From Watts Up With That?

Essay by Eric Worrall

Whenever I think alarmists have hit peak stupid, someone always manages to set a new milestone.

Dogs could become more ‘hostile’ to humans as the planet heats up

By Charlotte Elton  •  Updated: 21/06/2023 – 12:58

Dog attacks could become more common on hot and polluted days, troubling new research has warned.

Climate change could make dog bites more common, new research has warned.

Dogs are 11 per cent more likely to attack people on days with higher UV levels, according to Harvard Medical School research.

Previous studies have linked high temperatures and air pollution to increased aggression in humans, rats, and monkeys.

Now, it appears warming weather could turn ‘man’s best friend’ against us.

“Dogs, or the interactions between humans and dogs, are more hostile on hot, sunny, and smoggy days,” the study authors conclude.

…Read more: https://www.euronews.com/green/2023/06/19/dogs-could-become-more-hostile-to-humans-as-the-planet-heats-up

The abstract of the study;

The risk of being bitten by a dog is higher on hot, sunny, and smoggy days

• Tanujit Dey, 
• Antonella Zanobetti & 
• Clas Linnman 

Scientific Reports volume 13, Article number: 8749 (2023) Cite this article

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Abstract

Humans commit more violent crimes when temperature and air pollution is higher. Here, we investigate if also the day-to-day rates of dogs biting humans is influenced by environmental factors. 69,525 reports of dogs biting humans, sourced from public records on animal control requests and from ER records, were analyzed. The impact of temperature and air pollutants were evaluated with a zero-inflated Poisson generalized additive model, while controlling for regional and calendar effects. Exposure–response curves were used to assess the association between outcome and major exposure variables. We find that the rates of dogs biting humans increases with increasing temperature and ozone, but not PM_2.5 exposure. We also observed that higher UV irradiation levels were related to higher rats of dog bites. We conclude that dogs, or the interactions between humans and dogs, are more hostile on hot, sunny, and smoggy days, indicating that the societal burden of extreme heat and air pollution also includes the costs of animal aggression.Read more: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-35115-6

What is the heat hypothesis?

Hot years and serious and deadly assault: empirical tests of the heat hypothesis

C A Anderson ¹, B J Bushman, R W Groom

Affiliations expand

• PMID: 9418277
• DOI: 10.1037//0022-3514.73.6.1213

Abstract

Two archival studies examined the relation between year-to-year shifts in temperature and violent and property crime rates in the United States. Study 1 examined the relation between annual average temperature and crime rate in the years 1950-1995. As expected, a positive relation between temperature and serious and deadly assault was observed, even after time series, linear year, poverty, and population age effects were statistically controlled. Property crime was unrelated to annual average temperature. Study 2 examined the relation between the average number of hot days (> or = 90 degrees F) and the size of the usual summer increase in violence for the years 1950-1995. As expected, a positive relation was observed between number of hot days and magnitude of the summer effect, even after time series and linear year effects were statistically controlled. For property crime, the summer effect was unrelated to number of hot days.Read more: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9418277/

Sadly the full study is paywalled. But in my opinion this study doesn’t pass the smell test.

If dogs were especially vicious in hot climates, nobody in hot climates would own dogs. But pretty much every house on my hot climate street owns dogs – they’re a great deterrent against home intruders and burglars, and great with kids.

A more likely explanation for any weather related difference in the rate of attacks is people are more likely to be enjoying the beach or parks on hot days, creating more opportunity for vicious dogs owned by stupid people to attack. Obviously anyone who owns a dog so vicious they’re at risk of attack should have it re-homed with someone who can handle it. But we know in practice, that doesn’t always happen.

As the owner of a couple of excitable, bouncy staffies, I can assure you that with normal dogs, all hot days do is make the dogs want to play ball more – but get tired quicker. Then 5 minutes later they’re up again, having totally forgotten how overheated they got.

I admit they sometimes give me hurt looks when I insist they wait until later in the day for their walk, until the molten pavement has cooled enough to re-solidify.

Take a close look at those strong jaws and huge mouths full of teeth – more than enough dog to convince most burglars to move on to their next prospective target. But with family and friends, they’re unfailingly our loyal, loving companions.

My lovely Staffy Ruby viciously attacking the lawn vac on a hot day.

Correction (EW): h/t Izaak – I inadvertently pasted in an old study on the heat hypothesis, rather than the latest study on dog bites. Both studies are now in the above article.