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Dog Law and Breed Legislation

by Katharine Dokken

Hot in today’s news are story after story about various communities considering different types of breed specific legislation (BSL), better known as breed banning. In a nutshell, BSL bans ownership of certain breeds of dog.

The purpose behind this kind of legislation is to stop dog bites, dog fighting rings, and prevent ownership of vicious dogs. However, banning dogs based on nothing more than their breed, does not accomplish this. In many communities there are already laws on the books to deal with these issues.

Lets look at dog fighting first of all. It is illegal across the United States, a felony in 44 states. The criminals that run these rings know they are committing a crime so to expect them to care that ownership of the dogs is illegal is a huge stretch of the imagination.

When breeds are declared to be aggressive and are banned by a community, those who wish to own an aggressive dog will get a dog of another breed or a vicious mutt. Or as many of them already do, they will simply breed their own.

What about dog bites? Breed specific legislation has been shown to be ineffective and does not alter the overall incidence of dog bites. A study done in England found that making three breeds of dogs illegal (Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, and Dobermans) did NOT decrease the number or severity of dog bites that occurred (Injury 1996 Vol. 27:89-91).

Besides the fact that BSL doesn't work, the laws are almost completely unenforceable. In Cincinnati, Ohio, during a ten-year period, the police department spent over $160,000 per year trying to enforce their Pit Bull ban. Among the many seized dogs were Boxers and Golden Retrievers. Many Animal Control officials cannot accurately identify the 800+ dog breeds in the world, let alone the 157 breeds recognized by the American Kennel Club.

With the Pit Bull ban in Prince George’s County, Maryland in place since 1997, dog bites by Pit Bulls or Pit Bull mixes have not gone down. German Shepherds and mixed breed dogs were both responsible for more dog bites than Pit Bulls.

Besides the enforcement side of this equation there is also the public health problem. Banning ownership of certain breeds would cause consequences to human safety. A breed ban would not eliminate these breeds. It would not stop individuals from desiring or acquiring the banned breeds. Rather, the owners of such breeds and the public would be placed at greater harm because the dogs would no longer be produced by reputable breeders who breed for good temperament and health but would instead be produced by underground breeders who deliberately breed aggressive dogs. Banned breeds would have no access to vaccinations and proper vet care - rabies vaccinations will not occur, making dog bites much more serious.

The biggest problem that BSL fails to address is that of personal responsibility. Any dog treated harshly, trained to attack, or not properly bred or socialized may bite a person. Any dog can be turned into a dangerous dog. The owner is most often responsible -- not the breed.

Lest you think breed bans do not affect you since they aren't currently in place in your community, think about this. What if you go on vacation? Do you know if there is a breed ban in the area where you are going on vacation? Take for example the situation in Charleston, West Virginia. In early 2002, the Mayor announced a directive to police officers to shoot any dog running at large that displays any sign of aggression, and he released a plan to ban Pit Bulls, Dobermans and Rottweilers. Numerous incidents have since happened with Police Officers shooting dogs on sight. What if you are on vacation in the area and your dog gets away from you? And just because you may not have a BSL law on the books now, does not mean that you won't have one tomorrow. All it takes is one well-publicized or hyped dog bite case in your area and your family pet could be banned.

While Pit Bulls are at the forefront of breed banning discussions, it is not limited to Pit Bulls alone. Once you get a law on the books to ban a certain breed, it’s very easy to simply keep adding more breeds to the "outlawed" list. For example, In Cincinnati, Ohio, they banned American Staffordshire Terriers and Staffordshire Bull Terriers or their mixes as "pit bulls". In the discussion that followed during the hearings, city council members toyed with including other breeds on the list including: German Shepherds, Dobermans, Rottweilers, and Rhodesian Ridgebacks. Recently the Cincinnati law was overturned due to the huge expense of enforcement and several losses in court, one of which was when an owner of eight purebred American Bulldogs seized and declared to be "pitbull mixes" sued the city over his dogs seizure and won.

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