For the love of all pups!!!!! What do you think?

Question

Tuesday, 08 August 2006
BSL: A Lazy, Unconstitutional Fix to a Larger Societal Problem


Monday, 26 July 2004



Apparently our dogs are part of al Qaeda too, or at least, they may as well be since currently many state and municipal governments have, in the name of "terror," launched an all-out assault on certain breeds of dog via a phenomenon known as breed-specific legislation. Breed-specific legislation (BSL) is just that: legislation, whether bills or ordinances, that seeks to put strictures on specific breeds of dog, or ban specific breeds of dog altogether. BSL usually follows as a consequence of several vicious dog attacks within a short period of time within a state or municipality. Often after a vicious dog attack or spate of attacks, politicians will make the claim that a certain breed of dog is "terrorizing" the neighborhoods and is therefore a public menace, though such comments are usually a knee-jerk reaction to a public that demands action. Unfortunately, the politician will often address the vicious dog problem in the easiest, though least effective way possible by proposing BSL.

When proposing BSL, politicians often gloss over its inherent problems. The most fundamental problem with BSL, and the one that causes the most discord, is its unconstitutionality. BSL is a violation of 14th amendment equal protection and due process rights. BSL violates the 14th amendment Equal Protection clause — which guarantees all citizens equal protection under the laws — because it causes some dog owners to be deprived while others are not. Similarly, due process allows for citizens to have the opportunity to affect the outcome of legislation if that legislation should deprive a citizen of life, liberty, or property (property being the dog). If a state or municipality seeks to ban or place strictures on a breed or breeds of dog, but cannot prove breed inherence, which has been a large overarching problem with BSL, then those states or municipalities are violating dog owners’ due process rights.

Despite BSL’s civil rights violations, bans have been passed throughout the United States because citizens either did not know their rights or because states and municipalities have hired so-called experts to "prove" that certain breeds were inherently vicious. Apparently you can hire anyone to say anything if you pay them enough — even an expert. These "experts," and the states and municipalities that employ them, waste tax-payers’ own dollars to illegally confiscate citizens’ property all in the name of supposed safety. However, according to Janis Bradley, author of Dogs Bite: But Balloons and Slippers Are More Dangerous, drapery cords and children’s own parents prove much more fatal to children than dog bites, and accidents involving bedroom slippers cause more injury to people than dogs.

Still, many legislators and other politicians scurry to pass BSL in an attempt to quell perceived public outrage over dog attacks. Frequently legislators, and the supposed experts they hire, will make false claims which allege that certain dog breeds are more vicious than others. These false claims prima facie substantiate the need for BSL, which usually targets bully breeds, commonly referred to in slang as "pitbulls," and Rottweilers, though BSL has certainly not been limited to these breeds. Yet, temperament tests conducted by the American Temperament Test Society do not support the stigma against bullies or Rottweilers. Temperament test results for several bully breeds and the Rottweiler were as follows:

American Pit Bull Terrier: 83.4%

American Staffordshire Terrier: 83.3%

Staffordshire (Bull) Terrier: 93.2%

Rottweiler: 82.3%

For comparison purposes, let’s take a look at other breeds of dog thought to be more even-tempered:

Golden Retriever: 83.6%

Labrador Retriever: 91.1%

Pomeranian: 75%

Chihuahua: 70.6%

According to these temperament test results, a person is more likely to be bitten by a Chihuahua or a Pomeranian than an American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, Staffordshire Terrier, or Rottweiler. Also notice that bully breeds and Rottweilers are comparable in temperament to Golden and Labrador Retrievers which are thought to be more even-tempered, though recently the first successful face transplant was performed on a woman who had been mauled by a Labrador.

Arguments against bullies and Rottweilers higher temperament test findings are that bullies and Rottweilers are larger or more tenacious and therefore inflict more damage on humans when they do bite. However, smaller dogs also bite and have even been known to kill babies. Herein enters a societal stereotype about certain dog breeds which do not necessarily hold true. For instance, countless times could you view America’s Funniest Home Videos and see a snarling, snapping Chihuahua or other small-breed dog, much to the delight of the studio audience. We don’t think of small-breed dogs as vicious. Many, when they think of Chihuahuas, think of the benign Taco Bell dog. Yet, despite their stereotype as innocuous, Chihuahuas are more unstable than bullies or Rottweilers according to their temperament tests. Consequently, baffled owners of bully breeds and Rottweilers can only scratch their heads at the media- and politician-generated stigma that consistently denigrates their dogs.

