Informative Essay On Pitbulls

Breed Specific Legislation (BSL) is a term used to describe laws banning or restricting certain breeds of dogs, with hopes of reducing dog bites and attacks. It also deals with aggression, an extremely broad subject area. There are many problems that come with BSL including, but not limited to, blaming the breed, blaming the dog(s), and banning some innocent dogs. Some people feel safer in an area where BSL is in effect, despite that, BSL does not work as there is no such thing as a mean dog breed and evidence it makes things worse.

BSL is all about blaming the dog, be that as it may, dog bites are often the consequence of human interactions. Almost all dog bites in young children are preventable, likewise are a result of the child trying

to interact with the dog in question. When a dog bites someone, there is most always an explanation behind it. In children younger than 12, 85% of the dogs were their own, or a friends(Bandow, 479). In addition, there are many factors that go into how a dog will act, like medical problems, insufficient training, and neglect. Even a dog that has previously shown aggressive behaviours has hope; combinations of behavioural modification techniques have proven to help an average of 90.5% of dogs that have been aggressive in various ways, be it dominance aggression, territorial aggression, predatory aggression, or fear-induced aggression. The only time a dog is to blame is when an attack is caused by idiopathic rage when the dog attacks for no reason at all (Abordo). If the blame gets shifted more towards the people than the dogs, then both dogs and people would not have to deal with the consequences of BSL.
One problem that BSL ignores is a dog's breed does not directly correlate with aggression. While some people generalize some breeds as more vicious than others, this is not the case. A late 2013/early 2014 study, surveying 4,000 dog owners, concluded “...that although general characteristics, such as breed type, are significant risk factors across large populations they explain only a small amount of the overall difference between aggressive and non-aggressive dogs. This suggests that it is not appropriate to evaluate the risk of aggressive behaviour in an individual dog using characteristics such as breed type.”(University of Bristol). In a small survey of Manton high school students, 15 of 21 (71.4%) said BSL likely affects pit bulls, while only 5 (23.8%) specified thinking pit bulls are aggressive. It is true that pit bull dogs are the ones that get banned most. Although typically considered dangerous, these types of dogs pass temperament tests with over average scores. “Based on their published breed statistics, 82.6 percent of the American Pit Bull Terriers tested passed a standard behavior and aggression evaluation. …... The average passing rate for the other 121 breeds of dogs tested was 77 percent.”(Williams). This type of false generalization gets innocent dogs banned, taken from their families, and sometimes euthanized.
Banning only some breeds of dogs excludes many dogs that are aggressive and includes dogs that are innocent, especially when the breed categorization is confounded.

Pit bull is not a dog breed, but instead a general term used for many dog breeds or dogs with specific characteristics, often including a blocky head and stocky body. “The City of Winnipeg enacted a breed-specific by-law in 1990 which describes a "Pit Bull Dog" as: 1. a Pit Bull Terrier; or 2. a Staffordshire Bull Terrier; or 3. an American Staffordshire Terrier; or 4. an American Pit Bull Terrier; or 5. any dog which has the appearance and physical characteristics predominantly conforming to the standards of any of the above breeds, as established by the Canadian Kennel Club or the American Kennel Club or the United Kennel Club and attached as Schedule B, as determined by a veterinarian licensed to practice in Manitoba.”(Bandow). This causes not only the intended breeds to get punished, but also any mix of the breeds or just any dog unfortunate enough to resemble the

breeds.
BSL meets much opposition for fundamental fairness.

It groups dogs into being aggressive or not and fails to recognise that dogs are all individuals, and does not give the dogs or owners a chance of redemption. “Any dog fitting a relatively vague physical description is treated as a menace, with no regard for what characterization of the animal is actually warranted or whether the individual animal poses a threat to the community……….BSL and its foundations in prejudice and stereotypes represents a massive failure of a legal system which prides itself on its focus on the protection of the innocent from persecution.” Consequently, this outlawing of breeds makes them more desirable to “outlaws” who want to seem cool for not obeying laws. “Labeling a particular breed as problematic, uncontrollable, or dangerous makes them more attractive to the irresponsible members of society…….Further, the fact that a breed is outlawed makes it more appealing to those same groups who often feel disenfranchised and desperately want to demonstrate and believe that the rules of society don’t apply to them.”(Williams). Banning these dog breeds threatens the public safety when they are just trying to help improve

it.
BSL is not only unfair, but frequently does not work; the goal is to help increase public safety but often it has the opposite effect. “The UK has seen an increase in dog bites of 50% since it enacted Breed Specific Legislation, and Scotland has weathered an increase of 160%. In these cases, it appears that BSL has not only failed, but it has possibly made the problem worse.”(Williams) Assuming that BSL has the adverse effect of its intentions, it is fair to speculate it simply does not work.