Over the last few months, dog enthusiasts have been closely watching the tension in Montreal surrounding a woman being killed by a “Pitbull”. The ruling has now passed to bring in BSL. (Breed Specific Legislation.) The only problem is, the dog who killed that woman was not a Pitbull, or anything close to a Pitbull. A DNA test recently uncovered that the dog was actually a rottweiler, mastiff, golden retriever mix.
A Pitbull is a type of dog, not a true breed. It’s more like a group of dogs, which makes it hard to be specific about what a Pitbull is in the first place. Think of it this way, you can be Korean, or Asian. Both answers are correct.
BSL doesn’t work. After a decade of BSL in Ontario, dog attacks are up, dog attacks by Pitbulls are down. If the goal is to decrease dog bites as a whole, BSL has not worked in Ontario.
Dogs are like cars, they need humans to activate them. We as humans breed them, with no regulation, and allow them to get into the hands of negligent people. Really? In that respect, we could take away the law that says we have to have a driver’s license to drive, create really fast cars, and then freak out when street racing increases. Then we could wait for someone to get killed and ban all fast cars from the road. Or put speed limiters on them to restrict the damage they can do, even though a car can still kill someone traveling 30 miles/hour. Your heavy foot is the problem, stop blaming the car.
How blind is our government? Why do we not get it. The issue is not the dogs. It’s the people. The people that breed intense dogs and don’t properly manage them. The people who don’t safely contain their dogs. Why is it not a law that you have to do health checks on your dogs, have them do obedience training, and be registered before you can breed them? Why is it ok for humans to create super car-dogs, put them in homes with irresponsible people and then blame the dogs when they do something bad? Why is it not the human’s fault? We created these dogs.
Take someone’s car from them if their dog attacks a human or dog, and muzzles will be out of stock in every pet store for miles. It’s too easy to acquire a dog and doesn’t hurt the humans when they are negligent.
We don’t blame cars for accidents. But we blame pitbulls for hurting or killing dogs and people when these situations completely could have been avoided. I’m in no way going to come to the defense of the “Pitbull” by saying they are all perfect and innocent. Thats a load of lies. They are dogs. Dogs are predators. I have worked with plenty of aggressive Pitbulls over the years. Any dog can bite if the owners are not careful.
The role of genetics is important to discuss. Ever hear someone say “It’s the way you raise the dog, no dog is born aggressive.” Not entirely true. The world has dog breeders that specifically breed for aggression. Aggression, and high prey drive are things you can genetics select for. This is why responsible breeding is a must. I have seen massively food aggressive Rottweilers at 6 weeks old. Did the owners train that into them? Heck no. Welcome to genetics.
Some Pitbulls are like Kia’s and some are like Ferrari’s.
I have been rehabilitating aggressive dogs for a long time. I bring aggressive dogs onto my property everyday. I have three of my own dogs, a wife and a small baby who live on my property. If dogs were the problem, why are my dogs not getting attacked by the dogs I bring in for training? Why hasn’t my baby been killed by an aggressive Pitbull? Because of me. I know how to manage aggressive dogs. I use bullet proof dog crates with three locks on them. I have a separate building to work with these dogs. I have muzzles to use. I use two collars on a dog instead of just one. I’m not an irresponsible dog owner or dog trainer. I know that my knowledge of how to work safely with these dogs is the one thing that will keep my family and neighbors safe. Safety is more important to me than a dogs freedom. And I know that can be achieved without banning breeds.
If you want to stop dogs from killing people, it’s easy:
Stop allowing unregulated people the ability to breed dogs.
Make the laws really hard on dog owners that do not properly contain their dogs instead of slapping them on the wrist.
Make it mandatory to have all dogs assessed each year by a professional to look for potential problem dogs. We have safety inspections for cars don’t we?
You can kill all the dogs you want Montreal, but you won’t stop dog attacks until you figure out the human element.
P.s. Banning forks will not cure obesity in your city.