Breed bias—officers shoot aggressive pit bulls, but would they shoot raging retriever?

By Kristina Sanborn
September 26th, 2011
Section: Opinions

Photo Credit: Courtesy of MCT

Recent incidents where LA County Sheriff’s deputies shot and killed two pit bulls in response to the animals’ sudden attack beg the question if strict breed restrictions should be implemented.

Breed Specific Legislation, or BSL, have been considered by the state of California since the 1980s to reduce the number of dog-related attacks, according to the ASPCA.  They have continuously been rejected.

“There is no evidence that breed-specific laws—which are costly and difficult to enforce—make communities safer for people or companion animals,” according to the ASPCA’s website.

Certain breeds of dogs, like the pit bull, have been notorious for their violent and erratic behavior.  German Shepherds, Rottweilers, and pit bulls account for 29 out of the 36 dog-bite-related deaths in the US for 2010, according to dogsbite.org.

However, making breed distinctions when identifying the assailant in a dog bite situation is often made in error.  According to dogexpert.com, there have been these cases of misidentification because a dog may closely resemble, say a pit bull, when in fact they are a completely different breed.  So have been pit bulls been unfairly targeted?

“Punish the deed, not the breed!” says website understand-a-bull, which was created by pit bull owner Marcy Setter.  The website provides a list of news stories of dog attacks by other breeds (http://www.understand-a-bull.com/Articles/OtherBreedBites/AllDogsBite.htm) of dogs.

On September 19 in Charlotte, N.C., a three-year-old girl was attacked by a golden retriever, according to local news reports (http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/Child-attacked-by–130181238.html).  This incident came only two days after the pit bull shootings here in Stanton and Norwalk by police officers.

If the BSL’s objective is to ban dangerous dogs, then they should include golden retrievers on that list.

In the meantime, LA County Animal Control regulations state, “dogs that constitute a public menace may be impounded and removed from the custody of their owner.  The Department may file a petition with the Municipal Court to determine the disposition of an animal considered to be dangerous.”

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  • Anonymous

    This is the story of what really happened to Colleen Lynn who runs dogsbite.org regarding her supposedly unprovoked attack. BTW, she is a 501(c)3 which is a non profit, which means the donations you make to her can go straight into her pocket. If she truly cared about protecting the public, she’d be educating people on how to read dog behavior. However, she has zero qualifications when it comes to canine behavior, so instead she gets people to donate to her by scaring them, and then personally profiting from it.

    http://www.pitbulletinlegalnews.com/pro-bsl-experts/dogbiteorg/109-collen-lynn-seattle-animal-control-records

    Victoria Stillwell (It’s Me or the Dog) on BSL:

    http://positively.com/2011/04/06/why-bsl-doesnt-work/

  • Anonymous

    Glad to see so many people debunking dogsbite.org.. this is one crazy woman .. with the help of a determined Denver DA who has tried to pass BSL in very place he can think of .. Kory Nelson they have put together a site that if it were about people would be taken to court for bigotry and racism..even “punish the deed…” is wrong.. dogs don’t have morals.. they have no idea they are doing a bad “deed” . They are reactionary in most things.. that is why you can train them..

  • Suzie

    Credibilty for your article dropped as soon as you quoted Dogsbite.org, a website created by a wacko lunatic that hates pit bulls and sadly is a bit sick in the head.  Quote real statistics and use your common sense.  Dogs are dogs regardless of the breed, they don’t get the choice of who their owners are going to be.  

    It is just unfortunate that animal abusers, criminals and the low lifes of this country are attracted to the bull breeds and the media are partly to blame by making them out to be blood sucking killers.  These people take the traits of the pit bull breeds (loyalty, reliability, eagerness to please their handler and tenacity) and exploit them in the wrong way, a dog is only reacting to the way his owner his brought up.  

    These dogs are not naturally aggressive in fact quite the opposite yet they are just acting the way they are told to please their owner.

  • Anonymous

    I agree with the above poster, DogsBite is NOT a credible source. It is not written by a canine behaviorist, but a rather unstable woman and the site is an anti dog sit where
    http://btoellner.typepad.com/kcdogblog/2010/03/the-truth-behind-dogsbiteorg.html
    http://btoellner.typepad.com/kcdogblog/2008/09/dogsbiteorg—-when-a-quest-for-vengeance-becomes-dangerous.htmlhttp://tinyurl.com/6dlrabf

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Selwyn-Marock/1316954286 Selwyn Marock

    Firstly when quoting Dogbite Org,it is a bit like quoting Klux Klax Klan in an effort to improve Black-White relations.They are also a Hate Organisation.
    BSL is not a debatable option as if I were to call for a debate asking for Rape,Murder and Paediaphilia to be Legalised I would be considered Mad,all four of the above mentioned are Crimes including BSL and only those that commit such Crimes should be Punished.Never based on 
    race or breed,All Blacks are not Violent,All Muslims are not Terrorists and all Pitbulls are not Vicious.