@article{ref1,
title="The experience of dog bites: A survey of veterinary science and veterinary nursing students",
journal="New Zealand veterinary journal",
year="2006",
author="Wake, A. A. F. and Stafford, K. J. and Minot, E. O.",
volume="54",
number="3",
pages="141-146",
abstract="AIM: To investigate the circumstances of dogs biting people in New Zealand. METHODS: Veterinary science and veterinary nursing students enrolled at Massey University in 2003 completed a questionnaire detailing their lifetime experience of dog bites and their opinions of dog control legislation. RESULTS: The response rate was 100%. There were 228 completed responses to the survey, and 87 (38%) respondents had been bitten by a dog. Most bites caused minor injury, but 17 (20%) required medical attention. Male respondents were more likely to have been bitten. The highest proportion of respondents (27; 31%) had been bitten while between 6 and 10 years of age, and the hand was the part of the body most often injured. Eighteen (21%) bites involved a stranger's dog, but most bites were by a dog known to the victim. Respondents from rural areas were three times more likely to have been bitten than city dwellers. The victim's home was the place where most (31; 36%) bites occurred. Male dogs were responsible for a larger proportion of bites (38; 44%) than females (24; 28%); respondents were unsure about the sex of the remainder of the dogs (25; 29%) that bit them. Protecting the home, play, accidents, rough handling and pain were identified as the common reasons for dogs to bite. Most (46; 52%) respondents did not believe legislation could have prevented their bite. Only four (5%) bites were reported to authorities. CONCLUSION: Rural dwellers, people with more experience of dogs, children &lt;11 years of age, and male respondents were bitten by dogs most often. Only legislation relating to the fencing of dog owners' properties may have prevented a reasonable proportion (25; 29%) of the bites reported here.  <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0048-0169",
doi="",
url="http://dx.doi.org/"
}