Breed Specific Legislation
Think a breed ban will make your community safer?
It won’t.
Some people think that specific breeds – like pit bulls – are more likely to be aggressive and cause injury. Citing public safety, they call for Breed Specific Legislation (BSL) where certain breeds are muzzled, restricted, or banned. This is almost always ineffective, and here’s why.
There is no way to conclusively identify a dog’s breed.
Unless you have access to a dog’s pedigree or invest in DNA testing, you are relying on visual clues like body shape and coat to identify a breed. A recent study in the Journal of Applied Welfare Science showed that even trained shelter workers are wrong up to 87.5% of the time when they guess at a dog’s breed.Try for yourself:
http://www.pitbullsontheweb.com/petbull/findpit.html
There are factors that make dog bites more likely. Breed isn’t one of them.
The Coalition for Living Safely With Dogs and the Colorado Veterinary Medical Association joined together to conduct a two-year study about how likely any given dog is to bite. They concluded that all dogs bite, and it was the circumstances around the incident – usually an unrestrained, uncontrolled dog running loose – that caused the bite.
A study by the Centre for Disease Control in 2000 had this to say:
“Several interacting factors affect a dog’s propensity to bite, including heredity, sex, early experience, socialization and training, health (medical and behavioral), reproductive status, quality of ownership and supervision, and victim behavior. For example, a study in Denver of medically-attended dog bites in 1991 suggested that male dogs are 6.2 times more likely to bite than female dogs, sexually intact dogs are 2.6 times more likely to bite than neutered dogs, and chained dogs are 2.8 times more likely to bite than unchained dogs.”
Breed Specific Legislation harms responsible owners.
Aggressive dogs are often troubled dogs: running loose, tethered in a yard, undersocialized, understimulated, and/or trained to be guard or fighting dogs.
Irresponsible owners don’t generally license or train their dogs. And when BSL is put into effect, statistics show that they don’t comply, and their dogs continue to misbehave. Even if their dog is seized, another dog will soon take its place
On the other hand, a responsible owner will ensure his or her dog is trained, socialized, licensed, and cared-for. And these are not the dogs that bite or cause trouble. But when BSL comes into effect, this means that cherished, well-behaved dogs are subject to discriminatory laws – sometimes even death.
The bottom line? BSL doesn’t work. In places as diverse as the Netherlands, Italy, the UK and the United States, dog bites have continued and sometimes even increased under BSL: http://stopbsl.com/bsloverview/the-failure-to-improve-safety/
What does work?
Promoting responsible ownership and targeting behaviour – not breed – is the only proven way to reduce dog bites and make communities safer. This is known as “Dangerous Dog Legislation” and the City of Calgary has been a leader in its successful implementation. Dog bites have decreased from 200 in 2004, to 145 in 2008. It’s reached a point where bites are statistically non-existent in Calgary — just 0.14% of the city’s 100,000 dogs are culprits, by far the lowest bite-per-dog ratio in Canada.
http://www.calgarysun.com/news/columnists/michael_platt/2009/07/12/10104761-sun.html
HugABull Advocacy & Rescue Society does not support Breed Specific Legislation. Neither do organizations like the Canadian and American Kennel Clubs, the BC and Canadian Veterinary Associations, Humane Societies, the Centre for Disease Control, the SPCA and even Cesar Milan, the Dog Whisperer!
HugABull does support Dangerous Dog Legislation and initiatives that have proven to reduce dog bites, such as:
- Mandatory leashing of dogs in public or shared areas
- Spay and neuter incentives
- Laws against tethering, chaining, or unreasonable restraint of dogs
- Encouraging citizens to report owners who disregard city bylaws (to Animal Control) or other regulations (e.g., strata or private property rules).
Don’t believe everything you hear in the media!
Still have questions? Talk to your local Animal Control Officers, veterinarians, trainers, or rescue organizations – anyone knowledgeable about the breed. Anyone who has met a family pit bull has seen that they are a loyal, gentle dog that LOVES people. Contact HugABull (www.hugabull.com) for more information or to meet one of our “ambassadogs” for yourself!
Other resources
Pit bull bias in the media
http://nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/dog-bites/dog-bites-and-the-media
http://dogattacksyouneverhearabout.blogspot.com
BSL
http://www.animallawcoalition.com/breed-bans/article/556
Responsible Dog Ownership
http://www.doglegislationcouncilcanada.org
http://www.mothersagainstdogchaining.org
http://nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/dog-bites
Pit bull information