Man Bites Dog: Breed Specific Legislation by Christina Harvey

Insurance companies, Home Owners Associations, major airlines, camping sites, PetSmart, and even entire cities and townships have jumped on the "Breed Banning Bandwagon". Your dog simply needs to resemble a poorly stereotyped breed in order to be included in a public or private ordinance. Regardless of behavior, temperament and training- your dog can be a trained service or therapy dog, yet still be banned from certain areas. Is this fair?

The honorable and correct route is usually never as simple as the band-aid "quick fix" or immoral route. Of course once implemented the changes I've noted can and will make such a huge difference in pet ownership. Granted, it will be harder for a person to obtain and own a pet, but this in turn will make it harder for a person to mistreat, misuse, and discard a pet.  The bottom line is that anyone who considers himself or herself an animal lover, a dog lover, or even loves just one dog should be able to understand these changes need to be made. We have to protect our animals from getting into the wrong hands, for their own sake and for the safety of the general public, especially children.

There is a staggering amount of animal abuse, ranging from neglect to downright horror. It is also a proven fact that children and adults that abuse and kill animals are in a high percentile for killing a human at some point in life.

We need to crack down on various issues that cause dog attacks. "The Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association reported that 17% of dogs involved in fatal attacks on humans between 1979 and 1998 were restrained on their owners' property at the time of the attack, and the book Fatal Dog Attacks states that 25% of fatal attacks were inflicted by chained dogs of many different breeds"- unchainyourdog.org. Tethering a dog not only promotes aggressiveness, defensiveness and enhances territorial qualities but it also enables the owner to neglect the dog. Dogs are naturally social animals and they need interaction with their humans for hours a day. All too often an irresponsible owner will get a dog to keep outside, tether it, drop food down (if the dog is lucky) and completely neglect the dog emotionally and physically. This is enough to cause a dog to develop severe behavioral problems, simply imagine this happening to you and how you would feel. Now imagine a child walking into this highly stressed and territorial dog's path.Scary, huh? It happens all of the time.Since the owner is often neglecting the dog they obviously aren't checking the chain or rope either. Now the tether breaks, the dog is loose and the aggression doesn't break away with the chain. This allows the dog to remain in the aggressive frame of mind without constriction and attack unsuspecting passerby's.

As I earlier stated, dogs are social animals. They are friendly, loving and caring by nature. Sometimes there are situations where a dog can become aggressive due to a health issue or lax training. However, most dogs that act dangerously aggressive are abused, neglected, starved, and conditioned into this behavior. Who's doing the abusing, the neglecting, the starving and the training? I bet you guessed it! Humans!

BSL significantly takes rights away from dogs. We need to take rights away from humans and give rights to the animals. How can we properly punish a person who has horribly abused their dog to be vicious when we're initially saying that the dog is "inherently vicious" in the first place?

Unfortunately some humans use dogs for profit, exploiting, abusing and neglecting them in puppy mills. Far too many humans use dogs for underground dog fighting, to be "guard dogs" of illegal substances and black market items where they are abusing, starving, and neglecting them, while putting others in danger by turning a potentially loveable and social dog into a weapon. These people are also doing damage by backyard-breeding dogs with undesirable qualities, and therefore worsening many canine problems we're having in society today.

"You become responsible forever, for what you have tamed." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The way our society views pets as disposable is disheartening. 6 to 8 million dogs and cats enter shelters each year, at least 3 to 4 million do not make it out. These numbers are simply unacceptable. Did you know that only one out of every ten dogs gets a good forever home? Pet overpopulation is caused by a mixture of problems including lack of education, training, failure to spay and neuter, backyard breeders and puppy mill's alike.

It should be a requirement to alter all pet dogs (and cats) in the country. This would prevent backyard breeders and puppy mills from mass producing poor quality pups to sell to anyone with the money in hand or credit on plastic. A good breeder thoroughly screens a potential buyer along with various contracts and agreements being mandatory. Reputable breeders also require follow-ups, whereas a puppy mill wants nothing to do with a pet after it leaves their cruel doors. Requiring all pet dog owners to alter their pets would also prevent "oopsie" litters. An unwanted pregnancy is purely caused by lack of consideration for not only the dog, but for the 3 to 4 million pets that are killed each year. For every puppy born to an unplanned litter, backyard breeder, or puppy mill three perfectly healthy and adoptable shelter dogs will be euthanized.

Altering our pets also protects them from several life-threatening ailments including, but not limited to mammary, uterine, ovary, prostate and testicular cancer. These cancers generally appear in 50-60% of all unaltered dogs over the age of 5. Neutering is proven to reduce aggression in male dogs, decreases the need to roam by 90%, decreases territoriality, marking and much more. Generally, altered dogs are more docile and content.

"Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands." - Anne Frank

"Lemon laws are United States state laws that remedies to consumers for automobiles that repeatedly fail to meet certain standards of quality and performance. These vehicles are called lemons. The federal lemon law (the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act) protects citizens of all states."- wikipedia.com.We have laws and regulations on cars, but not on the production on living, intelligent, and loving companions. The government protects our public when buying a car, but not when buying a puppy. Mass-breeders (puppy mills) more often then not, produce puppies of substandard quality in both health and temperament.

It is the responsibility of our leaders to regulate the puppy mill industry. Unfortunately there are many people out there who do not know where pet store puppies come from, and the days of "buyer beware" should be long gone. The average person with average education on pet related issues wouldn't be able to spot a puppy-mill puppy, a back yard (irresponsible) breeder or a reputable breeder without proper guidance and education. Why do we leave it to the individual who all-too-often makes the wrong choice?

The fact of the matter is that humans created the pet overpopulation problem, yet the only ones who pay for it are the pets. There are uncountable organizations that spend every dime they have and even go into debt to save animals due to the irresponsibility of others. It's time that humans finally take the responsibility for their actions. It is completely acceptable for us to have non-profit organizations helping sick people and animals. The need for organizations whose sole purpose is to help reduce pet overpopulation is a disgrace to our society. This is a preventable problem, and the steps to prevent it need to be put into play.

2,000,000,000 dollars are spent each year to impound, shelter, euthanize, and dispose of homeless animals. Imagine the causes this money can be used for if pet overpopulation was no longer an issue.

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