CDC statistics also do not support the stigma against bullies or Rottweilers. While "Pitbull-type dogs" and Rottweilers do top the CDC list of dogs most responsible for fatal dog attacks in their report, "Breeds of dogs involved in fatal human attacks in the United States between 1979 and 1998," the statistics are flawed, as the CDC readily admits. One of the biggest problems with the CDC bite statistics is that there is no breed called "pitbull-type dog." Housed beneath this designation are at least twenty different breeds of dog, possibly more. As such, statistics compiled by the CDC on bully breeds are greatly skewed.

Bully breeds and Rottweilers are also the breeds most often fingered in attacks, whether they’re actually the breed responsible or not. It is little known that when a victim or witnesses report dog bite attacks that the responding police or Animal Control officers will often simply record the breed of dog responsible as being the breed the victim or witnesses think it is, not necessarily as the breed may have been. Certainly erroneous breed recording due to victim or witness misidentification would follow since breed experts are not on call to respond to vicious dog attacks in order to make the final determiner as to breed. Incidentally, many breed experts are also unable to make a definitive breed determination. The CDC attributes these cases of frequent misidentification to a barrage of negative media reporting on bully breeds and Rottweilers.

The CDC also notes that without DNA testing it is difficult to determine breed with any accuracy. At times, a breed designation is hard to determine even with DNA testing. Without a clear determiner of breed, BSL is a conspicuous violation of owners’ due process rights. DNA testing is also quite expensive and time-consuming but so too is breed ban enforcement. Enforcement of a breed ban is near impossible since the same owners and breeders who are being irresponsible with their dogs will typically continue to do so regardless of a breed ban.

Because of irresponsible owners and breeders, it is difficult to know with any accuracy bully breed or Rottweilers’ propensity to bite since accurate population data acquisition for these breeds would require a Herculean effort. Owners and breeders of these breeds in particular often do not register their dogs, making it difficult to estimate their population size. Breed mixing and breeding outside the defined standards for the breed also make definitive breed determination and population data acquisition futile.

Fortunately there exist much more effective solutions to irresponsible dog owners than BSL. Vicious dog laws have been proven much more efficacious in curbing dog attacks. These laws codify much harsher punishments for irresponsible dog owners whose dogs attack people. Vicious dog laws often make attacks by vicious dogs on a human a felony with a significant monetary fine. Unlike prior laws, vicious dog laws usually allow dogs to be confiscated and euthanized on the first offense as opposed to the third. Most importantly, vicious dog laws punish people who have actually broken the law unlike BSL which punishes responsible dog owners who have committed no crime.

Additionally, irresponsible breeding is just now coming to the fore as an issue surrounding bully breeds and Rottweilers in particular. Currently, BSL is the proposed solution to unregulated breeding. For example, California’s SB861 is BSL that is aimed specifically at the excessive breeding problem. Unfortunately, SB861 has legislated mandatory breed-specific spay and neuter programs which punish responsible breeders causing irresponsible breeders to be the only breeders. Ironically, it is these irresponsible breeders who have caused the overpopulation problem, saturating the market with poorly-bred, unstable, and ill-tempered dogs.

Irresponsible breeding and vicious dog attacks can be minimized or prevented through proper education of owners and breeders. For instance, many novice and inexperienced breeders are unaware that they must conform to a breed standard, which can be difficult even for a seasoned breeder to accomplish. Proper breeding, which can at times include culling an entire litter, ensures fewer unstable breed specimens. Education about the dangers of improper breeding could go a long way in preventing poor breeding.

Education is also an effective approach in curbing dog attacks, as is enforcement of existing leash laws. A majority of vicious dog attacks are resultant of unrestrained or wandering dogs. If owners were educated about responsible dog ownership — keeping a dog leashed in public at all times, spaying and neutering, proper socialization and training — incidences of dog bites or attacks could be greatly reduced. Municipalities could also appropriate funding away from BSL and invest instead in hiring and training additional Animal Control personnel. More effectively trained Animal Control personnel would be able to discern the signs of dog fighting and breeding operations, incidences of which often involve severe animal cruelty.

