Breed Specific Legislation (BLS) is not widely know to most people, but it is a topic most dog owners are accustomed to. Breed Specific Legislation is important for everyone to know for safety of themselves and the safety of the animal. BLS are regulations against specific breeds of dogs. It can be a highly controversial topic, many communities embrace the laws, some believe it is not effective, and others strongly dislike the laws. There have been a number of cases where it was helpful, but also cases where it does absolutely nothing.
Breed Specific Legistation began in the 1980’s, it started because there were a number of fatalities and injuries caused by dogs. According to Weiss (2006), “the majority of BSL is focused on breeds traditionally
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known as "dangerous," or those that have demonstrated particular propensities for aggression and violent behavior”. The breed that was the main reason of this legislation was pit-bull terriers. Different areas of the country will adjust the laws to fit their needs. For example towns in New Mexico they have a completely ban of any pit-bull and will euthanize any in their town. Breed Specific Legislation was originally against pit-bulls it is important to know what exactly a pit-bull is.
Pit-bulls were first bred in the early 1800, they were bred by an english nobleman. According to Hume (2010), “combine the strength of a bulldog and the gameness of a terrier, the muscular, strong- jawed pitbull was the perfect fighting machine.” There is flaw when using the legistional just on pit-bulls; when people just see a random dog they just think it is a pitbull; but it can be a mixed breed or a completely different dog (Rubin). Pit-bull is not one generic breed, within the pit-bull breed there are a few different types. Within the word “pit-bull” there are about 15 types of pit-bull terrier breeds. For an example the three most common ones are Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers, and Staffordshire Bull Terriers They all have similar features but they are not they same …show more content…
dog. There are other breeds that are affected by this legislation.
The most common one is pitbulls, but there are some that are not as obvious. For examples dogs that are included in the legislations are Rottweilers, Chow Chows, Mastiffs, and Presa Canarios. In the1970s the concern was over German Shepherds, and in the 1980s, Doberman Pinschers.
A big factor in BSL is who determines these laws. The laws have been made up by the state government, or individual communities. The way the legislations are enforced is in some places such as Salt Lake City, Utah or California; the decision would be up to the city manager, mayor, or animal control officer (Campbell 2009). Lots of the cities do not have any breed identification training and do not ask veterinarias. Many breeds may be wrongly accused to be one of the terrier breeds.
Some places have found BSL useful for example, in Woodbury, Iowa they have inforced some legislation. Their legislation is they banned all types of pit-bulls. According to the Siouxland District of Heath, they provided a chart of non-fatal dog bites from 2006-2016.
Successful Pit Bull Laws; Data Shows Breed-Specific Laws Work. (2017, April 1). Retrieved October 23, 2017, from
http://blog.dogsbite.org/2010/06/cities-with-successful-pit-bull-laws.html This graph is a great representation to show that even with Breed Specific Legislation they are still a number of dog bites throughout the years. In the graph, there is a decrease in the amount of pit-bull and pit-bull mix bites in the later years. There have been cases where BSL has not been as effective as some people hoped. In whole states they have been appealed because they have deemed BSL not effective. For example in Prince George’s County, Maryland, a task force was provided to check out the effectiveness of the legislation. After inspecting the town they had realized the amount of safety that they intended did not appear to improve. The town spend over $250,000 a year to eliminate the ban dogs. After the task force did their mission the town decided to repeal the ban. Another case where people realized that BSl was not entirely beneficial is a study was produced in 1979-1998, by the Humane Society of the United States, and the American Veterinary Medical Association. Their studies found that in that 20 year time period that there were 238 dog related fatalities. The majority of the fatalities were from pit-bulls and the second most was Rottweilers totally 105 fatalities. Yet even with the amount of fatalities together the rest were caused by breeds that are never deemed “dangerous” and would not be in Breed Specific Legislations (Stacks 2000). People who are opposed to BSL, there are many alternative that people do not realize. Instead of completely wiping a specific breed, in a doggy genocide some towns create spay and neuter laws. Spay and neuter laws can help a lot with dog bites, according to American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPC), “2.6 times more likely to bite than neutered dogs, while unspayed females “attract free-roaming males, which increases bite risk to people through increased exposure to unfamiliar dogs.” Then some towns in California offer courses to educate and inform people on safety around unfamiliar dogs. According to the ASPC, dominance aggression are involved in 70 to 76 percent of reported dog bite incidents.” There are also courses that offer training or behavior courses for owners to better understand their dog’s behavior. Other alternative are laws that hold dog owners financially accountable to not comply with animal control. Laws that outlaw chaining or tethering, and enhanced enforcement of animal cruelty and fighting laws. Studies have shown that chained dogs are more appealing to people to children and others to bother them. Breed Specific Legislations is highly controversial topic and should be more known. There are ways it can be effective and noneffective. There are alternatives that have shown to be useful as well instead of a complete ban. It is always going to be a topic that constantly changing within the states and even in each community.
