Source:Jennifer White wrote:It’s time to repeal the dangerous dogs act – by Felicity Lynch
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Submitted by Jennifer White on January 23, 2010 – 2:21 pm
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The infamous and failed dangerous dogs act has been in place for too long. It has quite clearly failed to prevent dog attacks and its time for it to go and go now. Pit bulls and pit bull ‘types’ as well as three other breeds are banned under the dangerous dogs act. It classes them all as dangerous regardless of the dog’s individual personality. This is a major flaw and it is one that has failed every where it has been passed.
Every single dog is an individual, they have there own personality and their behaviour is affected by the way they are raised, trained and treated. These are factors dogs have no control over. It is entirely up to the owner. Owners who fail to train or socialize or abuse a dog create aggressive and dangerous dogs, not breeds. Section1 of the DDA decimates against a dog biased purely on appearance! It doesn’t take the dog’s behaviour or its training into account.
This isn’t going to solve the problem. It might solve the ‘pit bull’ problem but it then just becomes the ‘Rottweiler’ problem, the ‘Staffordshire bull terrier’ problem and so on as the bad owners and those that want to use dogs as weapons just move on to the next breed. There are so many breeds that can be used in the same manor as pit bulls and cause the same damage that simply banning a few breeds isn’t going to reduce dog attacks. A ban is one of those things that looks good on paper but in reality doesn’t real work. In fact despite the ban dog attacks have actually increased since its introduction, I think that this speaks for itself.
Most dog behaviourists and dog trainers agree that it is the dog owners that are the problem with dangerous dogs not the breed. It has also been proven that pit bulls jaw structure is no different then any other dogs, so the belief that pit bulls have lock jaws is incorrect. Another myth I come across is pit bulls massive jaw strength, I’ve heard about it in the news and unfortunately even by some pit bull advocates and owners. A dog’s jaw strength is related to skull size. The bigger the skull, the higher the jaw strength. So a dog with a lager skull than a pit bull will have a higher bite force, and any dog with a smaller skull will have a smaller bite force!
So there is nothing about the pit bull breed that makes it more dangerous than any other. In the wrong hands even a Labrador is dangerous, yes labradors have mauled and even killed, yet this isn’t really heard of because it doesn’t make the news! As breeds like the Rottweiler, pit bull or Staffordshire bull terrier cause more damage and this makes them more news worthy. So basing legislation on the media, as the 1991 dangerous dogs act was, isn’t going to solve anything as all dogs are capable of attacking and if they are large they can cause serve injuries or even death.
I another major excuse of the pit bull ban is dog fighting. Unfortunately this has also increased at an alarming rate despite the pit bull ban. Dog fighting has been illegal for over 100 years, so dog fighters already have a blatant disregard for the law, so they wouldn’t care about breaking another. I think the punishments these people get for this sick and appalling activity is nothing put a slap on the wrist. I’m not surprised that dog fighters aren’t too concerned. I think dog fighting should come with a 10 years minimal sentence. This is a much better solution than punishing the breed.
Breed bans don’t do anything but punish thousands of innocent dogs and their owners.
As well as waste millions of pounds every year on trying to enforcing forcing them. The only people that will comply are the responsible owners which aren’t the problem. The irresponsible owners and the people who use them for illegal activates are the ones who create the problem and they will not comply
The pain caused to good owners is something that is taken into little consideration when breed specific legislation is passed. If you have ever had a dog and have had one that died for any reason, then I’m sure you would have felt the pain its death caused. But how would you feel if it wasn’t a medical reason that caused the dog to lose its life, but the way it looked. Imagine if your dog that had never done anything wrong was taken from you and destroyed because of its breed. And not only was your breed of choice was banned but the government could ban any breed at any time, would you real trust the government and the police again if you got another dog? This is how thousands of pit bull owners in this country feel.
We all want dangerous dogs of our streets and dog attacks to stop. No one wants children to be killed by dogs and to see dog attacks all over the news. However, having massive dog culls based on looks clearly is a failed concept. It is never going to solve the problem as it doesn’t target the human part of the equation. Its not a question any more the dangerous dogs act needs to be changed before any more children and innocent dog’s loss their lives. The dangerous dogs act is not strict enough, effective or a success. It needs to go and go now!
Please if you want to make a difference, contact your Mp and demand repeal! The dogs can’t do it for themselves, it’s up to us. Nothing will change unless we speak out.
It's Time to repeal the Dangerous Dogs Act...... (K-9 Magazine)
