Man Bites Dog: Breed Specific Legislation by Christina Harvey

The Dog Bite Epidemic

We are in the midst of a dog bite epidemic, not a dog fatality epidemic.Fatalities should be judged on a case-by-case basis, as fatalities happen seldom enough to merit prudent consideration every time.

Canine homicides are steady at approximately 15-20 people per year.These incidents can range from burglars being thwarted or most commonly, a child under 12 years of age being attacked by the family pet.Pit Bulls and Rottweilers generally top the list, their four breeds and their mixes being responsible for approximately 7 of the total deaths per year.This is logically because a bite from any large or strong dog, not just a Pit Bull or Rottweiler, being more likely to result in fatality than that of a smaller dog, or a dog with a delicate build.An example for comparison can be drawn from cars. While the driver of a truck or an SUV might not statistically have more accidents than the driver of a small car, trucks and SUVs are responsible for more deaths simply because they are bigger, heavier and cause far more damage than small cars.Don't forget that nearly all breeds of dog have been responsible for deaths- Pomeranians, Great Danes and your good old-fashioned "Heinz 57" mutt.

"While at times informative, statistics on fatal dog attacks can also be misleading. For example, a number of cases were a Pit Bull, Rottweiler or GSD (German Shepherd Dog) were counted as causing a human fatality were in reality the direct result of gross human negligence or criminal intent (i.e. discarding a newborn in the yard where the dogs were kept, or cases of extremely emaciated animals, or cases were the dog was ordered or encouraged to attack the victim)." – fataldogattacks.com

According to nopitbullbans.com the Center for Disease Control admits:

"…to the extent that attacks by 1 breed are more newsworthy than those by other breeds, our methods may have resulted in differential ascertainment of fatalities by breed." (JAVMA, Vol 217, No. 6, September 15, 2000, p. 838)."(Note: even the officials who are responsible for keeping these vital statistics do not know that the term "Pit Bull" is not one breed of dog!).For example, if a witness of a dog attack claims that the dog was a Pit Bull it is recorded as one, meanwhile it could be any breed and the witness could have no idea about dog breeds.

"Even with these record numbers of dogs these days the fatal attacks caused by Pit Bulls is nothing compared to the inhumanity we face on a daily basis. We are talking about 20 fatal attacks by dogs a year, most of which are not Pit Bulls, this is not a Pit Bull problem folks." – Jason Mann of Pitbulllovers.com

As of December 2005, the most recent evaluations posted on the American Temperament Test Society (ATTS) website stated that the American Pit Bull Terrier had an 83.5% pass rate, whereas a Golden Retriever had a very similar 83.7% pass rate.A comparable large number of individual dogs were tested (over 500 dogs of both breeds).

About two percent of the United States of America's population is bitten by dogs each year, approximately 4.7 million people. When compared to the approximate 15 people per year who die from fatal dog attacks, fatalities are extremely rare.While dog fatality statistics are dominated by breeds of strong stature such as the Pit Bull breeds, Rottweilers, German Shepherd Dogs, Wolf-Hybrids, Malamutes, etc, there is not such a significant correlation between breed and bites in the non-fatal incidents.Also, within dog bite statistics there is no correlation between dog breed and volume of bites.However, as stated earlier, there has been a strong correlation between popularity of breed and bites.This supports a theory of simple probability, rather than the likelihood of some breeds being more dangerous than others.

Some "experts" claim that the dog bite epidemic is growing.This is untrue.It is the number of dog owners, and dogs per household that are both growing.Again, it is simple probability: the higher the number of dogs living in the United States, the more often bites will occur.This will never end unless we force owners to be more responsible.

"I became more than just casually suspicious of the statistics that showed that all of a sudden pit bulls were doing so much killing when I noticed two things.One was that the total number of dog-attack-related-fatalities had not risen according to the HSUS statistics that were everywhere offered as evidence of the ferocity of pit bulls.That meant that all of a sudden all those other breeds had stopped biting people seriously enough to kill them, which meant that for all breeds except pit bulls a sudden increase in sensible breeding and handling had taken place, and there would have been other evidence if that were so.If pit bulls had been killing a lot more people, there would have been a rise in the total number of deaths, and there wasn't.If anything, there was a slight drop, according the HSUS, depending on which of their figures you choose… Data from the attack-related fatalities throughout the period of hysteria in question, the late 1980's.The CDC stats do not give breeds.The only way to find out for sure what breed ID is made by victims, excited witnesses, cops, and reporters, and breed ID is a tricky business" – Vicki Hearne pg. 138 "Dossier of a Dangerous Dog"

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity" - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Why BSL Does Not Work

"If pit bull-types were so inherently bad, how could millions of people share their families, their homes and their beds with them without issue? Since Furry Friends Foundation in Chicago began ten years ago, they've carefully adopted out 400 pit bull-type dogs without incident. "Mandatory dog training, socialization, and altering the dogs makes all the difference in the world," says Catherine Hedges, the shelter's founder. "People (who adopt them) are encouraged to keep the dogs indoors as members of the family. And they're discouraged from keeping them outside all the time, and especially discouraged from tethering them when they're outdoors."

Even Beck of Purdue University, who is cynical about pit bulls says, "Of course, responsible ownership does matter, and a little common sense goes a long way."

