Megan Boger of La Belle, Pa., returned from shopping with her mother and ran into the yard to greet the family pet, a part-cocker mutt named Blaze. Seconds later, her mom, Elena Boger, heard a snap and then shrieks from three-year-old Megan. There was blood all over her face from tooth punctures under an eye and around her mouth, she recalls. Elena and her husband rushed their sobbing child to a local hospital. But the injuries were severe enough that the Bogers were sent to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, where a plastic surgeon stitched the gashes.

Little Megan is far from alone in having been the victim of a dog bite. According to a 1994 survey (the most recent) by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, some 4.7 million people were bitten by dogs. About 800,000 required medical treatment. Many bites are to children, and most are from family pets or familiar dogs, not strays.

Many bites are treated at home or in a doctor's office, and as a consequence are often not reported to authorities. Meanwhile, there is no ongoing national system for counting dog bites, says the CDC's Dr. Jeffrey Sack

„h Don't disturb a dog who is sleeping, eating or caring for puppies.

Carolyn Boatner of Signal Mountain, Tenn., a mother of four, had a child bitten as a toddler. "It taught me that you can't predict what kids will try or how any dog will react." Her dog, she says, is gentle and has never exhibited any tendency to bite. "But when my kids have friends over, I put her away because she's a hundred pounds. Why take a chance?"

In the excitement of picking out a new pet, many people underestimate how much time it takes to train it. Yet experts say any dog requires a continuing commitment to training if they're going to be under control around people.

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