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I have such mixed feelings about this. I love dogs and I spend a whole lot of my days taking care of them. And I just hate to see a whole breed of dogs judged for bad behavior when many of the individuals are gentle, fine animals.

 

But another woman was killed by a pack of pitbulls. A 63 year old woman who was jogging.

 

But, damn, people should be able to walk down the street without being terrified of being attacked by dogs.

 

I have gotten afraid to walk dogs here in the city. I'm afraid of being attacked by loose dogs. And I've never been really attacked by anything but yorkies.

 

And it's not just pittbulls but other big, strong jawed breeds that can do so much damage if they decide to attack.

 

I just am so torn. I certainly don't think there should be a mass euthanization of all pitbulls in the city. Tons of people own pitbulls that are wonderful pets.

 

So is there anyway that really makes sense to handle this problem?

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I am one who is against breed banning. That being said I have been attacked by both German Shepherds and Pitbulls. I do not feel it is the dog who must suffer for what it was trained to do. It should be the men and wemon who should be made to suffer the consequence for what their dog(s) actions cause.

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I think owners should be banned, not breeds. I think we need a law that every dog must be microchipped from 8 weeks on. That way they can identify the owners of dogs that are allowed to roam. And I think the penalties should be tougher for repeat offenders or if the dog harrasses someone, note I didn't say attack, that should go without saying. I think if a dog has been brought to enforcements attention then they should be able to inspect the dogs basic living conditions i.e. is the fence adequate to keep the dog confined, and if it isn't, the dog should not be returned to it's owner until it is, or they should be given a certain period of time to get issues fixed. Owning an animal is a privilege, I think the right to own should be a little easier to revoke. I don't think any dog should be allowed to be left tied out. They should be contained in a fenced yard or dog run. People should be able to apply for a special permit to have their dog off leash, but they should have to prove that they can control their dog to get it. Dogs that have a bite history should have to be neutered, except in special cases, like correctly protecting their owners, police dogs, certain training senarios. Inappropriately aggressive dogs that the owners can't or won't control should be PTS, though the owners should be given the opportunity to work out the problem if there has not been a serious bite. Just my 2 cents. Flame on.

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I don't really like pit bulls. I know I know, its very un-PC to say so. Yes, they can be wonderful dogs, they can be sweet and affectionate and calm. Yes, they often get a bad rap.

 

But as a general rule, I don't like them. They don't appeal to me in any way, I don't find them attractive, and I don't really understand their popularity. Theres one in every other house in my neighborhood.

 

Yes, many are sweet, but they can also be territorial and aggressive, They can also be very, very dog aggressive. I no longer walk either my Border Collie or my Papillons in my neighborhood because there are so many dogs throwing themselves at the fence, the gate or a front window when we walk by. I am sure that someone somewhere will forget to latch a door or a gate and my dogs will be attacked.

 

I like pit bull apologists even less...you know the people I mean. They are militant that all pit bulls are angels and have no issues. They blithely ignore their breed's history of dog-dog aggressiveness and people's discomfort of thier dogs getting in their face and assure us their sweet puddun wuddum could never hurt anyone as their dog lunges at my Papillon and scratches my neighbors leg as he jumps on them.

 

All that said, No, I do not agree with breed bans. Partly because they don't really work. Partly because the actions of a few really shouldn't affect the rest. There are in fact good people out there doing good work with good dogs. I think they just need to be less popular.

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Dogs bite, especially if overstimulated or if they feel that they need to be protective.

 

It's not a breed problem it's a people problem, some people want aggressive irrational dogs and don't realize that their lack of proper selection, management or training is contributing to the inability to control their dogs or increase the chances that the dogs will not respond to excessive stimuli in what we feel is a suitable manner.

 

If we ban one breed then the same problems will be occurring but focus will be on another breed. We have to remember that we are asking dogs to just adapt to our crazy world, some are just being dogs and doing what dogs do.

