Breed Specific Legislation in US

Hey ATS, just wondering how you all feel about breed specific legislation. From what I have read so far, BSL is an attempt to limit the ownership of particular dog breeds. In the past, these limits have included out right bans on certain breeds, forcing owners to place a muzzle on certain breeds, and not allowing certain breeds to go to off leash dog parks.

I recently adopted a pit bull pup, hoping to give him a loving home. He is now about a year old and is a wonderful dog. Every time he meets a new person, he showers them with love, and new dogs are met with the same enthusiasm. The pup has met a ton of children, and every time he acts like a perfect gentleman. He gives sloppy dog kisses, and follows the kids around the house like a bodyguard. I have seen these kids (family and friends children) hang off his ears, pull his tail and basically climb all over him. I cannot imagine anyone wanting to ban him from the local dog park, or requiring him to wear a muzzle. On more than one occasion I have had strangers come up to him, pet him and kiss his head. Every once in awhile, these same people will recoil in horror when I tell them he is a pit bull.

I have known quite a few pit bulls in my day, and have yet to meet one I would not trust. While I realize many less than reputable characters seek these dogs out to turn vicious, I fail to see why so many people seem to hate the breed. They have been referred to as the 'nanny breed' (because of the love they show children) and Roosevelt wanted the breed to be the mascot of America.

I will say this pup is very protective of our home. He barks at people he doesn't know, and recently forced a power company worker into one of the trees in our backyard. I ran outside when I heard him barking, and after a brief introduction the pup followed the guy around like he was a new best friend. I just hope the guy learned a valuable lesson about walking into someones fenced backyard without notice!

So what are your thoughts ATS? Are pit bulls evil, and deserving of such extreme measures, or should these problems be addressed on a case by case basis?

I would never fully trust a pitbull, it's like taking care of a bomb, except one feeds, pets, plays and cleans up after it. Some may never go off in their life time and with some it's just a matter of time before another animal or human sets it off and it eats their face off.

Here is an article on dog bites with lots of statistics.

Dog Bites

This is a quote from that article about half way down the page.

"The deadliest dogs
According to the Clifton study, pit bulls, Rottweilers, Presa Canarios and their mixes are responsible for 74% of attacks that were included in the study, 68% of the attacks upon children, 82% of the attacks upon adults, 65% of the deaths, and 68% of the maimings. In more than two-thirds of the cases included in the study, the life-threatening or fatal attack was apparently the first known dangerous behavior by the animal in question. Clifton states: "

The most important quote is that in 2/3s of the cases the life-threatening or fatal attack was apparently the first known dangerous behavior by that animal.

I would never have allowed one of those dogs around my kids when they were little.

Almost any dog can have a bad moment. Yet you rarely hear about a deadly attack by a dachshund.

BTW we were dog breeders, trainers, and competed in field trials for years. We love dogs.

It should be noted that we are talking about animals. It is difficult to consider that we should legislate non-humans as if they had human will.

I always suspected that the temperament of domesticated animals should be considered a primary liability of the owner. If you allow your animal to develop feral tendencies, you must be willing to accept the risk it presents.

I don't really think legislation is necessary, because I've seen tiny lap dogs behave in a manner that would get it put down if it were a pit bull. Instead its considered by many to be 'cute'. Sort of hypocritical, if you ask me.