With the snow slowly melting into the crevices of the sidewalks, people are rather upset at all the dog poop they now find themselves trudging through. But we're much more concerned with being bitten by a dog: there were 3,609 bites recorded in the city last year, the highest annual number of dog bites on record according to the Health Department. And some of the most vicious bitches based on that data? Teeny-weeny Chihuahuas and Shih Tzus.
Altogether, the DOH told us that reported dog bites in NYC have declined greatly over the past decade, from a high of 5,519 in 2000. Unsurprisingly, pit bulls were the city's most bitey dog last year, with 815 nibbles, accounting for nearly a quarter of all bites. Rottweilers were next, but they were followed by tiny nippers Shih Tzus (who had only five less bites than the Rottweilers), Chihuahuas and standard poodles. Dr. E'Lise Christensen, an animal behaviorist at NYC Veterinary Specialists, thinks it has to do with the handbag-domain that small dogs are often forced into: "Small dogs may frequently be put in situations that are more provocative than, say, a Labrador is exposed to. For example, most people don't take their Labradors to Bloomingdale's." She calls it the "poor little rich dog" effect, or as we think of it, the Paris Hilton-effect.
Dog bites have been the cause of many lawsuits, have forced Martha Stewart to get stitches, and have even diverted airplanes. We're just surprised more people haven't bitten back at them.
Anthony Jerone, who runs a dog-training school in Queens, thinks that part of the reason the tiny dogs are unusually aggressive is that they don't have any concept of sizes: "Dogs don't know how big they are. Whether they are a 5-pound Chihuahua or a 100-pound Lab, they act out of instinct." As much as we love hanging out with dogs, all this biting talk makes us appreciate our cats even more. And you certainly can't play bowling laser cat with a dog:
