Expert: Lee Meyer - 3/28/2007

Question
Hi Lee,
My town issued a Pitbull ban a while ago and I am furious. I don't own a Pitbull, but I feel that is unfair. I did research on Pitbulls and they help the community just as well as other dogs do. Some are therapy dogs and they visit sick and old people. What can I do to speak out?
Sarah

Answer
Hi Sarah,

well, I guess the tact to take is more of an education one here, IMO.  The problem with pit bulls are the owners that breed them to be dangerous.  The city, therefore, bans ownership of this kind of dog.

However, there are lots of big dogs that can be trained to be dangerous.  German shepards, wolfhounds, etc.  It's an even worse situation with pit bulls because they are such 'the dog of choice' when it comes to drug dealers and others who use them for protection while doing illegal things.  Nobody wants to go up against a pit bull bred to be dangerous.

The simple fact is that in order to put your side of the argument out there, you can't ignore the fact they are being bred and used by criminals, gangs, thugs, etc.  The way you can try to deal with this is perhaps narrowing the scope of the ban to say, apartment dwellers, areas of the city where population density is higher, known problem areas of the town, known owners of super-aggressive dogs, etc.  I don't think you'll get anywhere if you don't try to offer a practical alternative to what they are really trying to do with this ban.  Generally these bans are trying to get at those who use dangerous dogs as part of their illegal activities, and also to reduce the number of attacks of these dogs on people.  If you can come up with alternatives that can still address the illegal cases well, I think you'd have a much better chance at getting the ban modified.

Has there been anyone attacked in your town by a pitbull?  Is crime up in your town, or have toddlers or others been attacked by pitbulls?

I think if you can also research all dog attacks in the town area and see what percentage is attributable to pit bulls, maybe you will find some data that shows other dogs are more prone to attack than pit bulls.  However you may run the risk (if you find any) of those dogs being banned, so that logic may backfire on you.

The sad fact is that it really isn't the dogs' fault.  Many are abused to get them to the point where they are not re-trainable.  You could propose doing away with the ban and instead, if problems with pit bulls ever do occur, impose massive fines on the owner, because this tactic holds a bad owner responsible and punishes the person that trained the dog to be hyper-aggressive in the first place.

The problem I am seeing at all levels of govt is that they are passing laws that make certain things illegal because a very small percentage of people that are abusing a right or privilege.  So they ban it for everyone, which makes the 98-99% who can handle (ie talking on a cell phone while driving, etc) it criminals.  Instead, I would rather see them keep the thing legal, but if problems occur AND the person was negligent because of "x" (talking on cell phone while driving, ex) then the penalty gets multiplied, jail time increases, etc.  Punish only the people who have proven they can't handle the privilege or right to do whatever.

So in the case of the pit bull thing, if this person ever owned a dog that attacked someone, ban them forever from owning pit bulls in the town, and if they do, take them away and fine them out the wazoo and put them in jail for awhile.  repeat offenses up the jail time and fines.  Make them very high to really hit the offenders where it hurts.  Target the ban to people who are known to breed and raise hyper aggressive dogs, not make the entire general public suffer for a few malcontents.

Hope this helps give you a starting point to go from.

Lee