Experts may examine the bite marks on the victim's body to assess characteristics such as size, shape, and pattern, which can sometimes be matched to the dental impressions of a specific dog.
[28] Scientists, scholars, medical personnel, veterinarians, and lawmakers have been documenting the societal problem of fatal dog attacks for several decades in an effort to identify causes and come up with solutions.
The researchers argue for evidence-based legislation and consensus-building, among other measures, to mitigate the negative impacts of free-ranging dogs, thereby reducing potential harm to humans and other animals.
[32] Researchers looked at the epidemiological profile of dog attacks to patients under 14 years old assisted at the pediatric referral emergency unit of a tertiary hospital in Campinas, Brazil.
The researchers came to the conclusion that certain types of dogs cause particularly serious injuries due to their way of biting, holding and shaking the victim.
The Rottweiler, American Bulldog, Cane Corso, Japanese Tosa and Pit Bull are named as dogs that can kill an adult human without difficulty.
The researchers recommend that physicians treating minors with injuries from a dog attack notify the competent social authorities, as they consider the risk of further incidents to be increased.
The same dog had attacked and severely bitten her two-year-old grandson two years earlier, but the police stopped the investigation and no report was made to the relevant authorities.
The authors see a change in the way people keep and interact with dogs, as well as a higher proportion of high-risk breeds in the population, as a possible explanation for the increase in fatalities.
Strongly built and "hard biting" dogs are very popular in Sweden and, according to the authors, pose a serious risk when kept in families with children.
The scientists refer to an Australian study which states that the risk of injury from being pushed by a dog is particularly high in older people.
They come to the conclusion that "the number of European fatalities due to dog attacks increased significantly at a rate of several % per year 1995–2016."
They state that people younger than 10 and older than 39 are more likely to be killed by dogs and male victims are overpresented in certain age groups and regions.
They mention that research by other scientists utilizing media reports, legal proceedings, and surveys has already shed some light on the contexts of these fatal incidents.
The authors advocate for further research and the establishment of a national reporting system on dog bites and attacks and recommend utilizing a multidisciplinary approach to better understand and prevent such incidents in the future.
[37] The most recent study of the epidemiology of fatal dog bites in the United States was published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) in 2013.
Six states (Texas, California, Florida, Illinois, Georgia and North Carolina) accounted for 37% of the reported cases (but they also compose 36% of the US population).
[16] At the time of the study, some of the limitations included the lack of information regarding many important factors about the reported attacks, such as the activity that was taking place at the time, whether or not it was provoked, a positive identification of the dog's breed, size and whether it was neutered or spayed, the health of the dog and victim, location of the wounds and other relative information.
[16] A joint project between researchers in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), this study[39] published in 2000 evaluated 20 years (1979-1998) of fatalities by using 18-years of data collected previously for similar studies, newly identified data from media reports for 1997-1998, and a database from HSUS.
In the 20 years from 1979 to 1998, the breeds of dogs involved were as follows: Death-based approach (each breed counted only once per fatal incident): Pit bull-type 76; Rottweiler 44; German Shepherd 27; Husky-type 21; Malamute 15; Wolf-dog 14; Mixed-breed 12; Chow 11; Doberman 10; St. Bernard 8; Great Dane 7; Labrador 5; Akita 4; 3 each of Sled dog, Bulldog, Mastiff, Boxer, Collie; 2 each of Bullmastiff, Hound-type; 1 each of Retriever-type, Chesapeake Bay Retriever, West Highland Terrier, Terrier-type, Japanese Hunting Dog, Newfoundland, Coonhound, Sheepdog, Australian Shepherd, Rhodesian Ridgeback, Cocker Spaniel.
Dog-based approach (each dog counted, even in multi-dog fatal incidents): Pit bull-type 118; Rottweiler 67; Mixed-breed 47; German Shepherd 41; Chow 21; Husky-type 21; Malamute 16; Wolf-dog 15; Doberman 13; Great Dane 13; Sled-dog 12; Labrador 8; St. Bernard 8; Collie 6; Boxer 5; Mastiff 5; Akita 4; Bulldog 3; Australian Shepherd 3; Bullmastiff 2; Hound-type 2; and 1 each of Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Cocker Spaniel, Coonhound, Japanese Hunting Dog, Newfoundland, Retriever-type, Rhodesian Ridgeback, Sheepdog, Terrier-type, West Highland Terrier.
Summary of some of the findings: The first epidemiological study of dog-bite fatalities in the United States was conducted by an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 1977.