Ban On Pit Bulls - 4 Years And Counting

snowleopard

snowleopard

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15+ year member
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The Province of Ontario, in eastern Canada, passed a ban almost 4 years ago on the ownership of pit bulls. Any exisiting dogs were allowed to be kept by their owners, but they had to have the animals neutered and then muzzled whenever in public. Ontario has the largest population of any Province in Canada, and now there are rumors from several other Provinces that an enforced ban on ownership of pit bulls may take effect in the future. The reason for the ban has been the high number of pit bull attacks all across Canada over the past couple of decades, and this week the Supreme Court upheld the ban and refused to alter the situation. I personally am thrilled that the breed has been almost phased out of existence in Ontario, and only wish that my home Province of British Columbia would follow suit and end the rash of dog attacks from pit bulls.

Provincial pit bull ban upheld in Canada - UPI.com
 
Breed-specific legislation is a huge, huge failure; it does nothing to protect the public from dangerous dogs. It does the opposite, in fact, by ignoring the REAL problem; irresponsible owners and irresponsible breeders. In England, Ontario (I've had more problems with offleash dogs since this ban came into effect), Winnipeg and in many areas where "pit bulls" have been banned, dog bites and attacks have gone on the increase. Organizations that aren't even animal-related organizations are against breed specific legislation are against BSL, this includes the Safety Council of Canada.

I have been volunteering for the Hamilton SPCA for over a decade and no matter how horribly abused many of the pit bulls I have worked with -- and work with, they have all been extremely loving dogs. A pit bull with a sound temperament is no more dangerous to people than a Lab with a sound temperament. Many pit bulls serve as therapy and search and rescue dogs; an ex-fighting dog of Michael Vick's is now helping cancer patients. Many pit bulls serve as VERY successful bomb and drug detection dogs, including some from Ontario. Staffordshire Bull Terriers are one of the few breeds where in the breed's standard, it is specifically mentioned their love of children (hence their "nanny dog" nickname). It's been proven by the Supreme Court of Alabama that there are no such a thing as an inherently dangerous breed of dog.

Many owners and dogs have become victims of BSL while criminals who abuse and breed human aggressive dogs go unpunished. As more than thirty breeds are mistaken for pit bulls, cases of mistaken identity are also not uncommon; a Lab was euthanized as he was mistaken for a "pit bull"! The idiot who thought this ban was such a terrific idea (typical politician) couldn't even identify the pit bull!

The only solution is non-breed specific legislation. For further information about breed specific legislation, it's failures (and why ALL dog owners and animal lovers in general need to fight it), it's far more effective and intelligent alternatives and real pit bull facts, please visit:

THE DOG LEGISLATION COUNCIL OF CANADA (I am a member of this terrific organization)
www.understand-a-bull.com - Breed Specific Legislation (BSL)
Defend your dog - fight breed specific legislation - BSL
The Pit Bull Project - We're People For Pit Bulls!...Educating One Person at a Time!
Pet Pit Bull - Home
Breed Specific Legislation
One Bark at a Time
caveat :: Main Page
http://stopbsl.com
http://www.ourpack.org
http://pbrc.net/
http://www.lawdogsusa.org/home.html
http://www.wallacethepitbull.com/
http://www.rottclub.ca/bsl_article.html
http://www.realpitbull.com/myths.html
http://www.badrap.org/rescue/myths.cfm
http://www.chako.org/
http://www.animalfarmfoundation.org/
http://www.naiaonline.org/body/articles/archives/nylaw.htm

 
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This is a very difficult question, but I tend to agree with what Meaghan Edwards writes.

In my hometown, pit bulls and related cross breeds seem to be the most common dog nowadays. I am not a dog owner but in my spare time I often take care of other peoples dogs (the owners work night shifts, go on vacation etc...) so I spend a lot of time walking dogs in the streets and in the parks. I honestly have never ever had any problem whatsoever with pit bulls or pit bull cross breeds.

Then again I know that when things go wrong with pit pulls, they go horribly wrong. You only have to pat one to feel how they are all muscle and nothing but muscle...

But just as Meaghan writes, I believe that the main problem is not the breed as such but the irresponsible owners and irresponsible breeders.