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As a dog geek this topic is close to my heart. I owned a championed, ADBA Pit Bull before getting my first Sheepdog. Let me be perfectly clear - a well bred Pit Bull from game (fighting) lines will not bite and especially will not attack a person under any normal circumstances. This would have not been tolerated by dog men in the pit, or outside the pit for that matter. Those dogs that did show that type of behavior would have been culled. Are they dog "aggressive"? They have a high prey drive. However, dog aggression does not equal people aggression and anyone who equates the two is just ignorant. Incidents involving Pit Bulls and people are from poorly bred curs, or Pit Bull mixes that have been mixed with larger, guarding type breeds which are indeed people aggressive. A terrible cross.

 

Their wonderful history is often unknown to most. They are the original Bulldog and farmer's dog evidenced by history and reflected in the old European paintings and etchings. Brought over originally by the English and the Irish there are pictures of them going West with the settlers and they were the official US mascot of WWI because they represented courage, loyalty, and tenacity. Why have they become so maligned? Well, what ruined the breed is what ruins most - popularity. People not breeding for sound temperament, but for profit. Also, the Humane Society compounded the problem by putting out a tremendous propaganda campaign against the breed. And lastly, inner city / hip hop "culture" - the nail in the coffin in my opinion. Real Pit Bull enthusiasts were greatly saddened by the breeds explosion in popularity because they knew what it meant - much in the same way why Sheepdoggers fought so hard against AKC recognition for the Border Collie. I see great parallels with APBTs and BCs. Pit Bulls are a tremendous, intelligent, capable breed of dog and should not be banned.

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Not long ago we purchased some pups. The breeder had taught them, by encouraging and allowing, to tear into your pants and jump at your legs and hang on. He thought it was neat and showed a display of biting ability, I shut the behavior down and have hopes that I can extinguish it, because as far as I am concerned it is simply a people aggressive obnoxious behavior that is unacceptable.

 

But, how many others have pets that they teach the same behavior too? I've seen many.

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My first Border Collie was attacked by an Akita. It picked him up and shook hard. Duncan had puncture wounds to his neck and shoulder. For the rest of his life, he was wary around dogs with a black mask and brown body, though not so fearful that he couldn't continue to lead a normal life..

 

My third Border Collie was attacked by some sort of mastiff. Not certain of breed, but I think he was a purebred. He ran across a field and grabbed her, pinning her by the neck and shaking. It was totally unprovoked. Minutes later the same dog attacked (and I think killed) a mini poodle in the park. Freya recovered from the bruising and doesn't seem overly traumatized by the experience. Prior to that, a registered Am. Staff. had a death wish for her. This dog was aggressive towards other dogs, but especially bitches. Thankfully, her owner kept her leashed at all times and understood her dog's potential for being dangerous.

 

My 5th Border Collie has been attacked multiple times by the neighbor's mixed breed dog. He might have some Chow or Shar Pei in him, but he is probably a true mutt. I believe the attacks have to do with territory. He runs the fence, barks and snarls at my dogs. (I am moving soon because of this dog.)

 

My sixth Border Collie was attacked twice by loose bully breed dogs. The first was a classic pit bull. She came flying at him from 100 yards away. It looked like prey drive, though the owner admitted she had attacked multiple dogs. I still don't understand why she was allowed off leash with that sort of history! He was bruised but otherwise recovered. Sage was attacked the second time a year later by a large (100lb?) bully breed mix. He looked like a pit bull cross. The owner released him from his leash and he immediately ran over and grabbed my dog by the neck. (Unprovoked attack, unsure of the motivation for the bully breed dog.) Sage had puncture wounds and turned blue during the course of the attack as the other dog clamped down on his trachea. He never got over that and was left with PTSD and generalized anxiety.

 

I will admit that I am not a fan of certain breeds. I've just seen to many of them that are aggressive to like them. However, despite my experiences, I don't believe in a breed ban. It will discriminate against sweet dogs, won't prevent people who don't care about the laws from owning them and will just cause a shift in breeds. People who want an aggressive dog will choose another breed and breed them to fit their needs. In the past, people bred aggressive Chows, Rotties, Shepherds, Dobermans, etc. The pit bull is just the most popular "mean dog" at this point in time.

