Banning Dog Breeds Is Wrong

The unjustful discrimination of dog breeds- Not just Pit bulls(This is the real title of my article)

I have never heard of this or looked into it much, until now. It should be put out there, people need to know about this if they do not. Pit bulls are not the only ones in this concern. In the US, 75 and a possible increase of breeds of dogs are being labeled with bad raps and considered dangerous in many states. Some breeds are not allowed at all in certain states/cities, they are banned completely. If you own a dog, find out about the restrictions for the dog and before moving to any new town or city, check with the city hall. The infamous list below has been making it's way through the internet, convincing gullible owners that it's true.. well, not all of it.

    List of breeds banned/restricted#- repeated or fake breeds)

    1. AIREDALE TERRIER
    2. AKBASH
    3. AKITA
    4. ALAPAHA BLUE BLOOD BULLDOG
    5. ALASKAN MALAMUTE
    6. ALSATIAN SHEPHERD #
    7. AMERICAN BULLDOG
    8. AMERICAN HUSKY #
    9. AMERICAN PIT BULL TERRIER
    10. AMERICAN STAFFORDSHIRE TERRIER
    11. AMERICAN WOLFDOG #
    12. ANATOLIAN SHEPHERD
    13. ARIKARA DOG
    14. AUSTRALIAN CATTLE DOG
    15. AUSTRALIAN SHEPHERD
    16. BELGIAN MALINOIS
    17. BELGIAN SHEEPDOG
    18. BELGIAN TURVUREN #
    19. BLUE HEELER #
    20. BOERBUL
    21. BORZOI
    22. BOSTON TERRIER
    23. BOUVIER DES FLANDRES
    24. BOXER
    25. BULLDOG
    26. BULL TERRIER
    27. BULL MASTIFF
    28. CANE CORSO
    29. CATAHOULA LEOPARD DOG
    30. CAUCASIAN SHEPHERD
    31. CHINESE SHAR PEI
    32. CHOW-CHOW
    33. COLORADO DOG #
    34. DOBERMAN PINSCHER
    35. DOGO DE ARGENTINO
    36. DOGUE DE BORDEAUX
    37. ENGLISH MASTIFF
    38. ENGLISH SPRINGER SPANIEL
    39. ESKIMO DOG
    40. ESTRELA MOUNTAIN DOG
    41. FILA BRASILIERO
    42. FOX TERRIER
    43. FRENCH BULLDOG
    44. GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG
    45. GOLDEN RETRIEVER
    46. GREENLAND HUSKY
    47. GREAT DANE
    48. GREAT PYRANEES
    49. ITALIAN MASTIFF #
    50. KANGAL DOG #
    51. KEESHOND
    52. KOMONDOR
    53. KOTEZEBUE HUSKY #
    54. KUVASZ
    55. LABRADOR RETRIEVER
    56. LEONBERGER
    57. MASTIFF #
    58. NEOPOLITAN MASTIFF
    59. NEWFOUNDLAND
    60. OTTERHOUND
    61. PRESA DE CANARIO
    62. PRESA DE MALLORQUIN
    63. PUG
    64. ROTTWEILER
    65. SAARLOOS WOLFHOND
    66. SAINT BERNARD
    67. SAMOYED
    68. SCOTTISH DEERHOUND
    69. SIBERIAN HUSKY
    70. SPANISH MASTIFF
    71. STAFFORDSHIRE BULL TERRIER
    72. TIMBER SHEPHERD #
    73. TOSA INU
    74. TUNDRA SHEPHERD
    75. WOLF SPITZ #

