[M:0]
Post by Collie on Jan 10, 2009 22:18:57 GMT -5
Do you think people need to ban certain breeds?
Here's my opinion:
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I am completely against BSL, for a number of reasons.
One, banning an entire breed by what only some members of the breed did? It's like banning an entire race of people because their race happens to have the highest crime rate. In other words, racism geared towards dogs.
Two, BSL has been proven not to work. But DDOs (Dangerous Dog Ordinances), which do not target a specific breed, have been proven to work.
Three, my own experience with Pit Bulls tell me that not all Pitties are aggressive. Indeed, most are not.
Four, a bad owner equals a bad dog. Most of the Pit Bulls who did the attacks were dogs owned by an abusive owner or an owner who bred the dog to fight.
Raising a dog responsibly is the best way to keep it from becoming aggressive. Encouraging responsible dog ownership with training and such is a must in preventing BSL.
Five, let us not forget that a "Pit Bull" in an attack is often misidentified. There are 25 different breeds that are commonly mistaken for a Pit Bull. Most people could not identify a Pit Bull correctly. They tend to think that any dog with a muscular neck and box-y head is a Pit Bull. I even have friends with stockier-than-normal Labs who get mistaken for Pit Bulls. Why, I read that a Lab was seized by animal control for euthenazia because they thought it was a Pit Bull!
I can also tell you that Pit Bulls have been therapy dogs. I know of several.
As the owner of a GSD, I can tell you that I get rude comments on my GSD quite a bit. Luckily, GSDs are common in my neighborhood, so most folks love my GSD. But I still get the occasional rude remark. The worst remark that I ever got was that I should have her put down just because of her breed. The latest rude comment was this guy in the park telling his dog, where I could hear it, that my GSD would eat him if he didn't stay away from her.
Don't think it doesn't hurt me to hear those remarks. It does. Deeply. People fearing a breed just because they heard of someone getting attacked by it because they were attacked themselves, is somewhat understandable, but research and some knowledge on dog reveals that it isn't the breed.
First, a good breeder will only breed dogs with good temperaments. Second, raising a dog plays quite a role in it's personality. Personality in dogs is 34% genetic and 67% learned. So, most of the time, it's the owner's fault if a dog attacks someone.
Though obviously, any dog will attack if they are afraid enough and not recognizing when they are afraid of you can lead to a bite. See below paragraph for more details.
Most dog bites are caused because the dog is afraid. Dogs respond to fear two ways: fight or flight. Too often, a dog is afraid and people who don't know dog body language or who don't pay attention to the dog's body language miss the signs that the dog is afraid, or misinterpret them, and the dog ends up biting them.
CDC bite statistics are about 10 years old and were gathered from news reports, which almost always label the dog in a dog attack as a Pit Bull, even if it wasn't a Pit Bull. The dogs they report are usually mixed breeds with box-y heads and muscular necks. A trait which several breeds have.
In other words, CDC statistics are not accurate.
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Here's my opinion:
----------------------------------------------------------------
I am completely against BSL, for a number of reasons.
One, banning an entire breed by what only some members of the breed did? It's like banning an entire race of people because their race happens to have the highest crime rate. In other words, racism geared towards dogs.
Two, BSL has been proven not to work. But DDOs (Dangerous Dog Ordinances), which do not target a specific breed, have been proven to work.
Three, my own experience with Pit Bulls tell me that not all Pitties are aggressive. Indeed, most are not.
Four, a bad owner equals a bad dog. Most of the Pit Bulls who did the attacks were dogs owned by an abusive owner or an owner who bred the dog to fight.
Raising a dog responsibly is the best way to keep it from becoming aggressive. Encouraging responsible dog ownership with training and such is a must in preventing BSL.
Five, let us not forget that a "Pit Bull" in an attack is often misidentified. There are 25 different breeds that are commonly mistaken for a Pit Bull. Most people could not identify a Pit Bull correctly. They tend to think that any dog with a muscular neck and box-y head is a Pit Bull. I even have friends with stockier-than-normal Labs who get mistaken for Pit Bulls. Why, I read that a Lab was seized by animal control for euthenazia because they thought it was a Pit Bull!
I can also tell you that Pit Bulls have been therapy dogs. I know of several.
As the owner of a GSD, I can tell you that I get rude comments on my GSD quite a bit. Luckily, GSDs are common in my neighborhood, so most folks love my GSD. But I still get the occasional rude remark. The worst remark that I ever got was that I should have her put down just because of her breed. The latest rude comment was this guy in the park telling his dog, where I could hear it, that my GSD would eat him if he didn't stay away from her.
Don't think it doesn't hurt me to hear those remarks. It does. Deeply. People fearing a breed just because they heard of someone getting attacked by it because they were attacked themselves, is somewhat understandable, but research and some knowledge on dog reveals that it isn't the breed.
First, a good breeder will only breed dogs with good temperaments. Second, raising a dog plays quite a role in it's personality. Personality in dogs is 34% genetic and 67% learned. So, most of the time, it's the owner's fault if a dog attacks someone.
Though obviously, any dog will attack if they are afraid enough and not recognizing when they are afraid of you can lead to a bite. See below paragraph for more details.
Most dog bites are caused because the dog is afraid. Dogs respond to fear two ways: fight or flight. Too often, a dog is afraid and people who don't know dog body language or who don't pay attention to the dog's body language miss the signs that the dog is afraid, or misinterpret them, and the dog ends up biting them.
CDC bite statistics are about 10 years old and were gathered from news reports, which almost always label the dog in a dog attack as a Pit Bull, even if it wasn't a Pit Bull. The dogs they report are usually mixed breeds with box-y heads and muscular necks. A trait which several breeds have.
In other words, CDC statistics are not accurate.
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