About Pit Bulls and Breed Specific Legislation

“That island of England breeds very valiant creatures.” –Shakespeare

After more than one hundred years of being hailed as the greatest breed of all dogdom by people from all walks of life, nothing has been maligned as the American Pit Bull Terrier in the last two decades.  The media has projected them as dangerous and unfit companions, particularly for children.  In the late 1980s to present, due to many highly publicized incidents involving careless breeders and owners, the very name of the Pit Bull has become synonymous with aggression, violent behavior, and untrustworthiness…

How different from the image of the breed just a few decades before.  Where once the Pit Bull had been advertised and sold as a “pal for children” (and in England as the “nursemaid dog”), now the dogs were considered highly dangerous to children, and in some cities across America, politicians (acting just as irresponsibly as the owners of the dangerous dogs responsible for human injuries and deaths) passed laws banning dogs that even looked similar to any of the bull and terrier breeds.  Thousands upon thousands of kind and innocent dogs are to this day destroyed for no other reason than their general appearance resembling that of a dog, perhaps thousands of miles away, that had caused harm.

The media and the inexperienced would have you believe that Pit Bulls are vicious and should be prohibited.  However, this very breed as a whole has proven their stability and good canine citizenry by becoming search and rescue dogs, therapy dogs working inside hospitals, professional herding dogs, agility champions and, most importantly, family companions for hundreds of years.

Taos County is in the beginning stages of considering Breed Specific Legislation, i.e. making Pit Bulls illegal to own.  So far, common sense has remained in control but this could change.  While Breed Specific Legislation was overwhelmingly decared unconstitutional and unwanted by citizens in the state of New Mexico, Santa Fe is currently expected to pass restrictions with regards to owning Pit Bulls.

Our country was not founded on the restriction and punishment of the masses based on the actions of a few…

A five year study published in the Cincinnati Law Review in 1982, vol. 53, pg. 1077, which specifically considered both Rottweilers and Pit Bulls, concluded in part that:

…statistics did not support the assertion that any one breed was dangerous, …when legislation is focused on the type of dog it FAILS, because it is…unenforceable, confusing, and costly.  …focusing legislation on dogs that are “vicious” distracts attention from the REAL PROBLEM, WHICH IS IRRESPONSIBLE OWNERS.

In light of this and other studeies, we urge you to consider the following:

Reject this type of legislation, which is contrary to fact and distracts from the real issue, that of responsible ownership, and

Actively pursue legislation that would RENDER OWNERS LIABLE FOR THE ACTIONS OF THEIR PETS, such as a good, non-breed specific dangerous dog law.