A comparison:
25 years ago german shepherds had a somewhat bad reputation in Sweden, because even if they were the choice of the police etc they were also pretty common among dog keeping alcoholics and people like that. For some reason this is not the case anymore and the reputation of the breed has changed, I believe.
 
Dan, German shepherds have a reputation everywhere, makes me sick as I've got one and he's never hurt a fly (although he once ate a wasp, it stung his and it looked hilarious). I agree this ban does very little good, I did some research for college and a bloke ordered one from Finland undercover, it was so easy for him to get one over here, if I remember rightly no one even checked to breed on the journey brining it back. And I also agree that it's down to the owners too, there's a German shepherd down the road from me who's really aggressive, and then there's mine who's like an overgrown puppy.
 
Aha! Nice to hear, Ashely-h! I have a particular soft spot for German shepherds... Two of the three dogs I regularily tend to are German shepherds. Not that I don´t love the third one just as much - a big furry Leonberger... the guy in my avatar.
 
I've had a thing for German Shepherds since I was six :D I can remember when I was that age I thought the first white German Shepherd I met up with was a polar bear, he was that huge. He was a big suck. :) Sadly when I was around ten years old, there used to be a German Shepherd in my neighbourhood that was always kept chained up, and because he didn't get the socialization that he needed, he did develop aggression issues. Stupid owners. I believe he was seized by the SPCA, though, where he was given a second chance.
 
Pit bulls have been banned in my city since 1990, and it hasn't done anything to prevent dog bites from happening.

The only change is that the tough guys have to look elsewhere for their dogs to abuse. For a while the wannabe thugs were buying up boxers by the boatload. The bounced from them to rotties & dobes for a bit but have now settled on American Bulldogs as their breed of choice.

And now people like myself have to put up with the ignorant masses crying "PIT BULL!" when we dare to walk our brindle coloured dogs in public. I guess it is my fault for having a boxer/mastiff cross. It doesn't matter that she is 40lbs too heavy and 6 inches too tall to be a pit.

Here is my Penny at 7 months old, sorry I don't know how to resize :/
061608sun.jpg
 
You're very welcome -- and thank you :) Fighting BSL is one of my passions. PeTA also supports BSL, another reason for me to call them PITA instead :P
 
Well, if that poster's the standard description, my Golden Retriever/Flat Coated Retriever cross is almost certainly a pit bull (though maybe a little large) :p People are scared of her anyway-who wouldn't be of a big, black dog with a large wagging tail and a toothy grin?

I confess that I have not ever met a pit-bull (at least, not a pure one), tho we do have them here in the London 'burbs. The breed I've had more trouble from (and probably the most trouble) are Jack Russells. I've met some that are very friendly and polite (including this adorable miniature I had half a mind to dognap...) but at the same time, I've met some right rotters. Half of the attacks on dogs round where I live that I can think of were carried out by Jack Russells (no people ones spring to mind, admittedly, but dogs are just as much victims as we can be).

And yet, I'm not saying "ban them! stop breeding them!"-which would be impossible since they're almost certainly on of the UK's Top Ten favourite breeds of dog.

A lot of the trouble with so called "dangerous dogs" seems to be down the owner-they don't socialise the dog properly, they haven't got through to the dog that they, not the dog, are the pack leader. Some dogs do have a chip on their shoulder, just like some people do. Others are or have been abused, and like with humans, it screws the dog up too. Boredom is yet another cause.

I know rottweilers-big, "terrifying" dogs-that are as gentle and friendly as my retriever-mix is. If you have a responsible owener, you will (almost certainly-depends of the dog's personality) get a pit-bull with the same attitude-sociable, friendly, a lovely, good dog. However, if you have an irresponsible owner...chances are that pit-bull will try to take your leg off :(

What happens if you don't teach a child manners and respect? You get a lout-maybe not a dangerous one, but almost certainly you get someone who is unable to to be taken out in public very well. It's all but the same with dogs, except they may be more inclined to bite.

And now I'll shut up :o

PS-I know several Alsatians/German Shephers and a Leonburger. I can't ever recall meeting a nasty A/GS (on the contrary; they're almost cuddly-friendly, if it weren't for their inability to keep still!) and the Leonburger's a nice dog, just a grumpy old man who's a bit distrustful of strangers. He'll growl, he has even bitten as a warning before-but he never used force :)
 
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