Dog bites to children cause significant welfare harm to both children and dogs. Evidence-based prevention addresses risk factors and teaches children safe behavior around dogs.
Dog aggression toward children causes welfare harm to both the child victim and the dog. Dogs that bite children are frequently euthanized even when the incident was precipitated by child behavior that the dog warned against repeatedly before biting. The welfare of the dog is best protected by preventing bite incidents through adult supervision, early behavior intervention when warning signs appear, and child education about safe dog interaction. The welfare case against breed-specific legislation is strong: targeting breeds rather than individual behavior history fails to prevent bites while condemning welfare-neutral dogs based on appearance alone.