BSL Does it work?

Breed specific will not work, pit bulls are blamed unfairly because any dog can be dangerous, and it is the irresponsible owners who are to be blamed, and not the dog.

Written by: Susan Troiano

There are approximately 4.5 million people who have been bitten each year by dogs from all breeds. Pit Bulls are blamed unfairly in many of the dog bites in which not all dog bites are reported. Dogs are not born mean and all dogs bite. Malcolm Gladwell wrote an article for The New Yorker, February 6, 2006 “The Troublemaker, what a Pit Bull can teach us from profiling” He tells us “Of course, not all pit bulls are dangerous. Most don't bite anyone.” He gives a classic example about a Frenchwoman that was so badly mauled that she was given the world's first face transplant of all dogs, a Labrador retriever.

First, we must understand about dogs. When a dog attacks, we often say “This happened out of the blue” or “He turned on us for no reason.” Dogs in general just do not attack humans for no reason. There is usually a reason why dogs attack, and we didn’t pay attention to the signs. Much like when people kill, there is always a reason. Ryan O’Meara, K-9 magazine wrote an article on “The Anatomy of a Dog Attack” to give a better understanding of why a dog may attack. In addition, dogs that are chained up 24/7 without being walked, socialized, fed properly, and are abused. Once the dog breaks loose from their chain, they can see anyone or another animal as a prey. A dog that has not been socialized with other humans or animals could attack. One thing that may not have changed is the number of people who have been killed by dogs. If there is more of a problem with pit bulls it doesn’t necessarily mean that the dogs have become more dangerous but the fact there are more pit bulls.

Breed Specific Legislation discriminates mostly the American Pit Bull Terrier, the Staffordshire terrier, other Pit Bull mixes because we can put some blame on the Pit Bull Paparazzi along with irresponsible owners. It is not often that the other breeds make in the paper that have bitten people. The media plays a big part in damaging our beloved dog’s reputation by not reporting proper facts about an attack. This breed is the most misunderstood, abused, put-to-sleep, used in dog-fighting and often not identified properly. Everyone discriminates the dog, jumps on the band wagon, not allowing these dogs anywhere, and many end up in the shelters, at our rescuers, being foster or put-to-sleep because people fail to come up with a solution, and are too quick to kill these dogs in an effort to fix the problem properly. We created the problem, and the dogs pay for our mistakes. Many experts have stood before court hearings fighting for these dogs, and in the end, legislation will not help in the process of educating the public, and even to the dog owners that need help in training these dogs. For those that do own Pit Bulls have been fighting hard to keep their dogs by being responsible by training their dog with proper manners and socialism. Many have resorted to obtaining for the Good Canine Citizenship reward.

To know if breed specific legislation (BSL) works we need to know what it is. Breed specific legislation is an ordinance that is passed by our legislative directing to a specific breed(s) of dogs that is classified as “dangerous dogs” and therefore, have restrictions against them. There are about fourteen (14) different types of breeds that are considered dangerous. For those that have a “dangerous dog” should be aware of ordinances in their area that can affect you, and your dog that could cost the dog’s life. It is said that in each state, and whichever town in that state can make up their own restrictions or laws concerning BSL. Breed specific legislation will require identifying each dog through DNA. However, this can amount to a lot of money. Their solution is euthanize any dog that “looks” like a Pit Bull without even finding if the dog is American Pit Bull Terrier, Am Staffordshire or, Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Many people have mistaken what a Pit Bull looks like by relying on visual assessment. Test yourself to see if you can find the American Pit Bull Terrier?

Many studies of breed specific legislation have come to the same conclusion, and that is dog bites have not decreased in the area that it is banned. The actual rate of dog bites has remained the same over the years. Legislations goal was to reduce dog bites, and it is clear that this ban does very little in protecting the public from dog bite.

Denver, Colorado

Denver, Colorado has had a pit bull ban for 20 years, and animal advocates have been fighting this ban for years. Denver has killed over 3,500 pit bulls, and recently some leaked photos of all the pit bulls were euthanized. Studies have shown for example that firearms killed over 30,000 people in the United States in 2006. The average dog kills about 23 people in a year. Six people have been killed by pit bulls. Denver has not produced any evidence if this ordnance actually works. Since the ban no fatal attacks have happened by Pit Bulls but from a Chow mix dog.

Animal control officials do not know how many Pit Bulls are still in Denver but one thing they do know is that the Pit Bulls do not lead the pack when it come to dog bites in the area. Data shows by the Colorado Association of Animal Control Officers that Labrador retriever are likely to bite. Does this mean that the more popular the dog is the more likely the dog will bite? If so, accordingly to Michaela DeGraw, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Veterinary Medical Association has indicated that Labradors are more likely to bite, and they are not on the ban list.

The Netherlands

For 15 years, the Dutch government lifted the ban on pit bulls in June 2008. Studies showed that dog bites continued to rise. The government is looking in to the behavior of dogs instead of the breed.

The United Kingdom

The United Kingdom dangerous dog act 1991 studies have shown that from 1997 to 2007 they have had 50% increase dog bites along with several dog bite fatalities. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals said this breed specific legislation never worked. The organization noticed it had made matters worse, and that criminal were intentionally crossbreeding and training vicious mongrels. This ban has failed because it did not address the management of the dog by the owner.