Works Cited Campbell, Dana M. "Pit Bull Bans: The State Of Breed-Specific Legislation." Gpsolo 26.5 (2009): 36-41. Academic Search Complete. Web. The Web.
...d-Specific Legislation (BSL) FAQ." The National Canine Research Council. National Canine Research Council, LLC., 2013. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.
[Establish credibility] As a life-long dog lover, I have run into BSL many times: from apartments with dog size limitations to cities that outright ban certain breeds.
The dogs listed are not identified as a type rather than a breed. The dogs listed in the Act under section 1 are the pit-bull terrier, the Japanese tosa, the Dogo Argentrino and the Fila Braziliero. Other dogs can be added to the banned breed list. Owners of controlled dogs cannot breed them, sell them or trade them for another dog or give them away. The owner of the dog has to keep it on a lead and muzzled at all times and the person who is in control of the dog should be older than 16 years old. The muzzle has to be of a standard so the dog cannot bite a person. When a person owns a controlled dog they cannot let them wander the streets or vacate them, if they do so this is an offence and criminal sanctions would be put in place. This can be a fine, prison sentence and a ban on keeping animals.
One of the biggest issues with BSL is breed identification. A law that bans a “vicious” being is too broad and can encompass many individuals as it is a personality trait rather than a breed. These laws would then be dependent on what the legislators would define “vicious” to mean. Likewise, there is confusion on what breeds are dangerous. Dogsbite.org claims that breeds such as wolf-dog hybrids, dogo argentinos, presa breeds, cane corsos, and especially pit bulls are indeed dangerous animals and should be banned. However, there are discrepancies involved in even that statement. Of the listed breeds perhaps the most commonly targeted is the pit bull. But what exactly does anyone mean by pit bull? Merriam Webster defines “pit bull” as follows, “a dog (as an American Staffordshire Terrier) of any of several breeds or a real or apparent hybrid with one or more of these breeds that was developed for and is now often trained for fighting and is noted for strength and stamina”. On the contrary, the United Kennel Club has recognized the American Pit Bull Terrier, also called APBT, as a standalone breed since 1898 when UKC founder C.Z. Bennett registered her APBT Bennet’s Ring (Uk...
Pit bulls are targeted in this ineffective solution to dog attacks. Perhaps the reason why pit bulls are feared by society because we are afraid of what they are associated with. Pit bulls are often thought of as a gangster’s pet; a role in violent and illegal activities. People stereotype this breed because of the unfortunate acts of few. In contrast, society needs to understand that they are being racist towards a breed of dog. Denver’s systematic killing of pit bulls could be compared to the actions of the Nazis during the holocaust. Although BLS is not even close to being on the same scale as the Holocaust, it is targeting and killing a specific group of living beings. Breed Specific Legislation is genocide of this breed. Denver alone has killed at least 3,500 pit bulls. It’s heart wrenching to think about how many families lost their steadfast companions because of the ignorance of others. A common phrase among pit bull supporters is, “Judge the deed: not the breed”. This rings true; if we are to bring justice to the breed, then we need to abolish BSL. True pit bulls are a far from the monsters they are made to
Many people believe it is only Pit-bulls and Rottweilers that are targeted by BSL laws, but there are various breeds of dogs targeted with Breed Specific Legislation. In fact, there are 75 dog breeds in the United States that have been banned or restricted with BSL laws (75 dog breeds…, 2012). This list includes numerous shapes and sizes of dogs, from all different backgrounds. Most of the dogs on this list are common household pets, like the Labrador retriever, and are normally non-aggressive and very friendly. Many times these dogs show no sign of aggression and pose no threat to society.
