The national dog database reveals some interesting facts about dangerous dogs

Friday, 15 April 2016

Two little Chihuahuas have been classified as dangerous in the National Dog Database.

There are three types of registered dogs in New Zealand.

First, there are 585 dogs classified as 'dangerous'. Those dogs have killed, injured or endangered someone.

Then, there are 8232 (1.5 per cent) dogs described as 'menacing'. These dogs can behave in a threatening way but haven't killed, injured or endangered a person.

The rest - 98.4 per cent of registered dogs - are just plain old registered dogs.

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Just over half (50.6 per cent) of the dogs counted as dangerous are labelled 'cross-breeds', so it's hard to say exactly what kind of dog they are.

American Pit Bull Terriers are by far the most likely to be classified menacing, but that's not surprising since they are automatically classified as such. There are 2434 of these dogs counted as menacing.

Intriguingly, some tiny or apparently timid dog breeds have been classified as dangerous or menacing. There are dangerous chihuahuas in Lower Hutt and Wanganui and a dangerous bichon frise somewhere in Dunedin City.

WHERE ARE THEY?

Kawerau and Wairoa districts have the highest per capita rates of dangerous or menacing dogs in the country, based on the database.

Tiny Kawerau District (population 6600) in the Bay of Plenty has 83 menacing dogs and three dangerous dogs - equivalent to 12.9 dangerous or menacing dogs for every 1000 people.

The next highest rate is in Wairoa District. It also has a relatively small population of 8180 people and 61 dangerous or menacing dogs, equivalent to 7.46 per 1000 people.

Nationally there are 1.9 dangerous or menacing dogs per 1000 people.

Of course, it's possible (probable, even) that there are parts of New Zealand with levels of dangerous dogs similar to, or worse than, Kawerau. The data on the national dog database is classified by council region. The entire Auckland region of more than 1.5 million people is one geographic grouping in the database. So there's likely to be concentrations of dangerous or menacing dogs within different parts of the Auckland region.

BIG PICTURE

Generally, rates of dangerous or menacing dogs are higher in the central North Island. This is reflected in the map, where a band of red (indicating higher rates of dangerous and menacing dogs) stretches from South Taranaki in the west to Gisborne in the east.

There are also pockets of red further south in Horowhenua, Masterton and Porirua, while the Buller, Grey and Waimate districts have the highest rates in the South Island.

The major cities tend to have below average rates. In Wellington, there are only 0.54 dangerous or menacing dogs per 1000 people.

The database represents a snapshot of the dog registrations as of May 31, 2015.