Alternatives to BSL have proven to be much more effective and do not negate citizens’ constitutional rights. So why would a politician advance a piece of legislation that was certain not to solve the problem it proposed to be solving? The answer, quite simply, is that BSL is easier than attacking the problems at their root. One need only look at the city of Chicago to understand why for them BSL is easier than solving the real problems that lead to vicious dog attacks. Chicago has always been socio-economically disparate with the poorest minorities living in the projects right next-door to half-a-million dollar town houses. With poverty comes few choices. With few choices come the temptation of crime. Gangs have offered some minorities the only respect they have ever known as well as fast, easy money. "Street" dog fighting, or pit fighting, is a favorite among gangs. Dog fighting is a way to not only prove your worth via your dog, but to make money from the gambling, drug dealing, and prostitution that often goes with it. Those who fight "pitbulls," Rottweilers, or other breeds, often acquire their dogs from unscrupulous breeders, sometimes called "backyard breeders," who inbreed and selectively breed bully and other breeds to be vicious. Often this type of breeding can lead to über aggression which can include human-aggressive dogs. A properly bred bully or Rottweiler would never be human-aggressive, but fighting dogs are often bred to have the heightened aggressiveness that can lead to attacks on humans. Fighting dogs are routinely tortured after a losing fight, though occasionally they are abandoned to wander feral throughout city streets, and sometimes they do attack people.

The fundamental problem with vicious dogs in urban or suburban areas is not a breed problem since one breed has not been proven to be more vicious than another. The real origins of the problem are careless and irresponsible owners who allow their dogs to wander unrestrained, owners who are careless with un-neutered dogs (which tend to be more aggressive), backyard and novice breeders who inbreed or do not breed to the standard, and the socio-economic disparities that drive the poor and minorities to the gang lifestyle. Since problems involving gangs and irresponsible pet ownership do not have an easy fix, politicians often put a band-aid in the form of BSL over the scratch while ignoring the larger wound. Legislators, if they’ve done any research at all, know that breed bans don’t work. So when legislators propose BSL, they’re hoping their constituents don’t know they don’t work, and that they don’t find out what the real issues are. Legislators are hoping their constituents don’t know that BSL will put excessive strictures on their dog(s) or force them to give up their dog(s) in direct violation of their civil rights. We’ve already seen throughout history that once rights are taken from citizens, they’re seldom given back. Today it’s your dog; tomorrow it’s all sharp or pointy objects. BSL asks you to give up your dog(s) causing you to sacrifice your civil rights in the process, and paradoxically offers the public no safety in return. We can reasonably expect the government to provide protection from intercontinental ballistic missiles or al Qaeda on a macro level. But at what point will we stop expecting government to protect us on the micro level at the cost of our freedoms?

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On the Net:

American Temperament Test Society site:

http://www.atts.org

Centers for Disease Control report on fatal dog bite statistics:

http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/duip/dogbreeds.pdf

California’s SB861:

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/bill/sen/sb_0851-0900/sb_861_bill_20050901_enrolled.html

r...idiot, some people can't have kids...and they are much more of a companion than humans sometimes. You are my case and point!

I never said I cannot or do not have children... it is the point that ANY!!!!!!!!! Dog can hurt a child. APBT used to be used as NANNIES!!!! for good ness sake...really, I have been bit numerous times in my life time with the work that I do, I will honestly tell you its not the bull breeds or the rotts you need to look out for.
Children need to be taught how to act around dogs...that would lessen ALLOT of problems, so i guess it stems from parenting. Be a parent and teach them ALL they need to know, not just what you think is important.

Answer 1

I agree with you, I have been bitten by dogs the worst bite I ever had was from a black lab...not a pitbull or rottweiler, I've been bitten by two Labs and a Chihuahua.........I have a rottweiler and pitbull, and they are two of the sweetest dogs I've ever had. It's being prejudice, it's like saying black people are theives and murderers, when statistics show mahority of serial killers were white males. There are good dogs and bad dogs, it has nothing to do with breeds.

Answer 2

This is a societal problem, no doubt. The problem lies with the types of people attracted to the aggressive breeds. The problem also lies with all the back-yard breeders out there. Any breed that becomes popular is going to be plagued with bad temperaments in a very short time because of all the people jumping on the band wagon who have no idea about genetics.