"The public may have one perception of pit bulls, but that perception isn't accurate," says Dunbar. "It's distracting to blame a dog breed rather than the real source of these dog attacks."' – badrap.org

Let's say that ultimately we allowed genocide on all Pit Bull breeds, on all Rottweiler's and so forth.Let's say that we rid the world of these wonderful creatures with whom so many loving families currently happily share their lives.Then what?Criminals will still be criminals.Irresponsible owners will be irresponsible owners.If we aren't implementing laws to teach them differently, how are we going to break the cycle irresponsible dog ownership? We won't, and the cycle will continue as long as we will allow it.

Once Pit Bulls are banned, these irresponsible dog owners will take on another breed- Mastiffs, German Shepherd Dogs, Dobermans, Great Danes, and so on, and so forth, damaging each breed in the process.They will torture and abuse these dogs to make them vicious, even if their breed normally is not.Because the law to ban specific dog breeds will already be place, all legislators have to do is get the newly popular breed approved for banning, and a new breed holocaust will begin.Before long, the majority of dog breeds will be gone… Extinct.

Breed Specific Legislation is nothing less than genocide on the companions that are so loyal to us, that I, for one, could not live without, and that WE have brought into this world.

As earlier stated, BSL does not stop at one, two or even three breeds of dog.In Fairfield, Iowa any dog over 100lbs is now illegal, along with several other specific breeds named in their legislation. In Italy, they commenced BSL with 13 breeds of dog, and by 2003 their list had grown to 92 breeds of dog banned.Some of these breeds include the Corgi, Border Collie, and Boston Terrier, breeds that here in the USA are viewed as generally non-threatening.Breed Specific Legislation spreads like wildfire and the list expands so quickly.As previously discussed, the statistical odds state that the more popular the breed of dog, the higher number of bite incidents that will occur from that breed.Is it appropriate that every time a dog breed peaks in popularity and consequently rises to a statistically equivalent rank on the reported bite incident list, that they should be banned?It becomes obvious that BSL is simply a "band-aid" when it comes to lowering the incidence of dog bites and attacks.

"You judge the greatness of a country by the way it treats its animals"- Mahatma Gandhi

There is no argument that something must be done about the standards, laws, and acceptable treatment of animals in our society, if not for the five million bite victims per year, then for the thousands (if not millions) of animals who are abused and killed senselessly every year.How many of people are sick of seeing videos on the Internet, seeing stories in the news about cases of incredible animal abuse? People who have lit their pet on fire, who have tied their pet up and thrown it out of a moving car window, who have allowed their children to flush helpless puppies down the toilet, who have discarded live puppies in the trash and worse?Aren't you sick of it?

The fact of the matter is that we need to make changes, however BSL would be counter-productive to animal welfare and the even to human welfare.Approving BSL would be like taking a step back into the dark ages.Breed Specific Legislation is genocide and it is a holocaust on dogs.Historically, have we ever looked back on a mass destruction of a particular species, race, religion or any aspect defining a group as a positive thing?While they occurred, perhaps the majority in some cases thought it was an acceptable thing to do, though this is always proved incredibly wrong.There is no exception for this behavior and owners of dogs whose breeds are already banned can now understand how targeted groups felt when they said, "We never thought they were actually going to do this," when discussing the holocaust… and they did.It's surreal and incredible that humans can be swayed into believing and participating in such extreme wrongs without ambiguity or protest.

The idea of killing off a particular type of dog based on its appearance or breed is absolutely absurd.New York City has always been known as the capital of the world, a city full of innovators, and one of the most pet-friendly places in the entire world.It was with great sadness that New York pet owners discovered that Mr. Peter Vallone Jr. is trying to implement such a barbaric law into our city, instead of realizing that the various cities and countries who have attempted Breed Specific Legislation have not experienced any change in the number dog attacks that occur, and setting out to create innovative legislation that is actually effective.

It is within human nature to want to rid yourself of what you fear.For the average person without significant dog knowledge, the hype the media presents (most often wrongfully) regarding Pit Bull breeds is enough to cause the public to believe that our beloved dogs are monsters living among us!The number of times a Pit Bull was blamed for an attack that was in fact not a Pit Bull breed is extremely high.Most other dog attacks do not make the news, whereas almost all Pit Bull related attacks do, regardless of the severity.Perhaps Pit Bull owners should start suing the media for defamation of character- now there's an idea!

The fact remains, your legislators will rant and rave about a grandfather clause and how their implementation of BSL is nothing but humane, right? Wrong.Not only will any dogs targeted by BSL be forced to wear a muzzle at all times in public, which is horrible for socializing and for apartment living, but any dog or puppy that enters a shelter or rescue that resembles or is somehow deemed one of these targeted breeds will be euthanized immediately without exception.Neither temperament nor age is taken into account.And again, do not forget the shaky ground from which dogs are identified as a "Pit Bull" or "Pit Bull type" dog.

Grandfather clauses are provisions exempting persons or other entities already engaged in an activity from new rules or legislation affecting that activity, meaning that any existing dogs deemed a breed targeted by BSL would be allowed to live out their lives under extreme scrutiny, but will not be killed unless deemed a threat or nuisance.However, due to that fact that dog breeds targeted by BSL are officially considered "dangerous dogs," the laws that apply to them and their owners are equivalent of dogs that have actually attacked someone in the past, even if the individual dog has never posed a threat to anyone or anything in their life. The ultimate goal of BSL is to eliminate the existence, to make extinct, all of the breeds it targets.

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