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When the topic of breed specific bans comes up it makes my heart sink. Anyone who even remotely considers this to be fair is not a dog lover at all. What if someone came to your front door and took your heart dog (any breed) for absolutly no reason and told you they were going to put them to sleep for absolutly no other reason than some other dogs of the same breed in your city were aggressive. You also get into what is a "pit bull"? What about a boxer/lab mix that maybe has bully chariteristics is it a "pit bull"? Is it fair to make the true dog loving bully breed owners have to sell their homes and move to another city/state just because they love thier dog?

I totally agree that pit bulls can be dangerous, and they are powerful dogs that can do more damage then say an aggressive Jack Russell but to ban them all together is totally unfair.

Maybe coming up with spay/neuter programs for these dogs, or requiring registration of these dogs to keep track of them and if you are not a competent dog owner who licences thier dog, has it spayed/neutered etc then they could take the dog. Anything other then blindly taking peoples beloved/safe/friendly compainion and killing it for no reason. Maybe there should be IQ tests to own a bully breed... To say they should be murdered just because someone doesn't "like" them is heartless and inhumane towards both the dogs and the responsible owners.

This coming from a person who owns an Australian cattle dog who could give any pit bull a run for its money, I can't judge.

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"This coming from a person who owns an Australian cattle dog who could give any pit bull a run for its money"

 

- Don't kid yourself. It wouldn't be even remotely close. If that were true, people would be fighting cattle dogs.

 

This is a Pit Bull:

 

 

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And this is what most people THINK is a Pit Bull:

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I watched a decent documentary on Netflix called Beyond The Myth a few weeks ago about Pit Bulls. Worth watching.

 

Breed bans don't work to lower bite rates or death rates by dogs. Hundreds of thousands of pit bills are killed every year in shelters, yet many pit bull lovers don't care, don't know, and keep breeding willy nilly. My local CL is filled with pit bulls/mixes, our city shelter and SPCA is filled with pit bulls. Probably 8/10 dogs in our city shelter are pit/mixes.

 

My area has free spay/neuter for pits or pit mixes. The problem is getting the irresponsible owners to actually want to fix their dogs-even if it is free many are still not doing it. I think requiring and enforcing licensing, mandatory microchipping, and enforcement of current laws needs to be done. Not even just for pit bulls. I think statistics show that most dogs that seriously injure or kill are unaltered dogs, many have lived lives chained outside. Many dog attacks that are reported in the news, have the breed wrongly reported.

 

My mom just sold her house because of her neighbors and their dog. They have a purebred Mastiff who lives in their fenced backyard. He is over 100 lbs, knocked part of the fence down and runs loose through a nice village chasing cars, chasing kids, etc. Dog control has given citations but my Mom was shocked to learn that the dog owner has more rights than she has. The dog ruined her fence, and there was nothing she could do about it. The dog slams against it, snarling, growling and barking and gets loose constantly-nothing was done to protect anyone in the neighborhood. The mail lady does not deliver mail to their house anymore either and almost stopped delivering to my Moms house (!!!??) until she offered to meet her at the driveway. My Mom even had to be nice and make a deal with the neighbors to bring the dog inside while she showed her house. Bad dog owners and rude, selfish people will always exist

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Tough subject.

What always surprises me is that people that so heavily fight for an individuals rights are so quick to take another's away.

I get the problems with Pitt's! Having had a dog attacked and my clients threatened by a pack of the former neighbors Rott's , I totally understand the issue. As if it takes personal experience. It is common sense.

I see no other way to control any of these issues without personal responsibility. And as long as society is so quick to not take it and blame everyone else (and I feel the same way about the whole breed registry thing!), it will never get better.

