Breed Bans & My Opinion

Hello PACmembers...

I am writing the following, because recently, people have been asking how I feel about Breed Specific Legislation. I believe that holding the dogs responsible is just a way of passing the buck. They are animals and are going to do what animals do...I also don't think that euthanizing and entire breed is likely, or going to solve anything. If we do ban Pittbulls, Rotts, Dogos, Ban dogs, or anything other breed, and we actually manage to eliminate them...another breed will be soon to follow. There will always be a new breed to replace the existing problem. So here is my answer...and BREEDERS...your not going to like this.....

First, it is important to understand, a well bred Pitbull IS dog aggressive, NOT human aggressive. Pittbulls were originally designed to fight other dogs. The dogs that fought the hardest were bred to create even stronger fighting dogs. The dogs that were weak, and the dogs that bit their owners were euthanized. In the early days of pit fighting the dogs were separated from each other frequently throughout a single fight. This meant that a person had to be able to intervene with out getting bit. If the dog bit them they were immediately euthanized. So by definition, a Pittbull that is people aggressive is POORLY bred. Who's fault is that....THE BREEDERS!

The answer:
1)ALL BREEDERS MUST BE LICENSED AND CAREFULLY REGULATED BY THE STATE (similar to gun dealers).
2)THE BREEDER IS LEGALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DOGS THEY BREED FOR 2 GENERATIONS OF BREEDING.

I can hear the gasps and groans of how unfair this is already. Please let me explain. 99% of dog bites stem from two things. One, poor breeding practices (i.e. genetic issues, uneducated parings), and two, careless ownership (aggression stemming from the dogs environment). If every breeder was going to be held financially and criminally liable for the actions of their dogs (dogs out of their line), several things would change. Breeders would be extremely selective in how they bred, why they bred, and what they bred.

They other major key is that they would be more selective in who they sold the dog too. For instance, a breeder of working Rottweiler's has a litter, and a potential owner inquires about purchase for a family pet. The answer should be a prompt and clear no, but these days that is not necessarily the case. To think the average family can provide a high drive Rott with adequate exercise, training, and work is ridiculous.

I have been a trainer/behaviorist for 9 years. I specialize in aggression and other severe behavioral issues. More often than not, owners of aggressive dogs have purchased a dog completely wrong for their lifestyle, situation, and expertise. It should be the job of the breeder (theoretically an expert on the breed) to determine whether or not this potential family is right for this dog. The breeders need to take responsibility for their carelessness.

Not everyone should own a Pittbull, rottweiler, GSD, Malinois and a number of other working dogs. In fact, most absolutely should not. So who gets to decide who owns what. Well, the breeder. Since the breeder is already in control of this decision lets make them responsible for its outcome.

This solution eliminates careless breeding, back yard breeding, uneducated breeding, putting pets in the wrong environment, putting pets in abusive environments....all of these things combined would bring the likelihood of a bite incident to nearly zero. These list above would be considered crimes.

Let's think about an actual bite situation and determine how this could have been affected by these new laws:

1) A dog born full of anxiety and fear (more common than you think because of poor breeding standards) is sold to a very loving family who are going to give him a happy, safe, and stable life. He'll have plenty of room to run and play, the best food money can buy, all the toys in the world, and most important of all...lots of love. After the dog has been in the new owners home for about 13 months the owner startles the dog and is bitten in the face. Unbelievably, this owners Pittbull has "turned" on him, and nearly killed him. He had taken such good care of the dog...what happened. It must be the breed. WRONG. An unskilled breeder bred a working dog with weak nerves and poor temperament, and then placed this dog in an environment with people who did not know how to handle this issue. A "breed expert" created this disaster and should be held responsible.

Every single bite incident is affected by, and the responsibility of, the dogs breeder. It is time for them to be aggressively regulated, and take responsibility for there actions.

I love to debate this topic so please feel free to contact me for further discussion .www.petathleticclub.com