Jean Pierre Foy
Professor McClure, Kristene
English 1101
November 24, 2014
BSL
Over the years in the United States, Pitbuls have been branded as a dangerous dog. There are many stories on how dogs attack on kids, adults and babies on the news every year. Many people in this country think that there should be laws to ban specific dog breeds. Animals have become part of our lives now and we treat them like family. There is saying, a dog is a man’s best friend. But people think that Pitbuls, Rottweiler, German shepherd should be banned as pets. We should not punish the dog, the solution to this problem is; the owners should educated in order not have problems with their dogs. There are many dogs that are euthanized every year and in some cases the dogs may be innocent. States should not ban specific dog breeds from living in because there is no way on determining a dog’s specific breed, therefore current bans are not working.
It’s not fair for owners who have never had a problem with their well-behaved dogs have to be ban and face the consequences. The real problems are the owners not the dogs. Studies have proven that it is affective when we educate people so they can know how to react around dogs. For example President Obama said “We don't support breed-specific legislation -- research shows that bans on certain types of dogs are largely ineffective and often a waste of public resources...As an alternative to breed-specific policies, the CDC recommends a community-based approach to prevent dog bites. And ultimately, we think that's a much more promising way to build stronger communities of pets and pet owners.” (Greenwood, Arin) So as the CDC says that it would be better to teach kids, parents, everyone in a community on how to act. Some may say that BSL laws are useful but “Extensive studies of the effectiveness of BSL in reducing the number of persons harmed by dog attacks were done in Spain and Great Britain. Both studies concluded that their "dangerous animal’s acts," which included pit bull bans, had no effect at all on stopping dog attacks.” (Campbell, Dana) You can’t specify a dog breed from just looking at it, it takes time and for the dog’s fate whether to be put down or not is final. In a study, “shelter workers in the United States and United Kingdom were shown pictures of 20 dogs and were asked what breed each dog was, how they determined each dog's breed, whether each dog was a pit bull. Most participants noted using dogs' physical features to determine breed, and 41% affected by BSL indicated they would knowingly mislabel a dog of a restricted breed.”(Hoffman, Christy L)
The answer is clear, this BSL is not effective. There is no reason why they have to be banned or “put to sleep” your dog specifically Pitbuls. Not all are vicious dogs that will attack you out of nowhere. There is a reason why the dog has attacked a kid, or someone. We all have to be careful and know how to act. A famous case was about Michael Vick’s dogs; “now that they are not in a harsh abusive environment, they are living with new families and happy.”(Sieczkowski, Cavan) One of them is even with a new family that has baby. This dog has his own rescue named after him “Handsome Dan”. So we can’t ban dogs because of their looks, or their past. We need to treat them like family, because these animals are part of our families.
Work Cited
Campbell, Dana M. "Pit Bull Bans: The State Of Breed-Specific Legislation." Gpsolo 26.5 (2009): 36-41. Academic Search Complete. Web. 25 Nov. 2014.
Hoffman, Christy L., et al. "Is That Dog A Pit Bull? A Cross-Country Comparison Of Perceptions Of Shelter Workers Regarding Breed Identification." Journal Of Applied Animal Welfare Science 17.4 (2014): 322-339. Academic Search Complete. Web. 25 Nov. 2014.
Greenwood, Arin. "Obama Comes Out Against Dog Breed-Specific Legislation." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 20 Aug. 2013. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.
Sieczkowski, Cavan. "Michael Vick's Former Dogfighting Pups
