BREED SPACIFIC LEGISLATION IN THE US

Breed Specific Legislation

Crystal LaFreniere
POLS 1100
4/30/16
Salt Lake Community College

BREED SPACIFIC LEGISLATION IN THE US

I chose to research breed specific legislation (BSL) because it is a topic that I have had
direct involvement in; for four years I worked at The Humane Society of Utah and a kennel tech,
some of my responsibilities in that position were doing reception at the front desk where we
would intake animals and assisting with euthanasia. Almost on a daily basis dogs would be
brought in because the owners couldnt afford the pet deposit required by some landlords or
some landlords outright refused to accept certain breeds of dog because of the cost of insurance
involved. In some cases owners would have to surrender their pet because they moved to a city
where the breeds (usually pit bulls) were banned. The more I learned about BSL the more upset I
became over the whole idea of restricting animals biased solely on how they were born; in the
majority of cases the dogs had never acted aggressively, bitten, or harmed a human in any way.
So why, I thought, are these dogs traumatized by being put in a shelter? There were also the
fighting dog that were brought in, some were very aggressive and had to be euthanized, others
were terrified of everything and scared because they were used as bate dogs. The only
punishment the owners of these poor animals was a fine and conviction of animal cruelty,
nothing changed for those people.
All this made me wonder why these this are allowed to happen.
There is a list of dog breeds that are considered aggrieve these breeds are often in the
mastiff or bully breed families. Breeds such as the American Pit bull Terrier, Boxer, Rottweiler,
Bull Terrier, German Shepard, Doberman Pincher, Chow Chow, and many others (Stanley Coren
PH.D, 1991-2016); the factors that many vicious breeds have in common is that they are
medium-large breeds, originally bred to work, and bred for loyalty to their families. If
improperly socialized or taught to be aggressive these breeds will act on their instincts and do
anything to please their owners. The most breed most often singled out for BSL is the American

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Pit bull Terrier. The traits that can lead a pit bull to aggression are their innate desire to please
their owners and protect their territory (Marthina McClay, 2011). Anatomically the pit bull has
one of the strongest bites in the K-9 world, third after the Rottweiler and German Shepard; this is
because the muscle that controls jaw strength takes up the majority of their head (Animal Planet,
2016). There is a myth that a pit bulls jaw can lock, this is not true, but they do have an ability
to hold for a long period of time and when they get a hold of something they do a movement
known as ragging which is shaking their heads violently from side to side resulting in a tearing
of the object in their jaws. As a consequence of these instinctual actions bred into the Pit Bull by
humans, when a person is bit by this animal it is often a psychically and mentally traumatic
event.
Dog lovers, humane organizations, and animal rights organizations like the ASPCA or
Humane Society go to great lengths to point out that in comparison to other breeds of dog the Pit
Bulls and other viscous breeds are not responsible for the majority of bites. There are many
different statistics of which breed bites the most, but often the Labrador retriever, Dachshund,
and shepherding breeds are near the top of the list in bites while aggressive breeds are near the
bottom or not in the top breeds list at all. The conclusion in most studies is that its not the breed
as a whole, but the way the individual animal is raised and socialized that is the factor in if it will
be aggressive or not (Wilson, 2015).
In my research I made an effort to look at both sides of the issue, both the anti-BSL and
pro-BSL arguments. I found it difficult to find much creditable information for the pro side of
the argument, but I will start off with what I found for the argument for the inaction of breed
specific legislation.

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There are proven cases of dog attack involving animals on the list of aggressive breeds,
most of the time these attacks are sever enough to put the victim in the hospital or, in some cases,
result in death of the victim. The goal behind BSL is to reduce the number of risky animals in
the general population or reduce their ability to aggress through the use of muzzle and leash
laws. Pro-BSL proponents often site statistic in other countries that claim a reduction in
hospitalizations or fatal attacks from dogs (Hess, 1996).
In my reading of pro-BSL information I found few arguments that were backed by
reasonable data to suggest that bully breeds and mastiffs are more likely to bite than others.
Statements like Banning a breed or declaring it inherently vicious punishes those
responsible dog owners but also stops a violent animal being in a public place example alligators
cannot be kept as pets in many areas to protect the public .(Word Press, 2013) are used to take
the animals about of the place of a pet and associate them instead with wild animals. They use
the backing of organizations such as PETA to give credence to their call for legislation.
However, I found in my research at PETA is one of the less creditable animal rights
organizations (Winerip, 2013) according to sources such as the New York Times. The official
stance of PETA is to euthanize all pit bulls (PETA, 2009), in contrast to their reputation for
being advocates of animals.
I found it difficult to give much credence to pro- BSL legislation because it often
revolved around poor statistics and fear. I found myself feeling anger to the point where it was
difficult to read the articles and web sites that I found.
On the anti-BSL side there we more reliable statistic from veterinary journals and
organizations such as ASPCA and The Humane Society of America. These organizations