But the fact is that a lot more people will be killed or seriously injured by a pit bull or rottweiler than by a chihuahua. (I like rottweilers, the ones I've known have been sweet dogs, towards people anyway).

People have to be protected from those who want cane corsos and don't know anything about them or even how to handle a strong breed. Haven't we all known people who brag about how "tough" their dog is - who think it's cool to have a vicious dog?

Answer 3

R - what a response, based on your response who would want you for a buddy? You are encouraging someone to own a dog until they have a "real person" in their life, and that's responsible how? If you have disposable pets you have disposable friends, because nobody can ever be as important to R as R is to himself. I think that's sad, I would advise you to get a dog, but I'd be too afraid that you would and then I'd feel really bad for the dog.

Peach - some of us do have children, and while any child being attacked by anything is sad it happens. However, I worry more about my child being on the road with someone that has been drinking or drugging, should we ban all alcohol and drugs? What about those prescriptions that are needed? Face it, it's not the alcohol or the drug that makes it dangerous, it's the person controlling it, same with a dog. People make bad dogs and God knows we can't ban all people or R wouldn't have a life.

Answer 4

First of all i would like to say that i have two pitbulls and i was raised with a doberman they are the sweetest dogs i have ever had! about a year and a half ago my boyfriend and i had a pitbull that had never bit anyone in his life someone on our street poisoned him with antifreeze because he was a pitbull,narrow mined people like this should be put behind bars! any animal with teeth can bit if they are threated or provoked! for example what do police dogs do on the job? ....they bit! my boyfriend has 2 neices and a nephew i have a neice and a nephew thatare aound our pitbulls all the time have never once growled or bit them. i belive it is how you raise your dogs! i took my male pitbull to a county fair last summer and a little boy started walking toward my dog his grandmother stared screaming at him and said that dog will bit you , if i thought for one second that my dog would bit why would i take him in to a public place? it is people like that, that give dogs like mine a bad name

Answer 5

certain - they're very undesirable for her. Cats are dogs have VERY distinct nutritional desires and also you should no longer be giving those for your cat. Cats do not want treats. Even those formulated with cats are typically made up of substances that are not reliable for cats. in case you favor to provide your cat a manage provide it some small products of hen or p.c.. up a number of the bonita (tuna) flakes at a higher high quality puppy save. different posters - in case you do not recognize the actual answer to this question you really shouldn't answer. saying "they should be ok" once you really do not have a clue is merely no longer helping this man or woman and in case your undesirable suggestion is accompanied could lead on to an overweight and intensely ill cat. And with the help of ways, that's what's in Pupperoni treats. no longer in straightforward words could I no longer provide those to my cat - i'd not even provide this risky crap to my canines! pork, Meat with the help of-products, Soy Grits, Sugar, Liver, 1st baron beaverbrook, Salt, Propylene Glycol, Garlic Powder, Onion Extract, Caramel colour, organic Smoke style, Potassium Sorbate (used as a preservative), Sodium Nitrite (for colour retention), red 40, BHA (used as a preservative).

Answer 6

I'm sorry if you haven't been blessed with children.

So let's just say that I bet MY life you will be singing a different song if it's ever YOUR kid that gets mauled and mutilated by a Rottweiler, Doberman or Pitt Bull.

Think about it: All your animal rights research will mean nothing compared to the terror and horror your innocent child will experience. And all the while it's happening your child is screaming "Mommy! Daddy!"

I have a dog, I'm not against them, but you may want to reconsider and rethink this issue that seems to be so dear to you.

Answer 7

Those that have or own dogs need to grow up and learn to go out of the house and meet real people.
The dogs as pets should only be temporary until someone of importance becomes more relavant, otherwise competition for relationship takes over and the person is let with the pet only.
What this means is that pets provide a mental temporary relationship when there is no appropriate "buddy" or partner available.
Go out. Live. Take you pet and mix around with others.
Soon you will not need the dog any more.
You will have children to worry about.

Answer 8

I agree completely. How long before it goes from "dangerous" breeds to breeds that "bother" us - like shelties that bark (my dogs) or beagles and other hounds that howl?

A couple of more things to check out are:

www.saova.org - the sportsman and animal owners voting alliance
and
here on Yahoo - go under groups to the group "petlaw"

Answer 9

Damn kiddo, you have tooooo much time on your hands.