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Denver bans "pit bulls"

Seriously, Denver can go eff itself. Stupidest law ever. And yes, I am one of "those" animal people.

How heartbreaking for the families that have sweet, friendly pit bulls (I've known several) as pets.

What really puts a burr up my butt is the fact that they're taking dogs that just "look like" pitt bulls. My dalmatian/lab mix "looks" like a pitt bull, and she'd never harm a soul

There was some talk about that down here in WV. In Huntington, a little girl was killed by a pit bull a few months ago. There is a muzzle law in effect, but no one bothers with it. I really don't support banning breeds, because any breed can and will attack. I like muzzle laws--for all dogs out in public--but they wouldn't ge enforced. :mad:

City Councilman Charlie Brown said that in his judgment, "pit bulls are trained to attack. They're bred to do that."

Okay, first of all, what kind of issues does dude have as a result of being named CHARLIE BROWN? Second of all, this is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. PIT BULLS ARE NOT ALWAYS TRAINED TO ATTACK, JACKASS.

Ugh. As a resident of Denver, I've heard a ton about this and want to do something to help, but I'm not sure what, aside from helping people realize that jacknuts over here shouldn't be re-elected.

I completely agree with you! I am also a resident of Denver, actually I live south of the city, and when I heard about this I was outraged! Its sickening to know that they can punish every pitt bull dog owner for the actions of a few. I have what some people would consider a "dangerous dog" (she's an akita) and I consider her one of my children. I would fight tooth and nail to keep her. I dont blame these people one bit for hiding their dogs.

I say stage an all-dog march on the coucil meetings. Or put burning dog poo on their doorsteps. This really is genocide. I really hope that none of these people claim themselves as "pro-life"..."all life is sacred blah blah blah but I can kill this innocent puppy because it *might* maul someone".

And I could train my sheltie mix to attack if I wanted to (not that she'd get up off the couch long enough to listen...) but you don't see them being killed.

This is also a HUGE waste of taxpayer money...that euthanasia has to come from SOMEWHERE and the salaries of the poor shmucks who get sent to take people's dogs away.

oooh I like the dog poop idea. I have a ton in my back yard already--its been too hot here lately to pick it up :D

Dogs don't maul people on their own. HUMANS make dogs maul people. If you were abused, yelled at, neglected and beat by someone, you'd be on the defense too.

There are some really nice pits at the shelter I volunteer at. It's a shame that none of them can get a home because EVERYONE has this picture in their mind that they will maul their kids.

I mean do the owners get compensated at all? After all the money you spend on vet bills and training to make it a perfect dog, and then they take it away? They better get something out of it for all the time and effort made to socialize them and bring them up properly.

This is really sad.

Good.

Let's stop genetically breeding dogs for fighting.

-Rudey

Miami has had them banned for a while.

Georgia had proposed BSL (breed specific legislation) but last i heard lawmakers had backed down off of it. It wasn't going to be a totally ban, just some restrictions.

I cannot imagine someone coming to my house and taking my baby away from me. I rescued her from the animal shelter when she was 5 wks old. Her mom was a purebred pit and her dad was an unknown. However, if a ban was ever started, if would affect her. I would seriously move before giving up my dog or euthanising her.

Here is a website against CAs proposed BSL. www.sorryagain.com

my baby is the top two pics on page 152.

*I am extremely against more pit bulls being bred. They are one of the most abundant dogs in animal shelters but I think it is unfair to ban the ones that have already been born*

You don't think it's fair that he was mauled by a pit bull? What is the solution to this problem?

Personally, I strongly believe that NO dogs or cats should be breeding until the ones who already exist have homes.

Check your local SPCA. The one here is offering a "Pay to Spay (or Neuter)" program where they fix Pit Bulls and their mixes for free.

/random aside

Pit bulls get a bad rap because they are the ones that make the news. They are strong muscular dogs and when they bite, they do damage. How many chihuahuas, poodles, cockers spaniels, etc. bite children every day but never make the news?

The thing is about the muzzle law is only responsible citizens are going to muzzle their Pit bulls and its not the responsible owner's dogs that are attacking. Its the dogs of irresponsible people who chain them up, starve them, let them run all over the neighborhood etc.

That argument makes absolutely NO sense. Why should they make the news if they're not causing as much harm? Out of the dogs that you named, i'm guessing the only way realistically that someone could die from their bite is if it got infected or something.

Pit bulls and rottweilers and the like CAN kill and some DO kill. You admitted yourself that they do damage when they bite. It's not uncommon to hear of children or sometimes even adults being killed by one of these dogs. Knowing your dog can cause damage puts the responsibility on YOU as an owner. Just like guns, there have to be laws because some dumb asses don't take care of their own responsibilities and other people get hurt.

I was just saying that Pit Bulls aren't necessarily meaner than other dogs. Hell, my poodle mix would come a lot closer to biting someone than my Pit bull would. Pit Bulls actually scored better in the temperment test than Goldens, Labs, Cockers, etc.

The real issue with pit bulls and the like is not the amount of attacks, its the severity of attacks. Most times if you are bit by a poodle, you need a shot of Bactine and a band-aid. When you're bit by a pit bull, you need an ER.