 

Breed bans would put me in a bad spot. I own GSD's. One of which is not an easy to dog to keep. Yet she is my love! I am not a person that requires a certain breed for work, protection, therapy...or whatever. I choose to have this breed because I am in love with it. What kind of hoops would I have to jump through to be qualified? Yet, I am a person that believes that I don't need to own other breeds. And guess what...I don't. Because of my limits and other choices. If I can do that, why can't others? Maybe those folks should be much more heavily prosecuted (with common sense and on an individual basis by qualified people) than they are now?

 

Heck, people can have children all day long and no one cares if they grow up to be misfits because of poor supervision and education. And to be sure to add, I don't believe that all people whos kids turn out miserable are bad. Some are just simply ignorant and have too much other stuff going on. Life happens....

 

And yes, it is always hard for me to put my thoughts in writing. Too much going on in my little brain.

 

But no, I am totally against a breed ban. Do I have solutions? I think one way to maybe add is to reward people for responsible ownership with vaccine rebates....stuff like that...

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There are way too many bully breed dogs in Kansas City. It's like everywhere else. All the neighborhoods are full of them. I'm afraid of them and I'm not afraid to admit it. I also really don't care for rottweilers. I can't read those dogs.

 

The inner city is full of bully breeds. Its the macho thing. Did you know that there is a new fad of fighting dogs in car trunks? How crazy is that?

 

But I just can't see banning the breeds. I don't think it would do any good and would cause incredible heartache.

 

I don't know what the answer is. I know that Kansas City animal control has been pretty aggressive about getting loose dogs off the streets. At least in my area. I don't know if that's true about the inner city areas where the animal control people might be afraid to go - with good reason.

 

We had an awful pitbull attack here a few years ago. A man was riding on his lawnmower and 3 dogs grabbed him and just tore him to pieces. He survived after months in the hospital and his life will never be OK again. We had a boy waiting for the school bus that was killed by rottweilers that got out of a fence.

 

I don't have answers. But it certainly is disturbing. I don't take my dogs out where there are other dogs. We don't do dog parks. I don't even walk them. They stay in the backyard. It's big enough that they can really run. And they are pretty safe back there. But I have had dogs climb the fence and come in. And there was the yorkie that slipped in under the gate and would have been killed if I hadn't been out there when it happened.

 

What I can't comprehend is why anyone would want the potential liability of owning a potentially dangerous dog. If you do attacked someone your life as you know it would be over. You would be facing serious jail time and who knows how much money it would cost you. Why would anyone want to take a chance like that? Probably because they don't understand just how bad it can get if your dog attacks a person. Or how awful the situation can become and how fast that can happen if your dogs attacks another person's dog. It can happen in a heartbeat. And life as you know it will change forever.

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I also would like to add....I have visited and worked with people that do responsible training with Pitt's. I have personally observed people work that breed in protection sports. My exposure has been in good clubs. So maybe my sample group is a bit one sided...but I have seen more other breeds (GSD's. Mal's. Rott's) that are more likely to have nerve issues than the particular Pitt's I got to watch. Very stable dogs.

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Pit bulls have been banned in the UK for around 20 years, so what happened?

 

The morons who used to have PBs to make themselves look hard turn to the Staffie - a previously popular dog as a family pet.

 

Now we have more and more aggressive Staffies and the rescues are bursting at the seams with them because hardly anyone trusts them any more, even though the majority are probably still as people friendly as they always were.

 

That's where banning specific breeds gets you.

 

Next on the list the Staffie? Then what? And none of it addresses the real problem of idiot owners.

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So is there anyway that really makes sense to handle this problem?

 

This, I think, is the crux of the problem. No matter what laws or regulations are put in place, responsible people with well behaved dogs are always going to suffer the consequences of fallout from what was put in place to try to fix a serious problem. Nobody who is responsible deserves that, but there just doesn't seem to be any way around it when laws and regulations are put in place for these reasons.