According to the list above(notice: don't take the whole list seriously though), it is quite a surprising amount and many of which we can claim cannot possibly be "bad dogs" or dangerous. Some of the listed above even (if you look harder), is a make-believe name or just another actual name for an already listed dog breed, now there's something wrong there, but most of the dogs listed are dogs that have had a history of biting and are frequent attackers, but this isn't always what it seems. Many believe just because they have heard/seen it on the news that these dogs are to be avoided extensively because they think all Pit bulls are mass killers. It's bogus really. All dogs will bite when threatened or scared, it is of their nature to. Dogs can become aggressive and bite, given even how they were treated being raised, exposed to or even trained to do, like Pit bulls were trained illegally to fight other dogs. As we all know or if you haven't taken notice, there is a mass amount of Pit bulls that end up in animal shelters every year, thousands of them and even dogs you see on the breeds list. People find them beaten up or give them up due to aggressive behavior. One reason might be because people don't know how to have responsibility for their dogs, that's when they should have never gotten one in the first place. In order to prevent problems, one must read up on breeds, get to know the breed. Some dog breeds have to be trained right to prevent misbehavior, such as Siberian Huskies are very energetic dogs and so they need to be understood from a young age. Some dogs need more so, you need to keep up with them or you will end up having them take over you, that's why obtaining as much information about the breed will help. Don't blame the breed, blame the people and the people that label these dog breeds as killers.

This whole situation I am talking about is called BSL or Breed Specific Legislation, where breeds are banned/restricted by not only history, but by their appearance. It isn't just the big breeds that get labeled, but smaller dogs are getting the hit as well. Not only can they be banned from areas that don't allow ownership, but there are laws that require spay/neutering of the dogs, microchip implants for identification and liability insurance(preventing people that have committed a crime from owning the dog). Do these laws work? No, there is no proven effectiveness of safer areas for the people that live in them or other pets. It is costly and is not easy to compel it. Many people do not like it and do not agree with this, such as the the United States Center of Disease Control(CDC) who do not support BSL because of incorrect dog bite information and the trouble of identifying dog breeds, many of which are sometimes mixed breeds so, it is hard to tell.

What's bad about this? It conflicts with and carries a lot of consequences along with it that are unfair, making it very frustrating. Owners of forbidden breeds will shelter or hide owning the dog, instead of having to give up their best friends. They will not allow it outside and will not associate with veterinary needs(spay/neuter, vaccinations, etc) or licensing the dog. This causes much difficulty for fully responsible owners of well trained, friendly dogs that are supervised very well, for the dogs to have to fall under. Some will just deal with these restrictions and have to agree with the regulations, they shouldn't have to unless they can set a fortunate legal obstacle of the issue. The security then is not definite since the laws do not do much to make public safety better, nothing is proven to work. When there is a small amount of animal control means used to keep in control or to ban a specific breed of dog, without consideration to behavior, the concentration is then shifted away. There is a greater chance for more efficient constraint of laws for less dangerous communities- dog license laws, leash laws, dog fighting laws, against chaining/tethering laws, laws assisting with spaying/neutering and laws stating that all owners must control their canines, no matter what breed it is.

The other choice or option other than going with BSL, is looking at things that might cause the dog's offensive behavior- heredity, gender, past experience(like mentioned above), fixed(reproductively sterilized) or not, socialization and how much obedience or training.
Below, are facts given from the ASPCA about dog attacks:
* More than 70 percent of all dog bite cases involve unneutered male dogs.
* An unneutered male dog is 2.6 times more likely to bite than is a neutered dog.
* A chained or tethered dog is 2.8 times more likely to bite than a dog who is not chained or tethered.
* 97 percent of dogs involved in fatal dog attacks in 2006 were not spayed/neutered:
* 78 percent were maintained not as pets, but rather for guarding, image enhancement, fighting or breeding.
* 84 percent were maintained by reckless owners-these dogs were abused or neglected, not humanely controlled or contained, or allowed to interact with children unsupervised.

Of all that has been said, should be looked at in all honesty and notice. This is a serious situation and for the love of dogs if you care and care about your dog. The ASPCA believes that the laws should be neutral and owners should be responsible for their dog's behavior. The dogs should be protected from being labeled for being dangerous, it isn't their fault.