That said, I do agree with you CUGreekgirl. The dog breed with the largest history of bites is the cocker spaniel. But you dont see people buying them and training them to be attack dogs the way you do with pitt bulls.

well the dog's life is OBVIOUSLY more important than some innocent child :rolleyes:

I know no one expressly stated that here and probably no one really thinks that here, but i've seen and heard people IRL say things that pretty much amount to animals being more important to protect than children, and that's sorta sick

So if one dog bites one child...it's allright to kill hundreds of dogs who will never bite a child? Just on the off chance that they *might* bite someone. Tippy *might* bite someone , then again, she may decide to stay in the air conditioning all day long. This legislature sounds too much like a "racial" profile to me...and guilt by association. I'm all for punishing the animals who train these dogs to do things like that, but it really isn't the fault of the dog. A properly trained and socialized pit bull isn't going to gnaw poor little Johny's arm off on a Tuesday, just because he's a pit bull.

and also, it reminds me of shark panic. One person gets bit by a shark...so let's go kill hundreds of them because they *might* bite someone.

and killing a dog because it "looks" like a pit bull is, in a word, bullshit. Absolute and complete BULLSHIT.

and this "I'm sorry" site is the damn cutest thing I've ever seen.

PhoenixAzul, that is exactly what I was going to say. And you even phrased it better than I would have.

My friend was living with a guy that owned a Pit Bull. He was also living with a sorority sister of mine that owned a cat. The Pit was very calm and good-natured. He was raised properly. One day when no one was home, we're guessing the Pit Bull and cat got into a scuffle. Kitty lost. It was a disgusting, upsetting mess.
Could this have happened with any dog breed? Certainly. But, like others have mentioned, a Pit Bull will do more damage than a Jack Russell or Cocker Spaniel. They're a muscular breed and their jaw locks.
I don't know what the solution is but I'm saying you can train a Pit Bull all you want but instinct is instinct (like in any dog)....a Pit Bull will do more damage than most dogs.

well, yeah. THat's part of responsible ownership of any dog...when not on leash, they are indoors or restrained/fenced in a yard. No dog should be allowed to roam the streets unleashed...but that's a leash law, not a BSL.

Yeah they're GREAT dogs!

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/4758109/detail.html

http://www.clickondetroit.com/family...39/detail.html

And these were just posted TODAY.

I'm extremely afraid of pit bulls. I've had 3 of my pet cats attacked and killed by them. My mother had to go to the ER after a pit bull mauled her leg, and she has some very deep scars. If you want a pit bull, fine, but keep it locked up where it can't have the opportunity to attack people and other animals.

This is not necessarily true. While I don't agree on banning specific breeds, I do acknowledge the fact that Pit Bulls, at least here in Austin, seem to cause the most problems as far as attacking cats/other dogs or children(I should say of the domesticated breeds, coyotes cause a great deal of problems as well-another reason to keep your cat or dog inside). I have to then try and put the cats and dogs back together-most of the time it is not a good outcome.

I have been bit by many animals but a Pit Bull, Rott, German Shep. can and will kill, a chihuahua/poodle/insert small to medium breed here will not. We had a pit in the clinic for almost a year-he came to us missing an ear and had obviously been in a severe fight. He was/is the sweetest dog BY HIMSELF. He would try to go after the clinic cats and I would not have trusted him with other dogs alone. He did find a home with no other animals and is doing well. I don't trust these dogs with other animals, though there are always exceptions.

Unfortunately, it is the good pet owner that will be hurt by these laws, the irresponsible ones won't care. More and more cities will start outlawing specific breeds.

Fortunately, we can choose whether we will go into the water if sharks are a threat. Postal workers cannot choose their work route and children cannot choose their neighborhood. If you want to get mad, take it out on the irresponsible owners. Again, I don't agree with this, I personally think people should have to get a license to own a pet-but how realistic is this? People suck.

Couldn't have said it better myself. I want to know how many people have had their boxers taken because they were mistaken for a pit.

Pits are aggressive dogs for sure but so are several other breeds. Pits have attacked in the past and they'll attack in the future but to ban dogs and put them to death simply because they "could" attack or because "other have attacked" is bullbeep.

Hell, people kill all the time, let's just start executing people since there could be a chance that someone might kill in the future (not a fair comparison I know, shut up before you start on it).

It's unfair to owners who are responsible and to the pets that are trained correctly. I owned several pits at times when I was in Wisconsin and I never had an issue with any of them. I had more control problems with a lab that my family had (which actually attacked someone and had to be put to sleep).

How many times do children provoke attacks? People want to pretend it never happens, but it does.

I'm not saying that pitbulls are harmless, but in both of these cases, the owners were MORONS. Especially in the last article.

I think the argument in this thread is not whether pits and pit mixes are docile or not, it's about why should we be punishing the responsible owners who do keep their dogs inside and socialized and such.

I am not a fan of pits and agree that their population is way out of control. I'm not advocating that we should SAVE THE PUPPIES and not protect our kids. But with ANY animal comes responsible ownership, and obviously a good chunk of pit owners can't control their dogs so they give up on them and let them roam the streets.

What city officials SHOULD be spending their money on is looking for these irresponsible owners rather than throwing up their arms and saying "let's take all of them and get rid of them."

ETA: The post below made me think of something. What about mandatory microchips? It's pretty cheap to get one anyway (maybe $25).

I have a dog license (as far as I know we only have them for dogs)-- I pay $8 per year to my county government (Summit County, Ohio) for it. If you do not have one and your dog gets loose and picked up by the dog warden you are fined (or anytime the dog warden is involved, and you do not have a license, you are fined). But it is also there as protection-- my dog does not have a tag with our name and address on it, so if she is lost and found by someone they can contact the Summit County Dog Warden and give them her tag number and then they can contact me.

The problem is that they are not enforced enough and I know many owners who do not have them. And they do not always fine-- because my boss did not have one for her dog and he bit someone and a police report had to be filed and a license was never mentioned.

But I guess it would be hard to keep track-- I mean they would have to do door to door investigations to find out!! :) I have my dog license and that is all that matters though!!

I'll just be quietly offended by the name of this thread.

You don't paint all of the people of a city with the same brush over a single issue.

Good point. It made me feel defensive, and I'm the last person in the world who would ever be in favor of an anti-pit bull law.