Harrogate dog trainer "not surprised" by rise in attacks
Our #TakeTheLead investigation has found hospitals treat three children everyday who have been bitten
Researchers are trying to work out why the number of people being injured in dog attacks has doubled in the last 25 years.
It comes as we continue to investigate the issue following a number of deaths this year alone.
Figures show hospitals in England treated close to nine thousand people who'd been involved in dog attacks last year.
READ: Hospitals treat three children for dog attacks every day
That's more than twice the rate people were being admitted in 1998 - with the rise driven predominantly by an increase on bites on adults.
Attacks on children remain high - but numbers are more steady.
"Too many owners treat their dogs like children"
Craig Rice runs the Dog Training company in Harrogate. He says owners aren't need to seek professional help if their dog shows any sign of aggression. He also says there is a lot of misinformation online: "A lot of things come from social media, most of the popular people on social media to do with dogs aren't very experienced, they just cropped up over Covid and shouted at the camera a lot about what people should do with their dogs and a lot of the time it's very dangerous information."
We asked why there has been a rise in the number of attacks: "There has been a definite shift in how owners look at dogs in recent years, definitely a humanisation of dogs, a lot of people have dogs instead of children now, unfortunately they treat them like children."