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If You Support Breed Specific Legislation, Read This

It was last Tuesday and Toby’s grandpa decided to take him for an evening walk. Because I wasn’t going to be home till late he figured he would tucker the little boy out. As they were walking down the middle of the street, a small 5 pound ball of fluff came running out of a house, teeth bearing and growling.

The dog went right for Toby’s leg. Toby just froze, not knowing what to make of the situation. (Remember, this is a dog who will only play in the big dog park) Luckily, his grandpa quickly scooped him up and yelled at the other dog, before it could do damage. A woman came out of the house and casually called the dog back to her, never saying a word to Toby’s grandpa about her dog’s behavior.

This is the third dog attack in this particular neighborhood, and they were all by small dogs — which brings me to the point that the breed of a dog doesn’t always matter and their attitude can really come down to each specific dog, as well as how they were raised.

It is why breed specific legislation is not the way to go.

Breed specific legislation, or BSL,  “is the blanket term for laws that either regulate or ban certain breeds completely in the hopes of reducing dog attacks,” according to the ASPCA. Many times pit bulls, some terriers, German Shepherds and

Rottweilers are at the center of this ban.

Maggie Marton, of the blog Oh My Dog! is on a campaign to end BSL in Denver, the home of BlogPaws West. Maggie owns a

Staffordshire bull terrier mix, who is a therapy dog and because of the ban is not allowed to go to the dog-friendly conference of more than 300 pet bloggers and writers. 

Maggie is taking the reigns of My Tail Hurts From Wagging So Much tomorrow to tell you about BSL and why it needs to be ended in Denver. Make sure you stop back again Tuesday to hear her story. 

6 thoughts on “If You Support Breed Specific Legislation, Read This

  1. That is so frustrating! I can empathize with you, as there have been many a loose dog in my neighborhood. Ppl just don't have the common sense to not allow their dogs out unleashed. When they do get out (whether by error or on purpose), they wonder why Fluffy went missing, got hit by a car, or attacked someone. BSL is SOOOO not the way to go.

  2. Poor Toby! I'm so relieved to hear he didn't get hurt. You're exactly right: Dog owners, regardless of the breed they own, need to be responsible!

  3. We had the same thing happen to us recently – only I didn't think fast enough to pick Ty (all 40 pounds of him) up before the attacking dog was able to get to him. The 20 pound attacker got a hold of Ty's ear and, while the damage was limited to flesh wounds, it was quite traumatic for both Ty and me! BSLs are the racism of the dog world.

  4. I volunteered for several years at a shelter that received dogs from animal control, and by far the most vicious dog I saw there was a chihuahua. (We had escapees from puppy mills, fighting (and bait) dogs and your run-of-the-mill poorly-cared-for pups, so it's not like we had a lot of easily-adoptable animals! We saw it all!)

    BSL doesn't fix bad owners. There are lots out there, and they own all types of dogs. And you can end up with stitches from a chi just as easily as kisses from a mastiff-pit mix.

    I'm glad Toby is ok!

  5. Thank you for posting this. I have a pittie mix. I keep her on the leash and make sure that she does not approach dogs she does not know. Howevever, many of my neighbors have little fluff dogs that are allowed to run out onto the sidewalk and bark at my dog.

    My problem is that I have the big dog (a pitte mix no less)so if there is an altercation my dog will be put to sleep not theirs.

    This happened to a husky in Broward County Fl recently (one county) away from my house. The husky was sentenced to death despite being on a the sidewalk and on a leash.

    Really sad!

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