Bringing a dog into the family should wait until the children are of school age, and even then parents might want to think twice about a Doberman pinscher or German shepherd, according to a study published Monday.

school age 学龄　Doberman 一种德国种的短毛猎犬　shepherd 牧羊犬

A review of dog bites treated at a trauma¹ center in Austria over a 10-year period found that children aged² 1 and younger ran the highest risk of being bitten though anyone up to age 10 runs a higher risk than in later years.

treat v. 治疗　trauma n. 外伤

"Parents should postpone³ purchase of a dog until children are of school age," the study said. Children generally enter primary schools at age 5 or 6.

"Throughout evolution dogs have lived in packs with a specific order of dominance. In view of this rigorous hierarchical system in a pack, dogs may regard newborns as well as toddlers as subordinate," the study added.

evolution n. 进化　pack n. 一群　dominance n. 统治　rigorous adj. 严格的
hierarchical adj. 分等级的　newborn n. 婴儿　toddler n. 初学走路的孩子

But "school-aged children can be trained successfully in precautionary behavior when approaching a dog," concluded the study from the Department of Pediatric Surgery at the Medical University of Graz.

precautionary adj. 预防的　pediatric adj. 小儿科的　surgery n. 外科

The researchers said they found that the relative risk of being bitten by a German shepherd or a Doberman was about five times higher than for a Labrador retriever or a mixed breed.

Labrador 拉不拉多猎狗　retriever n. 能把猎物找回来的猎狗的一种

Among the dog bites covered in the study none involved fighting breeds such as pit bulls, perhaps because of increased public awareness⁴ of their aggressiveness, the report added.

aggressiveness n. 侵略性

The study was published in the March issue of "Pediatrics," the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

　　中文：

　　奥地利儿科专家最近警告说，父母应当等孩子到达上学年龄后再给孩子买狗，而且就算孩子已经到了学龄，如果你想买的是一只德国猎犬或是德国牧羊犬的话，最好还是再考虑考虑，因为这些大型狗很有可能会攻击你的孩子。

　　据路透社3月6日报道，此项研究是由奥地利格拉茨医药大学儿科医学部的专家组织进行的，研究报告刊登在最新一期的美国儿科学会的期刊上。专家们对奥地利一家外伤治疗中心近10年来诊治过的被狗咬伤的病例进行了统计。统计结果显示，1岁或年龄更小的婴儿是最容易被狗咬的。报告建议父母们应尽量推迟买狗的日期，直到孩子们达到学龄，也就是大约5、6岁的样子，因为这个年龄的孩子可以学会在接近狗时会采取预防性动作。

　　报告还说，狗在整个演化过程中始终是群居动物，狗群中存在特有的等级统治秩序。由于狗群这种森严的等级系统，狗很可能把新生婴儿或初学走路的孩子当成是它的下属。研究人员发现，被德国猎犬或德国牧羊犬咬伤的几率要比被拉布拉多猎犬或其他杂种狗咬伤的几率高出5倍。