Cathie Dettmar, In Dog News (USA), September 2002 written an article “The German Situation A Berlin Court Decision” she had stated that the judges were well informed with all facts, and evident from both sides, however; the judges did not see an ordinance as a way to protect the people and that a law had to be made. In addition, one cannot ban a breed because a mistake of one dog. There were two studies presented as evidence from the Veterinary School, Hanover, Germany. The school had tested over 500 dog for a temperament test and only 7 dogs failed and was from the second category that they have listed as dangerous dog, and that being mainly Rottweiler’s and Dobermans. Category I dogs are bull terrier, American Staffordshire, and Pit Bull in which ranked very good to excellent. The bull terrier ranked at the bottom. A top German ethologin Dr. Feddersen-Petersen tested 207 dogs from both categories and only one failed.

Spain

Aragon, Spain had passed the Dangerous Animals Act in 2000 by placing a restriction on nine breeds of dogs. During a five year period, and before “dangerous animal act” was passed in 1995-1999 the Aragon health department studied dog bites reports, and have found that there were no difference in the number of dog bites before, and after the dangerous animals act was passed. In addition, they learned that the most popular breed was responsible for most of the dog bites and these dogs were not on the breed specific legislation. This led scientist to demine that breed specific did not work.

Maryland

Prince George County, Maryland had a pit bull ban in 1996. During this time, a task force set out in 2003 to determine if the ban benefit the public safety. This task force concluded that it could not determine that the ban protected the public.

Aurora, Colorado

In 2005 several cities in Colorado, including Aurora have passed this ban. It has been determined that the bites have fluctuated over the years. Aurora’s report had changed the way they compared how they determined the statistics of dog bites. Between the years of 2006-2007 Aurora, determined that 90% of severe bites were from dogs not on the restricted breed list.

Studies on breed specific legislation lead to the same conclusion that breed banning certain dogs did not increase the safety of the community and that statistics have shown that dog bites have remain the same rate each year. It is clear that breed specific legislation does very little to protect the public from dog bites, and have come to the conclusion that all dogs bite no matter what breed the dog is. Unfortunately, the history of the American Pit Bull Terrier has lots to do with fighting that began in the British Isles for hundreds of years. People could not get enough of these events to watch the dogs fight bulls, bears, lions, monkeys, and other dogs. In 1835 there was a public outcry against animal cruelty and soon England outlawed bull-baiting, dog-fighting, and other blood sport.

American Pit Bulls or any other “dangerous dogs” are not bad dogs, they may have bad owners. American Pit Bulls are high energy dogs that need plenty of exercise and socialization skills. The American Pit Bull Terrier love people and this makes them easily trainable as they dedicate themselves to you. These dogs are not human aggressive but can be animal aggressive in which one should not mistaken the difference between the two. All dogs have natural hunting drives, and some are stronger than others. This does not mean that any breed is bad for their animal instinct after all; if man was not here on earth animals have to fend for themselves. The APBT rank in 82% in the temperament tests; this means that there is a 10 part test that measures a dog’s reaction around strangers, noises, sights, and unusual footing. In addition, the dogs self protective behavior and the potential to be aggressive is assessed.

Some APBT, and mixed pit have done badly. However, there are other dangerous dogs that do not attract the media’s attention as the Pit Bulls do. Golden Retrievers, Labradors, Chows, and many other breeds are just as dangerous, and yet people do not think these dogs can attack or become bad dogs. In reality, any dog, no matter what the breed is can attack. The Doberman Pitcher got a bad rap, and then, it became the German Sheppard, next was the Rottweiler’s, and the list goes on. Any dog that has been abused, chained, or trained to attack people is done so by the irresponsible person who caused this behavior. These are the very people who need to be punished and not the dog. By not raising a child in a healthy environment that child could grow up being bad and this is the same for a dog.

To single out a specific breed is dog profiling just as the same as racial profiling of people. We have many good people and bad people in this world from all walks of life. People use Pit Bull for all the wrong reasons, and these are the irresponsible owners that give the dog a bad name. No wonder the vast majority of people see the Pit Bulls being vicious dogs.

When the society had issues with other “dangerous dogs” the media did not go to lengths to sabotage those dogs. Why are the media and those against the American Pit Bull Terriers so focused in trying to band these dogs or anything of the dogs that may look like Pit Bulls? The media does not properly identifying the Pit Bull Terrier, and should the attack be of different bread they will not make corrections to inform the public that the dog attack was from another breed. Banning a particular breed will not make any difference to the issue of the irresponsible and bad people. By banning Pit Bulls another breed will take their place, and the vicious cycle will only continue. We need to keep educating the public, and the legislators about Pit Bulls by learning about the true nature of any dog, and stop blaming the dogs for bad behavior, and find solutions to the problem. Making realistic solutions instead of euthanizing these dogs is not the solution or not allowing shelters to accept Pit Bulls into shelters is discrimination. In addition, many shelters do not allow the dogs to be adopted out, and do not give the dogs a fighting chance is so wrong. By euthanizing Pit Bulls or any dangerous dogs by reducing the population is not the solution to the problem. If discrimination in the human race is illegal then, discriminating a breed of dogs should be the same.