attacked after the girl saw a lizard and screamed.[96]
2003	Rottweiler	Jennifer Nicole Davis	5	Killed by two dogs.[102]
2004	Pit bull	Annilee McKinnon	5	Killed by a neighbor's 3 dogs while playing in the front yard at the home of her birth parents. This was not the girl's regular residence because she had been living with a foster family for four years. The neighbor who owned the dogs had been cited two weeks prior because the dogs had gone into another yard and attacked a neighbor's dog.[133]
2007	Rottweiler	Tiffany Pauley	5	Killed when she wandered into a neighbor's yard[219]
2008	Pit bull	Pablo Hernandez	5	Killed by his family's chained dog[246]
2008	Pit bull	Katya Todesco	5	Killed by her neighbor's dog[259]
2009	Pit bull	Cheyenne Peppers	5	Killed by a dog belonging to her mother, a dog belonging to her mother's boyfriend, and a puppy produced by those two dogs.[269] Prior to the attack two of the dogs were chained up. The third dog, who was pregnant, was not chained at that time.[270]
2010	Mix (German Shepherd-Husky mix and Labrador retriever)	Kyle Holland	5	Killed by the dogs of his mother's live-in boyfriend. The boyfriend pled guilty to a charge of dangerous animal death and the mother pled guilty to child abuse and manslaughter. The mother was also charged with "accessory after the fact" because she tried to dispose of her boyfriend's marijuana plants before calling 911.[333][334]
2010	Mix	Cason Bryant	5	Killed in his own yard by five of his neighbor's dogs[352]
2011	Pit bull	Makayla Woodard	5	Killed by her neighbor's two dogs in her own yard.[362] The neighbor pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 20 to 24 months in prison.[363]
2013	Bullmastiff	Ayden Evans[503]	5	Killed inside the home of family friends near Jessieville, Arkansas where he had been staying for two weeks because his family's home inMoore, Oklahoma had been destroyed by tornados. After the child had started loudly crying, the 150 lb. dog came running out of a back room and attacked him. The dogs owner stopped the attack, but not before the boy had received serious wounds to the neck and face. He was rushed to a hospital in Hot Springs, AR where he was declared dead. The dog ran away, so authorities began trying to find it and euthanize it. Investigators declined to say just yet whether or not the owners would face any charges.[504][505]
2013	Pit bull	Arianna Jolee Merrbach	5	Killed after walking up to a chained dog that belonged to her aunt.[509] The dog had been kept on a chain in violation of the county's laws against prolonged tethering, and animal cruelty charges were being considered against the owner.[510]
2013	Husky	Jordan Reed	5	Jordan was found dead after being mauled by one or more loose dogs.
2013	Pit bull	Jordan Ryan	5	The boy was unsupervised at a family friend's house and entered a backyard pen where the dog was kept. The dog had been acquired 6 weeks earlier.[520]
2002	Mix (Rottweiler and 2 Rottweiler Pug mixes)	Genoe Novak	6	Dogs killed the boy after escaping from their yard.[93]
2005	Mix (Mixed breed and Pit Bull)	Tyler Babcock	6	Severely mauled by his next-door neighbor's two dogs.[135] The dogs were frequently loose in the neighborhood. One female dog was described as "part pit bull." The other male dog "had a large head and other characteristics of a pit bull," but investigators weren't sure if he had pit bull breeds in him.[134]
2005	Pit bull	Cassidy Jeter	6	Killed by her family's two dogs as she walked to a swing set with her 4-year old brother[141]
2005	Rottweiler	Sydney Akin	6	Killed visiting the home of a family friend[164]
2007	Rottweiler	Matthew Johnson	6	Killed by two dogs the family had just adopted[207]
2007	Pit bull	Sabin Jones-Abbott	6	Killed by his family's dog while trying to feed it[221]
2007	Pit bull	Scott Warren	6	Killed without warning by his family's dog[224]
2008	Pit bull	Isis Kreiger	6	Killed by her family's dog[252]
2010	Pit Bull	Anastasia Bingham	6	Killed while walking to a friend's home. Investigators unable to locate dog(s) involved.[313] Sheriff's deputies initially reported that a pit bull dog was responsible.[314] Authorities were never able to find or identify any dog responsible for the attack. The dogs that were first thought to be responsible were found not to be involved. However, investigators "received confidential tips that stated that there were three other pit bulls, owned by the child's relatives, that were killed and dumped in a wooded area."[315]
2012	German Shepherd	"John Doe"	6	Mauled to death by a medical service dog trained to help a military veteran suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).[408]
2013	Pit Bull	Nephi Selu	6	The boy was attempting to ride the dog "like a horse" when he was bitten a single time on the top of the head.[506] The two-year-old, un-neutered male dog had been acquired as a guard dog[506] and was kept in the backyard of the family's home.[507] After the bite, the family did not think he had been seriously injured and expected him to be fine "after a couple of stitches."[506] He was brought to the hospital 2 1/2 hours after being bitten and died two hours later.[506] The dog had up-to-date rabies shots and was properly licensed.[508]
2005	Malamute	Kate-Lynn Logel	7	Killed by her family's new dog in her back yard[151]
