Dog bite
bite inflicted upon a person, a group of persons or another animal by a dog
A dog bite is a bite upon a person or other animal by a dog. More than one successive bite is often called a dog attack, although dog attacks can include knock-downs and scratches. Though some dog bites do not result in injury, they can result in infection, disfigurement, temporary or permanent disability, or death. Another type of dog bite is the "soft bite" displayed by well-trained dogs, by puppies, and in non-aggressive play. Dog bites can occur during dog fighting, as a response to mistreatment, by trained dogs working as guard, police or military animals, or during a random encounter.
There is debate on whether or not certain breeds of dogs are inherently more prone to commit attacks causing serious injury (i.e., so driven by instinct and breeding that, under certain circumstances, they are exceedingly likely to attempt or commit dangerous attacks). It is recognized that the risk of dog bites can be increased by human actions such as abuse or bite training, or through inaction such as neglect, carelessness in confinement or lack of control.
Significant dog bites affect tens of millions of people globally each year. It is estimated that 2% of the U.S. population, 4.5–4.7 million people, are bitten by dogs each year. Most bites occur in children, with nearly half of all children in the U.S. being bitten by a dog at least once by the age of 12.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Dog bite” as bite inflicted upon a person, a group of persons or another animal by a dog. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as bite inflicted upon a person, a group of persons or another animal by a dog. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q38624. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Dog bite” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.