ASPCA in the News: Dog Advocates Speak Out Against Breed Banning
By JAMES HART
The Kansas City Star
Tough laws are needed to protect the public from dangerous dogs, but banning pit bulls or other breeds wholesale isn’t a real solution, an ASPCA lawyer said Wednesday.
Some cities now impose stiff penalties, including jail time, if pet owners let a dangerous dog attack someone, said Ledy VanKavage, an attorney from the St. Louis area. Others push dog owners, pet shops and animal shelters to alter their dogs, a process that could cut down on dog aggression.
But breed bans aren’t fair because they punish animals that haven’t done anything wrong, VanKavage said. “We should be allowed to own any dog we want as long as that dog doesn’t hurt anybody.”
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posted by ASPCA at 12:37 PM PERMALINK
6 Comments:
It isn't fair to ban some dogs from cerain areas. We as people should have the right to own what ever kind of dog we want. Just because some people raise dogs and use them for terrible things doesn't mean that all people are doing that. My family is military and we are sent to certain areas for up to three years at times. If we had a dog that had been in our fmaily for two or three years and then we were sent to some where where they don't allow my dog. What am I to do? I wouldn't leave my dog or give it up. My dog is my family just like my child is. This should be stopped and there needs to be another way around this.
9-6-06
On the average I also find the Breed Banning mentioned as wrong. However, today, I was listening to Agri-Talk. There was a person from your organization against the banning. However, she also stated that she felt Rotweilers needed to run free. I DISAGREE. I live in Taylorville, Illinois. We have a 14 year old Shitzu and a 5-year old Lab. We have a fenced in back yard for the dogs protection as well as it is a law in your town. In the last year we have had several occasions of a Rotweiller across the alley from us "climbing" a chain link fence and then crossing the alley and trying to crawl up our chain link fence. My husband has Parkinson's Disease and when he heard our Lab barking (almost like a scream) he tried to get the Rot to leave. He then tried to attack my husband and our Lab was trying to protect my husband and him. Now, I ask you? Also the Rot was dragging a chain and still got out, climbed the fence and tried to get our dog. Why should one loved pet be killed because you people feel the Rots are special. Thank you for letting me fent my frustration.
Martha
I am a great fan of BOXERS who are often confused by the ignorant locals around here with PIT BULLS!
I would NOT want my BOXER to be exterminated by some local with a shotgun because he looked like a PIT BULL. These idiots shoot first and ask questions later because most of them are too ignorant to articulate any questions at all.
As a semi-professional dog trainer who has worked with the "worst" of them ( at least by ignorant human standards, I haven't seen a bad or untrainable dog yet), I can tell you that a dog will do pretty much what you train it to do! Period.
So maybe the law should take a better look at the Springer bunch of ALL ETHNIC GROUPS who train and breed precious animals to FIGHT with the undesireable traits that make people afraid of the entire breed!
For the nice person who had the chain link fence and the Rottweiler tried to get in,maybe you should try putting up a wooden privacy fence or running a strand or two of barbed wire or razor wire on the top of your chain link so it will deter "climbers" like the Rottweiler and maybe the neighborhood kids who can do more to make a dog meaner than anybody!
A cloud of squirts of high grade pepper spray in the Rottie's face and calling animal control when he menaces your pets
would help too.
Better still, make a video of the Rottie doggie trying to climb your fence to get at your pets who are minding their own business and send a DVD or CD-ROM of it to the dogs' owners and one to the Patrol Division of your police department.
I have never worked with Rotties and Don't know that much about them but it's usually not the dog's fault entirely --lousy dogs have lousy owners!
Recently I recieved notice from my housing area ( I live on a military post) that pitts, rotts and chows will be banned as of 01 Oct 06. My dog is grandfathered in but I will be requiered to obtain 300thousand insurance policy naming the dog. It is not fair as my dog does not growl, threathen and has never bitten anyone, while a neighbors small dog is unleashed and chases kids all over nipping and biting at them. Where is the sense. A dog can be dangerous but it does not have much to do with the breed. A dog can be friendly and it does not have much to do with the breed. It is all in the owners training technique and thier personal treatment of the dog. A well-trained well-socialized dog is not dangerous unless provokes through attack on a human that the dog loves.
As an owner of several generations of pit bulls, I stand against breed banning. It simply doesn't work...any breed can "go bad" when unsupervised, untrained or abused. There is another, political, reason to stop breed banning. This is America, where private property is considered sacred. When you let the government tell you what kind of dog you can/can't have on your private property, what will the next step be? Telling you what kind of car you can have, or how many children are allowed per family? Those are extreme examples, but we have to draw a line somewhere. Besides that, I love my pitts too much to consider another breed. As for the "Rottie" comments above: the escaped dog's owner should be more responsible. When you are the owner of a dog that you know is controversial, you must serve as an ambassador for the breed and be 100% more conscientious than a typical breed owner. Irresponsible owners give people like me and dogs like mine a bad name.
I own a pit bull. She has saved my life in many ways. She is smart and I see know reason why I should have to give up my dog because others are scared of anything that looks mean or has a bad reputation. My brother has three and they have never hurt anyone as well as mine. So why do breed bans have to ban every breed that might hurt someone. When if you look at the whole dog comunity you have dogs like chihuaha's hurt people to. If they are going to ban animals then they need to ban them all. Not just one breed. I was attacked by one of those blasted anckle bitters, I had to to go the emergency room and get 12 stiches. Come to find out the people that owned the dog taught it to attack on site.
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