There were almost 4.5 million dog bites in the United States during 2012.Almost one in five of those people bitten – 885,000 – required medical attention.Between 2005 and 2012 there were 251 people in this country who were killed as the result of dog bites. Of those, 151 or 60 percent were killed by pit bulls even though the breed accounts for roughly one percent of the nation’s dog population. Next on the list is Rottweilers at 32 deaths or 13 percent of all dog bite fatalities.In 2012, four Californians died from dog bites.Some 27,000 of those bitten each year undergo reconstructive surgery.Those are all statistics gleaned from a rather neutral source – the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The Insurance Information Institute reports there were $497 million in payouts for dog bite claims in 2012, up from $413 million the previous year.