An increasing number of pit bull attacks have occurred over past decade. People who are attacked by pit bulls always suffer serious injuries because of the pit bulls’ sharp teeth and strong muscles. In October 19, 2009, Dr Hugh Wirth who is the RSPCA’s Victorian president renewed calls for American pit bull terriers to be bred out of Australia. The current laws require owners of pit bulls to register their pit bull. While some people are satisfied with the laws because they think that they are safe, others disagree. From my own perspective, the laws should be improved. The government should ban these fierce dogs and wipe them out instead of just registering them. In my opinion, there are three reasons why I am in favour of Dr Wirth’s proposal.
“Dog Bite: Fact Sheet.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC, 1 Apr. 2008. Web. 13
United States. House of Representatives. Committee on Agriculture. “Puppy Protection Act.” Thomas Library of Congress. Government Publication Office. 11 Oct. 2001. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
The American Pit Bull is considered as a genuine breed because there are various breeds of pit bull that could have been mixed with other dogs. Pit bulls were raised for baiting larger animals during the hunting seasons. With the faithfulness of t...
Has society unfairly ostracized the entire breed or is the vicious reputation true? Critics claim that pit bulls attack indiscriminately and often without warning. In a study taken from U.S. and Canada press reports between 1982 and 2014, Merritt Clifton, editor of Animals 24-7, found that pit bulls were the most responsible for inflicting bodily harm (as cited by DogsBite.org). However, it should be noted that attacks involving pit bulls often are catastrophic and result in responses from police and paramedics and news media reporters. According to news reports studied by DogsBite.org for “the 10-year period from 2005 to 2014, pit bulls killed 203 Americans and accounted for 62% of the total recorded deaths” (DogsBite.org). All of the pit bull breeds possess powerful jaws, and Nicholas Dodman, author of Dogs Behaving Badly, reports “when they do chomp down, it can be a bloodbath” (as quoted by Rivenburg).
b. “Many people have a difficult time properly identifying a true Pit Bull, so added to the statistics are those dogs that have been misidentified. Considering these factors, the actual number of attacks attributable to American Pit Bull Terriers is considerably lower than represented,” according to the real pit bull. i. Do you think a 4 pound Pomeranian dog would hurt anybody? ii. Stated in the Dog Bite Law, “The most horrifying example of the lack of breed predictability is the October 2000 death of a 6-week-old baby, which was killed by her family 's Pomeranian dog.” a. The American Temperament Test is a test that measures a dog strong avoidance, unprovoked aggression, and panic without recovery. “American Pit Bull Terriers passed the test at a rate of 85.3%,” according to Pitbulls.org. They have the highest test scores, and they out beat the golden retriever “family dog” by 7.7%. iii. I identify the justice of my rival’s claim, but I disagree with my rival’s 100 percent about pit bulls having the highest attacks. c. Now you can see how my rival made a mistake because they didn’t evaluate and understood the facts as clearly as they
...ociated Press published an article “Pit Bulls are A Danger to Society,” yet this year, the same publisher issued an article “Attitudes and Laws Against the Pit Bull Soften – The Big Story” in which the Pit bull advocates hail the changes as recognition that breed-specific laws discriminate against dogs that are not inherently aggressive or dangerous should not be discriminated against or victimized. The debate puts millions of pit bull owners up against a relatively small group of activists against the breed and challenges the notion that Pit Bulls that are well-cared for had any history of aggressive behavior in the first place, closing the argument by again stating what the Canadian Encyclopedia explained, that their actions were just a park of the cycle of favorites and least favorites that has always been and always will be in the history of ownership of dogs.
Since then, there has been a constant argument about whether or not this breed should be allowed to be kept as a pet. No one looks at pit bulls as normal dogs anymore. They are viewed as monsters. They have a crazy amount of strength, speed, and stamina. This can be used against them or for them depending on who is debating the issue of their legality.