Talk:Fatal dog attacks in the United States

Guidelines for Fatal Dog Attacks in the United States
Incidents to include
Please use these guidelines to determine which fatalities should be included in the article's list. The fatality has 1) coverage in a major newspaper, a national newspaper, or a national magazine 2) media coverage outside the immediate area of the incident 3) impacted laws or legislation 4) involved famous or notable people
Standardization of breed names
Please use these guidelines to help keep breed names accurate, consistent, and organized. Currently, the main page contains a variety of different formats (capitalizations, hyphenations, and sometimes spellings) for breed names. For example, the Labrador Retriever is capitalized in a variety of ways including: Labrador Retriever, Labrador retriever, and labrador retriever. While there are a number of different suggested ways to capitalize and hyphenate breed names, the recommendation of this guideline is to follow the format that the American Kennel Club and United Kennel Club use which is to capitalize all names in a breed name, for example: Labrador Retriever. In the case of mixed breeds, the format is also to capitalize all breed names but not the word "mix", for example: Labrador Retriever-Husky mix. In the case of pit bulls, since "pit bull" is not a proper breed but a dog type (a category of dog consisting of at least 4 breeds as listed on the pit bull Wikipedia page), the proper way to capitalize pit bull is with both names lowercase: pit bull (unless it is the first word in a sentence, or it appears as the beginning word(s) in a list/column, then it would be: Pit bull and "bull" should not be capitalized). If one of the proper pit bull breeds is identified, then all of the names in the breed name would be capitalized (like any other proper breed), for example: American Staffordshire Terrier, American Pit Bull Terrier, and Staffordshire Bull Terrier. If the number of dogs involved in an attack is more than one, for consistency it should be listed as: Breed (2). For example, if two German Shepherd dogs are involved, then it would be listed as German Shepherds (2).

Examples of breed name format, as recommended:

  • Labrador Retriever
  • Labrador Retriever mix
  • Labrador Retriever-Husky mix
  • Doberman Pinscher
  • American Pit Bull Terrier
  • pit bull
  • pit bull mix
  • mixed breed dog
  • pack of dogs

Examples if two dogs of the same or mixed breed are involved in an attack, as recommended:

  • German Shepherds (2)
  • Doberman Pinschers (2)
  • mixed breed dogs (2)
  • pack of dogs (2)
  • pit bulls (2)
  • Doberman Pinschers (2), German Shepherds (2), pit bull mixes (2)
Identification of breed(s) involved in incidents
The dog breed(s) or dog type(s) identified in the "Category of Dog" field should match the breed information provided in a news or law enforcement source. In the case that there is a variance (or disagreement) of the breed(s) involved in one or several news sources, then both breeds should be listed in the "Category of Dog" field. For example, if one news source describes the dog as a "mixed breed dog" and another news source describes the dog as a "Mastiff", then the "Category of Dog" field should include both descriptions as: "Mastiff or mixed breed dog". In this case, both news sources should be provided as references - one source to substantiate the breed as a "Mastiff" and the second source to substantiate the breed as a "mixed breed dog".

Note: In the case that a dog's description includes multiple (three more) breeds, then by definition it is a mixed breed dog and should be listed as a "mixed breed dog" in the "Category" field; however, the various breeds (if known) can be described in the "Circumstances" field.

After investigation, sometimes there is a final issued statement about the breed. In such an instance, the breed column should be corrected. The various earlier mentioned breeds MAY be noted in the circumstances, but should NOT be left remaining in the breed column.

April Loveless

April died in January 1989. Initially, her parents were charged & convicted of murder, despite insisting 3 dogs were involved (or potentially just one of the three?). Their conviction was overturned when new evidence revealed that April had indeed died of injuries inflicted by a dog/s. Does this case count, or is it still contentious?

Nix D

We need to be able to cite a source for that. --Tryptofish (talk) 18:36, 26 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
April, sometimes went by the surname of 'Tucker'. Her mothers previous surname. There are various sources. The Texas Tribune, Seattle Times, 7 August 1993, Austin American-Statesman, September 2012. The parents were initially convicted of murder. The verdict was quashed, after it was found evidence was not entered or even withheld, with regard to an attack by 3 dogs. Nix D (talk) 15:04, 27 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Jason Walter

A post referencing this attack, of 26th August 2010 in La Salle, Illinois was removed. However, it seems completely verifiable? Wondering why it was erased? Nix D

Recent additions

@Bastobasto please see the guidelines at the top of the page. To prevent this list from being indiscriminate there is a requirement for attacks to have received national coverage. In addition womenraisedvoices.org is not a reliable source. I've left 2 entries you added as I found coverage in the La Times but not for one of the others. Traumnovelle (talk) 23:03, 26 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Womenraisedvoices is a sufficiently reliable provisory source considering the context (a minor detail; the site page was related to the memorial).
My goal was to quickly give a hand here while working on the Canadian page, with the expectation that it would later be adequately sourced by others (seeing how neglected this page is). I will refrain from doing so, and will instead work on it later. Thanks. Bastobasto (talk) 00:15, 27 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]
>with the expectation that it would later be adequately sourced by others
You shouldn't expect others to do that for you. When it comes to sourcing content the onus is on he who added the content. Just take a quick search to look for national coverage, the LA times articles were the first page results when I searched for the name and 'dog attack'. Traumnovelle (talk) 00:20, 27 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]
For what it's worth, I agree with Traumnovelle, and I feel that we should avoid making this an indiscriminate list. --Tryptofish (talk) 18:20, 27 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Except I did source the content - just not with sources that fit your criteria. Don't act like I just posted a fully unsourced attack and thus it was my responsability - that's silly. It's still a contribution to the page - my sources still showed that dog attacks happened and give their key features that can then be used for further research. You're just pointlessly restricting pragmatic additions of legitimate yet not fully sourced content to the page for bureaucratic considerations now. In any case, this is all irrelevant, really. Bastobasto (talk) 18:32, 25 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
No it isn't. The sourcing requirements are to prevent the list being an indiscriminate (and ultimately cherry-picked) list. With an average of 1 death per week if you had this article include every case going back to the 1950s you would end up with over 3,000 entries, clearly not tenable. Traumnovelle (talk) 20:06, 25 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
allikas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Fatal_dog_attacks_in_the_United_States