Stubbydog: Getting Hit by a Car to Avoid a Dog

"Scientists say that some [...] instinctive fears are natural and hard-wired. They come from hundreds of thousands of years of experience as a prey species, when we were being hunted by lions and leopards and needed to react quickly to the sight of a snake or spider right in front of us. But we’re not equipped to respond effectively to less visible threats. So Al Gore tells you about CO2 emissions, your adrenaline doesn’t start pumping the same way it did when Jessica Kohn caught sight of that dog coming toward her.

“I just saw him and reacted,” Kohn said. “If I’d stopped to think for a moment, I’d have at least looked to see if there was traffic on the road. But I saw the dog and I panicked.” 

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Some dogs may be more likely to bite than others. But it has little or nothing to do with their breed.

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So, how likely are you to actually be bitten by a pit bull? With about 64 million dogs currently in the United States, there are approximately 15 to 20 dog bite fatalities per year. In other words, the risk is vanishingly small.
“Dogs can be dangerous,” said Janis Bradley, author of “Dogs Bite, but Balloons and Slippers Are More Dangerous.” “And they’re more dangerous to children than to adults. Not as dangerous, of course, as kitchen utensils, drapery cords, five-gallon buckets, horses or cows. Not nearly as dangerous as playground equipment, swimming pools, skateboards or bikes. They’re not as remotely as dangerous as family, friends, guns or cars.” "

Read the full article here.