Category: Breed-Specific Legislation

  • Malden, Massachusetts to Consider a Muzzling Ordinance for “Pit Bulls”

    Malden, Massachusetts to Consider a Muzzling Ordinance for “Pit Bulls”

    Editor’s note:   Breed-specific requirements for certain kinds of containment, including muzzling, could force owners to feel stigmatized such they they cease exercising their dogs in public, or at all.   Extended muzzling, kenneling, etc. can also make a dog of any breed anxious and stressed, which could bring about the very behavior a muzzling…

  • McMinnville, Tennessee to Consider Ban of “Pit Bulls”

    McMinnville, Tennessee to Consider Ban of “Pit Bulls”

    Editor’s note:   Nine calls to Animal Control about one dog is not a breed problem but an owner problem (and possibly an Animal Control enforcement problem).   If Animal Control is having difficulty enforcing existing law, how is additional legislation going to help?   It looks like McMinnville lacks Animal Control personnel, or perhaps…

  • Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana Considers Regulating 10 Breeds of Dog!

    Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana Considers Regulating 10 Breeds of Dog!

    Editor’s note: This ordinance* would regulate 10 breeds (though American “pit bull” is not a breed) of dog!   The “breeds” include the American Pit Bull (Do they mean terrier?   It’s hard to tell!), the American Staffordshire Terrier, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Bull Terrier, German Shepherd, Rottweiler, Chow Chow, Doberman Pinscher, Boxer, and Akita.…

  • Blair, Nebraska “Pit Bull” Law Passes First Reading; Ready for a Second

    Blair, Nebraska “Pit Bull” Law Passes First Reading; Ready for a Second

    Editor’s note:   Here again we have the media referring to attacking dogs in the incident involving the Straubes’ dogs as “pit bulls” when there is no such breed (and it doesn’t sound like the attack from the Border Collies was mentioned in the media at all before now).   Also you will note that…

  • Garden City, Michigan May Consider Breed-Specific Ordinance for “Pit Bulls”

    Garden City, Michigan May Consider Breed-Specific Ordinance for “Pit Bulls”

    Editor’s note:   If Councilwoman Lynch can say that “not all pit bulls are vicious” then is she knowingly seeking to propose legislation that would deprive innocent people of their innocent dogs?   And as an aside, no breed (though “pit bull” is not a breed) is inherently vicious.   That’s why people who know…

  • Camanche, Iowa to Again Consider “Pit Bull” Restrictions

    Camanche, Iowa to Again Consider “Pit Bull” Restrictions

    Editor’s note:   Here we have what looks like more false statistics on that non-existent “breed” “pit bull” when what Camanche really has is a free-roaming dog problem. (Please also note that the CDC bite stats referenced in the article below have long been debunked and dismissed as inaccurate by the CDC themselves.) I fear…

  • New Ordinance May End Toledo’s “Pit Bull” Witch Hunt

    New Ordinance May End Toledo’s “Pit Bull” Witch Hunt

    From the Toledo Blade: After months of research, crafting, and debate, a proposed Toledo law governing dogs and their owners will come before City Council Tuesday. Councilmen will vote on repealing the city’s old “vicious dogs” law that targeted “pit bulls” and “pit bull” mixes – ruled unconstitutional by Toledo Municipal Court Judge Michael Goulding…

  • Dearborn Heights, Michigan to Consider Breed Ban for “Pit Bulls”

    Dearborn Heights, Michigan to Consider Breed Ban for “Pit Bulls”

    Editor’s note: Despite what one resident said, a database full of “pit bull” owners’ names and addresses will only encourage vigilante-style retribution on responsible dog owners since the irresponsible “pit bull” owners — who are in the minority despite what the media would have you believe — will continue to disregard the law.   It’s…

  • Sheboygan, Wisconsin Common Council to Consider Breed-Specific Ordinance Regulating “Pit Bulls”

    Sheboygan, Wisconsin Common Council to Consider Breed-Specific Ordinance Regulating “Pit Bulls”

    Editor’s note: Here we have an ordinance regulating American Staffordshire Terriers, Staffordshire Terriers, American Pit Bull Terriers, etc. and yet its author refers to these actual breeds as “pit bulls.”   “Pit bull” is not a breed, so does it not follow that if you list actual breeds in a breed-specific ordinance (and their mixes,…

  • Topeka, Kansas Repeals Breed-Specific Legislation Citing Its Ineffectiveness

    Topeka, Kansas Repeals Breed-Specific Legislation Citing Its Ineffectiveness

    From KSNT 27 in Kansas: Mayor Bill Bunten and eight city council members voted 9-0 to pass an ordinance amending rules regarding animal control and animal cruelty. The new ordinance eliminates breed-specific legislation which banned the ownership, keeping, or harboring of pit bulls that haven’t been licensed with the city. According to dog day afternoon’s…