THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 10, 1994                    TAG: 9406100691 
SECTION: LOCAL                     PAGE: D1    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: GUY FRIDDELL 
DATELINE: 940610                                 LENGTH: Medium 

COULD DOG STUDY'S BARK BE WORSE THAN ITS BITE?

Eight collies were among biters and only one was among nonbiters in the study.

{REST} Whenever something disturbing arises in the dog world, I seek the consolation of Pat and Mary Adams-Lackey who know more about dogs than the dogs do.

Nor did my colleague Pat fail me this time. Without even having a chance to check with Mary, Pat said: ``If eight of the nine collies in the neighborhoods surveyed are among the biters, those are mean neighborhoods where the people probably bite, too.''

Stay away from them!

My cousin, when we were 10, had three collies, all large, two frolicsome, and one, the alpha collie, so dignified he could have been a poster dog.

We pummeled those collies and pulled their ears and tails and rode them, and all they did was grin and look agreeable.

At an informal family reunion one Sunday, attended by the three collies, everybody was saying what he or she would choose to be in case reincarnation set in.

My mother's oldest sister, Mamie, after all others had spoken, said she would like to come back as a beautiful collie.

Ever since then, every time I see a collie, especially if it is a particularly striking one, I have been careful to pat it and hug it and ask how things are going, old girl, and give her a treat, just in case.

You never know, do you?

I find it difficult to accept the idea of German shepherds, seeing all the good work they do, biting anybody. I'm skeptical also of the finding that chow chows are among the foremost biters.

In childhood, there was only one chow in the neighborhood, which covered half of the known world.

We gave that chow a wide berth because it had a purple tongue.

Joey Arguenot, who had been in three states, said that if a chow bit you, your own tongue would turn purple.

No one took it seriously, but neither did anyone care to test it.

My colleague Pat was contemptuous of any study that offered a sampling of only 178 first-time biters and 178 nonbiting dogs from the same Denver neighborhoods.

There are national studies looking at thousands of dog bites, he noted.

By themselves the statistics are suspect. The researchers should have investigated the incidents and talked with those bitten as well as bystanders who were witnesses.

What this newspaper ought to do is send Pat and me out to Denver to interview the dogs.

I'd like to talk to the collies, especially those with dark, soulful eyes.

My Aunt Mamie would never bite or even bark at anybody.

Does my saying that shock you? I can hear her laughing. by CNB