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advocate education and assessing each animal before determining if it is a danger to the
community.
According to the CDC Any dog has the potential to bite there stance is that creating
legislation on the basis of breed is an ineffective way of protecting the public health and safety
(Centers for Disease Control). The American Veterinary Medical Association says about dog
bite statistics:
Dog bite statistics are not really statistics, and they do not give an accurate picture of
dogs that bite. Invariably the numbers will show that dogs from popular large breeds are a
problem. This should be expected, because big dogs can physically do more damage if
they do bite, and any popular breed has more individuals that could bite. Dogs from small
breeds also bite and are capable of causing severe injury. There are several reasons why it
is not possible to calculate a bite rate for a breed or to compare rates between breeds.
(American Veterinary Medical Association)
The conclusion that I have come to in this research is that there is no reason to legally
restrict the rights of a citizen of the United States to own a particular breed of animal. What
sould be done is if an animal is found, as an individual, to be aggressive steps should be taken to
remove that individual from the community. Along with removing the animal the owners should
receive a punishment adequate to the assault their animal enacted on the community; anything
from community service at an animal shelter to jail time depending on the injury level.
In this course we learned about the right we have to peruse happiness as citizens of the
US, that includes who and what we love and what gives us comfort. These animals at their best
are companions that bring joy to their loving and responsible owners. It is discriminatory to

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judge a group by the actions of a few members of that group. The question that hangs over BSL
is at what point does the profiling go from the pet to the owner? The Pit Bull, Rottweiler, Bull
dog, and other related breeds are often associated with lower income individuals because these
breeds are often found on the street and taken in or they are mixed, one does not often see a pit
bull puppy going for several hundred or thousand dollars as one sees with breeds like Poodles or
Pomeranians.
Singling out these animals is another way of oppression in the end. Singling out these
breeds is in violation of the right every citizen has to peruse their own version of happiness. It is
profiling and morally wrong.
Punish the deed, not the breed- Anit-BSL advocates slogan.

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Works Cited
American Veterinary Medical Association. (n.d.). Humane Society of the United States.
Retrieved from Breed-Spacific Policies: No Basis in Science:
http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/breed-specific-legislation/fact_sheets/breedspecific-legislation-no-basis-in-science.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/
Animal Planet. (2016). Animal Planet. Retrieved from Dogs 101:
http://www.animalplanet.com/tv-shows/dogs-101/videos/american-pit-bull/
ASPCA. (2016). ASPCA Policy and Position Statemants. Retrieved from Position Statement on
Breed-Spacific Lagislation: http://www.aspca.org/about-us/aspca-policy-and-positionstatements/position-statement-breed-specific-legislation
Centers for Disease Control. (n.d.). Humane Society of the United States. Retrieved from BreedSpacific Policies: No basis in Science: http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/breedspecific-legislation/fact_sheets/breed-specific-legislation-no-basis-inscience.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/
Hess, G. (1996). Por Canine Breed-Spacific Legislation. The Canadian Veterinary Journal, 712.
Marthina McClay, C. (2011). Our Pack. Retrieved from Pitt Bull Personallity:
http://www.ourpack.org/personality.html
PETA. (2009, July 21). PETA. Retrieved from PETA's Position on Pit Bulls:
http://www.peta.org/blog/peta-position-pit-bulls/

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Stanley Coren PH.D, F. (1991-2016). 14 Dog Breeds Black Listed by Insurance Companies.
Retrieved from Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/caninecorner/201405/14-dog-breeds-blacklisted-insurance-companies
Wilson, S. L. (2015, August 26). Canine Journal. Retrieved from Dog Bite Statistics:
http://www.caninejournal.com/dog-bite-statistics/
Winerip, M. (2013, July 6). The New York Times. Retrieved from PETA Finds Itself on Reciving
end of others' Anger: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/07/us/peta-finds-itself-onreceiving-end-of-others-anger.html?_r=0
Word Press. (2013, January 9). Retrieved from Pit Bull Holocaust:
https://pitbullholocaust.wordpress.com/2013/01/09/positives-of-bsl-positives-of-breedspecific-laws-arguments-for-breed-specific-laws-bsl/