2006	Bullmastiff	Conner Lourens	7	Killed by his neighbor's dog[172]
2007	Pit bull	Zachary King, Jr.	7	Killed by his family's dog[222]
2008	Pit bull	Tanner Monk	7	Killed by four of his neighbor's dogs.[245]
2010	Mix (Pit bull, mixed-breed Shepherd)	Jason Walter	7	Killed by a neighbor's three pit bulls and a mixed breed dog while staying at the neighbor's residence.[343]
2013	Pit bull	Ryan Maxwell	7	Killed by a dog that was kept chained in the back yard of a home he was visiting. The dog may have been let off the chain by the boy or may have broken free before the attack.[462][463] The dog's owners had been cited previously for letting their dogs run loose. Officers had also been called to their house on reports that dogs were not being fed. Although no criminal charges were filed in relation to this dog attack, one of the owners, Jereme Carter, is now in jail on murder charges from an unrelated case.[464]
2013	Mix (Pit bull (2) or Bulldogs)	Tyler Jett	7	Attacked while riding his bike by his neighbor's two dogs and died 5 days later. The owner a week prior had received a citation for allowing his aggressive dogs loose and is currently facing criminally negligent manslaughter charges. Some sources identify the two dogs as "pit bull mixes";[469][470] other reports identified them as a "brindle bulldog" and an "Alapaha blue blood bulldog".[471][472] Some articles referred to them as both "pit bull mixes" and "bull dogs" within the same article.[473] Photos of the dogs exist.[474]
2004	Pit bull	Roddie Dumas, Jr.	8	Killed by his father's four dogs.[122] The father was charged with involuntary manslaughter and a federal charge of assaulting a postal worker who tried to rescue the victim.[123] He was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in federal prison after being convicted on the assault charge and related drug and weapons charges.[124]
2004	Mix (Bullmastiff–German Shepherd mix)	John Streeter	8	Killed by neighbor's two dogs while playing in his neighbor's backyard.[126]
2004	Pit bull-mix	Anton Brown	8	Killed by two dogs the family was keeping for a family friend.[131]
2009	Mix (Rottweiler, mix)	Brianna Shanor	8	Killed by a 100-lb dog that was chained outside a camping trailer that the dog used for shelter.[275]
2012	Mix	Tomas Henio	8	Killed by a pack of stray feral dogs while snowsledding on a hill near his home. One of the victims to be killed for one rare reason: Food.[456]
2010	Pit bull	Savannah Gragg	9	Killed in her home while opening the door to let the dog outside[331]
2011	Akita	Kristen Dutton	9	Killed by her grandfather's newly adopted dog.[364]
2001	Mix	Rodney McAllister	10	Killed by stray dogs in park where he had gone alone to play. His mother went to jail and lost custody of her other son for not supervising the child. Sparked review of Animal Control procedures because neighbors complaints about the free-ranging dogs in the park had not been successfully responded to. Sparked a police round-up of ten stray dogs in and around the park: two chows, arottweiler, a German shepherd and six mixed-breed dogs.[83]
2002	Rottweiler	Alicia Clark	10	Killed by her neighbor's six dogs. The dogs' owner received 2 years in prison for leaving her alone with the dogs which had previously exhibited dangerous behavior.[94][95]
2006	Mix	Matthew Davis	10	Killed by six dogs while walking home. In 2009, it was revealed that dogs attacked and killed the child for food.[199]
2007	Pit bull	Amber Jones	10	Killed when she tried to free a neighbor's dog after its collar was caught on their chain link as the dog tried to jump over the fence[205]
2009	Pit bull	Justin Clinton	10	Killed when visiting a friend by dogs owned by the friend's family.[286] A jury awarded a US$7 million verdict for negligence against the dogs' owners.[287]
2007	Pit bull	Seth Lovitt	11	Killed by his family's dog[233]
2005	Pit bull	Nicholas Faibish	12	There were two dogs in the home. The boy's mother felt that the male dog was acting possessive toward the female dog because she was in heat. So when the mother left to run errands, she locked the boy in the basement to keep him separated from the dogs. While she was gone, the boy left the basement and was killed by the dogs. The boy's mother was charged with felony child endangerment.[156][157]
2005	Mix (Pit bull, Mixed-breed dog)	Lydia Chaplin	14	Died of hypothermia after being attacked by 4 dogs (3 pit bulls, 1 mixed-breed dog) while walking alone at night in a rural area, one-half mile from home[136]

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[1] https://www.avma.org/KB/Resources/Statistics/Pages/Market-research-statistics-US-pet-ownership.aspx)

[2]  Sacks, Jeffrey; Sinclair, Gilchrist, Golab, Lockwood (15 September 2000). "Breeds of dogs involved in fatal human attacks in the United States between 1979 and 1998". JAVMA 217 (6): 836–40.10.2460/javma.2000.217.836 and http://www.cdc.gov/homeandrecreationalsafety/images/dogbreeds-a.pdf

[3] http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/22/beware-of-biting-dogs-and-liability-claims/?_r=0

[4] http://dogbitelaw.com/legal-rights-of-dog-bite-victims-in-usa/negligence.html

[5] http://www.cesarsway.com/tips/yournewdog/introduce-your-dog-to-your-baby#ixzz2pdnY1uHB

[6] http://www.cesarsway.com/dog-behavior/dog-biting/How-You-Can-Prevent-Dog-Bites