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I don't like the corollary idea of 'safe breeds' which comes when people start talking about 'dangerous breeds'. Obviously people here wouldn't do that, but you get an alarming number of people who will disregard obvious signs of aggression in dogs who are of the 'right breed' because 'those dogs don't bite'. Whether it's their own dog or someone else's.

 

I have absolutely been 'taught' by 'more experienced owners' at various times that labradors don't need to be socialised, fluffy dogs don't need to ever leave the house, it's cute when the golden tries to savage the postman, because those dogs are good dogs, they're not mean. Or that you can bark at, and put your face up to, the growling shih tzu while the owner is frantically trying to pull it away safely.

 

The worst experiences I've had were with labradors (dog-aggressive), boxers (same), yorkies (same), border collies (three or four human-aggressive, all with multiple bites to their credit). The dog-reactive, muzzled, ginormous german shepherd was fine because the owner knew what he was dealing with. Same with the beautifully-behaved staffies. The 'dangerous' dogs had owners who took care to have their dogs under control.

 

Leaving aside people being attacked by their own dogs, or the dogs of their friends, if a dog's supervised, under control, and muzzled and leashed if necessary, if existing laws about these things were enforced, you wouldn't have problems with loose dogs. It seems to be 'sexier' to target the scary dog du jour with legislation, rather than just enforcing the laws which could reduce attacks by all breeds.

 

Take Ireland- collies, terriers, cocker spaniels, german shepherds and golden retrievers seem to be responsible for more dog bites than other breeds, probably because they're more common. It would be ludicrous to then call for a ban on those breeds- they bite more because there are more of them, and because most of the mixed-breed dogs can be lumped into those categories.

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I ran across a site recently that detailed all the dog bites causing death to humans in Canada since the 1990s. The vast majority of human deaths were caused by Northern breeds, mainly sled dog types, most of them located on or near reserves. Although one man had his throat torn out by a borderjack.

 

I work for Animal Control in a municipality where bully breeds are (problematically) owned by a vastly low income and largely transient population who do not neuter them, or by recent immigrants who chain them in the backyard and do not neuter them. This is neither a cultural or socio-economic stereotype; it's simply statistical data. Part of my job is to track this information. We experience a large problem with bully type dogs attacking or killing dogs, and Presa Canario or mixes thereof breeds biting people.

 

The majority of pit bull type dogs that end up in our shelter go unclaimed, and most of them are lovely with people. Some are problematic with other dogs.

 

I don't like pit bulls very much - I have no underlying resentment of them, they just don't appeal to me aesthetically, and I don't enjoy their very big personalities (very strong, very little impulse control, short attention spans). But they are usually nice dogs to have in the shelter, as they are social with everyone and don't deteriorate as quickly as some of the other dogs from kennel stress. And having said that, some of my favourite shelter dogs that I have advocated most strongly for are/were pit bulls. They are more difficult to adopt out, because they frequently appeal to people I won't adopt dogs to. The homes I do adopt them to are generally very committed, responsible homes. I wish there were more homes like that available for them.

 

I don't support breed bans, I support stronger animal control laws that focus on holding owners accountable for the actions of their dogs. I'm sorry to have to say that the most difficult part of my job is dealing with people, such as the people who own the power breeds and either enjoy their dogs' bad behaviours, or fail to understand why the behaviours are bad. Recently in a nearby municipality a sheltie was attacked and nearly killed by a pit bull type dog in a park; the owner of the pitbull threatened the owner of the sheltie with a knife. There is more going on here than a dog problem; the dog is merely the vehicle for a very big problem.

 

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The worst bites I have received in my career in animal control have been from feral cats. I *loathe* feral cats.

 

RDM

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The problem, as I see it, is three fold: over-bred, poorly bred, and irresponsibly owned dogs. Banning a breed when the three fold human problem currently centers on a type of dog will not work. If a ban happens works, the type of dog that is the center of the human problem will shift. Shifting fads continually occur (GSDs, Dobermans, Rotties, etc.). The legal focus should be on the humans for over-breeding, irresponsible breeding, and irresponsible ownership.

 

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