The effect of breed-specific dog legislation on hospital treated dog bites in Odense, Denmark—A time series intervention study

Finn Nilson, John Damsager, Jens Lauritsen and Carl Bonander

PLOS ONE, 2018, vol. 13, issue 12, 1-8

Abstract: As dog bite injuries are a considerable problem in modern society, in order to reduce such injuries, breed-specific legislation has been introduced in a number of countries. Whilst many studies have shown a lack of effect with such legislation, the commonly used methodology is known to be flawed. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the effect of the Danish breed-specific legislation on the number of dog bite injuries using more credible methods. A time series intervention method was used on a detailed dataset from Odense University Hospital, Denmark, regarding dog bite injuries presented to the emergency department. The results indicate that banning certain breeds has a highly limited effect on the overall levels of dog bite injuries, and that an enforcement of the usage of muzzle and leash in public places for these breeds also has a limited effect. Despite using more credible and sound methods, this study supports previous studies showing that breed-specific legislation seems to have no effect on dog bite injuries. In order to minimise dog bite injuries in the future, it would seem that other interventions or non-breed-specific legislation should be considered as the primary option.

Date: 2018
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0208393

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0208393

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