When experts in dog behavior, animal control, law enforcement, and community safety come together, they consistently reach the same conclusion: breed-specific legislation (BSL) is ineffective, costly, and fails to address the real issues behind dangerous dog incidents. This page compiles expert opinions, study conclusions, and essential quotes that highlight why BSL is the wrong approach to public safety.
NAIA Dangerous Dog Conference – Key Insights
NAIA recognizes that efforts to reduce dog bites fail because citizens, lawmakers and humane groups tend to emphasize laws and policies that restrict dog ownership rather than penalize irresponsible dog owners.
When communities confront the problem of dangerous dogs, they often depend heavily on outdated lists of dog related deaths that put pit bulls and rottweilers at the top.
A dangerous dog is only a symptom of the real problem: irresponsible owners that don’t understand dog behavior and cruel and criminal owners who damage dogs and make them dangerous. …breed specific legislation is an inappropriate response to what is an issue of irresponsible ownership.
While [BSL] addresses a legislators immediate political emergency, it creates in the public a false sense of security and diverts needed resources from real solutions. It has a devastating effect upon innocent owners and dogs, as well as the agencies left to cope with the flood of “cast offs.”
Breed specific laws create challenges for shelter managers. We can be overwhelmed by BSL.
We prosecute people not dogs. Often dogs categorized as “vicious” or “dangerous” are just acting like dogs.
Animal control is a band-aid. Education is important to prevention.
The dangerous dog problem is a result of irresponsible owners, the popularity of powerful breeds and inadequate laws to address dangerous or vicious dogs.
Conclusions of the NAIA Seminar
- The problems caused by dangerous dogs in the community must be identified before they can be resolved.
- Responsible dog owners are part of any solution and should be recognized for their contributions to the community.
- The media is an important part of every solution because [the media] can either drive the hysteria or highlight problems and potential solutions.
- Dog advocates must promote responsible dog ownership.
- When laws are proposed, dog owners must stand up and make their views known, work with legislators, and offer alternatives to BSL.
BSL and the Cost to Taxpayers
- Cost of additional animal control offers to enforce the ban or restrictions. Remember, most cities do not have sufficient animal control departments to enforce leash laws, which if enforced would reduce many of the problems that lead to bite incidents.
- Kennelling.
- Veterinary care of the animals. (Hope you don’t think the animals are confiscated and immediately euthanized).
- Legal fees, court costs, etc., associated with responsible owners lawsuits against ineffective and unconstitutional laws.
- Baltimore, Maryland estimated (in 2001) that it cost over $750,000 a year to enforce their breed specific legislation, and they were still unable to enforce the law effectively.
Prince George County, Maryland Case Study
Prince George County, Maryland reviewed their existing dangerous dog laws, including a ban on pit bulls. The task force recommended repealing the law and cited these cost factors:
- Loss of revenue – since the ban has been in effect, there has been a dramatic reduction in dog show/exhibits in the county. Along with this comes some indirect loss of revenue such as hotel/motels, restaurants, gas stations, veterinarians, pet supply stores, grocery and drug stores, etc.
- Director of Animal Management Division estimated the County’s cost for maintaining a single pit bull throughout the entire process for one (1) year was $68,000.
- Fees from pit bull registration in 2001-2002 generated approximately $35,000 over the two (2) year period. However, the cost to the Animal Management Division for maintenance of pit bulls over the same period was $560,000. In addition, these figures would be higher but did not take into consideration utilities, manpower and overtime.
- It should be noted that these average costs to Prince George County do not include the expenditures of the of the County or Municipal police departments. These cross-agency costs, while significant, could not be fully captured or adequately estimated.
Temperament Test Results
The American Temperament Test Society conducts tests every year on thousands of dogs to determine the soundness of their temperament. The American Pit Bull Terrier and the American Staffordshire Terrier routinely and consistently rank in the average range, and well above many “popular” breeds such as the beagle, collie, doberman pinscher, cocker spaniel and great dane.
The American Pit Bull Terriers participating in our temperament evaluation have thus far shown a passing rate of 95%. The other 121 breeds of dogs in our tests showed the average passing rate of 77%
Essential Quotes from Experts and Officials
We’ve experienced a continuing upward trend of pit bulls impounded since 2001. The ban hasn’t ended the popularity of the pit bull breed in Denver. There are still pit bulls, apparently more every year.
I think it is wrong to generalize a specific breed as vicious because it is often associated with people who break the law. In my experience, vicious dog problems are more about people than dog… Responsible dog ownership addresses the problem far more effectively than picking on a breed.
[E]very dog is capable of attacking someone… People train [dogs] to fight and attack like in a cock fight. People should treat them with respect and give them some love and affection and kids like me would not get attacked.
If you ban pit bulls, I promise another breed will come along as the breed of choice.
We need to come up with something that takes care of vicious animals, not breeds.
Having this be breed-specific makes about as much sense as me being intimidated by Commissioner (Sam) Bullock here because he’s a different race,” said Jason Pierce, who is white, referring to Bullock, who is black. “That’s all it is, is a different breed. I don’t know why we’re here talking about this when we should be talking about animal cruelty and animal fighting laws.
It’s really about education. It’s really about getting out there and letting people know what’s responsible pet ownership. Our number one priority is education.
Those areas across the country that have pit bull bans or regulations have found that defining and identifying pit bulls can be a subjective, expensive, and time-consuming task. Numerous breeds are mistakenly identified as pit bulls, including American bulldogs, boxers, mastiffs and many other lesser-known breeds.
I don’t care what kind of animal you have, whether it’s a pit bull or chihuahua, that owner should be responsible if it has caused damage.
We had some extensive discussions about [a breed specific law] and decided because of the problems of trying to identify when you say ‘pit bull,’ it’s very difficult to prove in a court of law. The committee thought it should not be breed-specific. It could be a pit bull, a cocker spaniel, a chihuahua, a Rottweiler, so the ordinance opts to hold owners responsible – not breeds.
There is no data to support the idea that a particular breed of dog is vicious, It’s the owner’s behavior that needs to be addressed.