Violent dog ordinance鈥?

A small town near where I live has a violent dog ordinance. They are considering making it breed specific because of a rash of bites, especially to officers, from pit bulls.

The most recent one involved an officer who was bit on the hand but wash not injured. The owner was a vet tech. She said that the dog was trying to protect her puppies. The dog was not tied up however. In the incident before that the dog did some serious damage to the officer鈥檚 leg. The dog was not tied up that time either.

Pit bulls are a popular dog in this area. I know they can be vicious dogs, but I do not think that the dogs should have to suffer because of careless owners. I do not know of a city that does not have a leash law. If the owners are not responsible, why should the dogs pay? They take other breeds away from their owners and place them with new ones, why can鈥檛 the same be done in this case? I can understand if the dog has a violent past, but animals will bite or scratch out of fear too. My own cats have bitten me when I have tried to give them medication, but that does not make them violent.

What do you think?

Pits are not born bad,Its how you raise them just like eny other breed. I had a pit he was just a loveable clown. But he would get in between me and enyone that he felt would hurt me. I was walking him one day and some man was running toward me just to get in a apartment to get out of the rain he almost ran into me the man stopped before he ran me over all Pete did was stepped in between us and sat down and looked at the man. The man said oh **** Im sorry I thought all pits were attack dogs, Hes just letting me know that I got to close to you. why didnt he attack me?I told him that eny breed will atack if thats the way they are trained.Pits are not bad its people that make them bad.They are great family pets very loyal and loving, you just have to get one that the parents were raised as pets not fighters .I miss Pete so much.

My area just passed a vicious dog ordinance. It includes large breeds and pit bulls. In addition to the $100,000 insurance you must carry, the animal must be caged, including the top, when outside the home. Doors and windows must be protected from the animal "breaking out".

I think it is incredibly irresponsible for any pet owner to have their dog outside without a leash, that is just stupid esp for your vet tech friend, she should know better. But since we do read about kids and adults being mauled and sometimes killed by dogs, IO agree with the ordinance esp if the owners are so careless about securing their own dogs.

Well I think that humans are the ultimate cuase for these animals behavior.Pit bulls are stafordshire terriers so they wrer bred to kill.Cats are differnt from dogs so your argument about cats is futile.

A loose pit bull scalped my 5 yr old nephew, guess where i stand on the issue? I'm sure the dog felt threatened by a 30 pound child.

The ultimate source of responsibility is with the dog owners. Unfortunately, it seems a large percentage of pit bull owners are people who like the meanness of the dogs, refuse to properly train them, don't take care to purchase puppies from parents who are good quality dogs, and who keep their dogs in conditions that increase the chances of them biting or attacking someone (though not ALL pit owners are like this). If there isn't an ordinance that prevents people from owning pit bulls, then there should be more policing of owners--requiring certification that they've been through obedience and Canine Good Citizen courses, etc.

You can't eliminate dogs from an area because of breed, especially when there are no papers officially stating the breed. We had a dog that looked part pit bull--she was half boxer and half Chesapeake Bay Retriever and boy did we get stares and comments about her!

It's also unfortunate that some breeds are more prone to aggressive behavior than others. It's a natural trait bred to an extreme (like hunting or herding behavior is in other dogs) and that kind of extreme is not proving to make the dogs socially acceptable. I will not let my child go near a dog that looks pit or part pit regardless of what the owner says about people. I used to be a vet tech and had to help put many pits down due to owners who were stupid or dogs who couldn't be controlled or trusted. Sad.

I think they can pick a different breed and have a good, more trust-worthy dog. How many people do you ever hear about getting bitten or attacked by, say basset hounds? Let's be honest; people choose pit bulls because they have a high "cool" factor, because they have a "kick ***" kind of reputation and no one will mess with you if you're walking a pit, because they are tough lend an "I'm bad" kind of air to someone's image.