Breed Specific Legislation

What it is, why it started, and why it just isn't working.

By Jack Marinadi, Vet   Talk to the Author.

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Breed Specific Legislation BSL is Breed Specific Legislation and with the intense coverage of any all dog attacks (particularly those by bully breeds), bans and restrictions have been enacted all across the world.

Here is a short list of some banned breeds (banned in certain areas, that is):

• American Pit Bull Terrier
• American Bulldog
• Doberman Pinscher
• Rottweiler
• German Shepherd
• Tosa Inu
• American Staffordshire Terrier
• Bull Terrier
• Staffordshire Terrier
• Staffordshire Bull Terrier
• Mastiff
• Bullmastiff
• Presa Canario
• Cane Corso

Europe is the hotbed of Breed Specific Legislation with six or seven countries having active BSL - Germany, Netherlands, France and Spain being the worst places to have a banned breed. There are some states in the US, some provinces in Canada and Australia that all have BSL strongly enforced.

Why is BSL ineffective? If an individual has a strong desire to train a dog to attack, no amount of BSL will stop that person. Golden Retrievers have been trained to seek out and attack human beings - the breed is not an issue, rather it is the lack of proper training/socialization and the dangerous practice of training dogs to be guard dogs (as opposed to watch dogs who are not trained to attack but merely “watch”, as their name implies). Why are certain breeds more prevalent in dog attack statistics? Not because there are somehow more of those particular dogs existing but that more of the dogs are being owned by abusive or simply neglectful individuals who do not neuter their dogs, allow their animals to roam free and never socialize their animals, or who purchase their animal for the wrong reasons (ego).

The banning of specific breeds has been shown NOT to decrease the number of attacks or maulings. Why? Well, those same individuals who would have owned a Rottweiler or a Pit Bull are simply turning other breeds of dogs into killers. Other breeds simply replace the banned breeds as top maulers. Any dog can be trained to be aggressive towards humans and any dog that is not properly socialized can become dangerous. The list of organizations that are against BSL is staggering - they are reputable agencies and groups who realize that owners of dangerous dogs need to be held responsible but that no particular breed is more or less likely to possibly attack. Some of the agencies/organizations are: AKC (American Kennel Club), UKC (United Kennel Club), AVMA, CDC (Centers for Disease Control), ASPCA, SPCA’s, most Human Societies, most Animal Control Facilities, ADBA (American Dog Breeders Association), ADOA (American Dog Owners Association), most breeders and rescue groups as well as reconstructive surgeons for children whose groups have stated that a bite to the face of a child can be devastating REGARDLESS of the breed of dog who inflicted the wound.

What is the solution? There are several dangerous dog laws out there that are geared towards owners and individual dogs with no mention of any breed. Owners need to be held responsible for their dog’s behavior - if an owner cannot properly train or socialize a dog, let alone an APBT, then that person should not have a dog. It is high time that dogs stopped being killed after biting another dog or a person, it is not hard to reform a biter and why should the dog have to suffer for the idiocy of their owner. Unless the dog has an irreversible medical condition causing the aggression, every and all biting dogs should be given a second chance. Humans need to step back and realize that dogs do not go out and seek little children to gnaw on, there is no feeling of malice being expressed by these dogs - in fact, MOST bites occur because of miscommunication between humans and dogs, why should the dogs be killed and not the people? If both made a mistake, both need to learn what is proper and appropriate and a dog is more than capable of being taught discrimination (say between a squeaky toy and a screaming child) and proper behaviors.

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