Aggressive Dogs Don’t Bite (Or Do They?)
If you rank dog traits by reported bites, the “dangerous” breeds are nowhere near the top. The biters are the confident, friendly, trainable family dogs. This exploratory analysis walks into that trap on purpose — and then explains the way out.
Full analysis: dog-traits-vs-bites.ipynb
What We Did
Using reported bite cases from Louisville, KY joined with breed character profiles, we normalized ~150 messy breed name variants, linked every trait to the breeds that carry it, and ranked traits by the average number of reported bites.
The Headline Result
Traits with the most reported bites
Traits with the least reported bites
Confident, friendly, trainable dogs “bite the most.” Gentle and social dogs “bite the least.” The scary breeds are nowhere to be seen.
The Catch: Base Rates
That reading is wrong — instructively wrong:
- These are counts, not rates. Labradors and German Shepherds are among the most popular dogs in America; more dogs means more encounters and more reports, regardless of temperament.
- The denominator is missing. Judging a breed’s propensity to bite needs bites per registered dog, which this dataset cannot provide.
- Selection effects cut the other way. Breeds with an aggressive reputation are rarer, more regulated, and handled more cautiously — all of which suppresses their raw counts.
What the Data Does Support
- Most reported bites come from popular, family-friendly breeds — a friendly reputation is no reason to skip supervision, especially around children.
- Raw bite counts are dominated by exposure, not temperament. Any “dangerous breeds” ranking built on them deserves suspicion — in either direction.
So: aggressive dogs don’t bite… exactly as much as naive counting suggests. The full notebook shows every step, including the trap.