Dogs may look cute but smaller dogs such as Jack Russell terriers, malteses, shih tzus and others can wallop in their bites. Since the start of last year, they have been responsible for just under half the 119 reported incidents of dog bites. Bigger dogs such as German Shepherds, rottweilers, bull dogs and siberian huskies accounted for less than 20 percent of the cases. The porpotion have been in the rise the last few years.Small dogs have been responsible for 35 percent of the 236 incidents of people being bitten by dogs from 2005 till now, according to statistics from the Agriculture Food and and Veterinary Authority (AVA).Small dog bites accounted for 28 percent of bite incidents in 2005, 32 percent in 2006, 45 percent last year and 42 percent so far this year. Bigger dogs accounted for just over 20 percent from 2005 till now. In the wake of new rules being proposed by AVA to make training compulsory for rottweilers, some professional trainers and enthusiasts are suggesting that it be made compulsory for other dogs, including small dogs. The AVA's recomdations on obedient training for rottweilers are based on recent spate of "vicious attack " by rottweilers on people and other dogs both here and other countries. 53,000 licensed dogs in Singapore, or about 40,000. If this is right, then they actually bite less than their population would suggest. There are about 323 licensed rottweilers and 300 German shepherds. While the number of biting incidents involving small dogs has been going up, such bite are far less likely to cause the damage that a bite a medium-sized or a big dog would cause.

I felt that sending small dogs and larger dogs to obedient training is a must, because then the dog will listen to its owner's command and won't lose control and hurt people.