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Could a Pit Bull be the next dog to call the White House home?
In December of 2012, a petition was created at The White House’s We the People petition site which proposed an end to breed specific legislation at the federal level.
After receiving over 30,000 signatures from Americans around the nation, the Obama Administration offered an official response entitled, Breed-Specific Legislation is a Bad Idea.
The response follows:
We don’t support breed-specific legislation — research shows that bans on certain types of dogs are largely ineffective and often a waste of public resources.
In 2000, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked at twenty years of data about dog bites and human fatalities in the United States. They found that fatal attacks represent a very small proportion of dog bite injuries to people and that it’s virtually impossible to calculate bite rates for specific breeds.
The CDC also noted that the types of people who look to exploit dogs aren’t deterred by breed regulations — when their communities establish a ban, these people just seek out new, unregulated breeds. And the simple fact is that dogs of any breed can become dangerous when they’re intentionally or unintentionally raised to be aggressive.
For all those reasons, the CDC officially recommends against breed-specific legislation — which they call inappropriate. You can read more from them here.
As an alternative to breed-specific policies, the CDC recommends a community-based approach to prevent dog bites. And ultimately, we think that’s a much more promising way to build stronger communities of pets and pet owners.
While no federal action is being taken at this time, White House support of an eventual end to BSL is a major step in the right direction. There are currently no breed-specific bans in Washington D.C., but neighboring Prince George’s County (which surrounds DC on the North, East, and South) has had a pit bull ban in place since 1996.
Do you think that the Obama Administration’s support of ending breed-specific legislation will have an effect on these discriminatory laws in our nation? Weigh in with a comment below!
litigation drives business decisions but it is a stupid discrimination not backed by scientific data.
Debbie Strickland
says:Then why do most military installations ban bully breeds from being on base or post?
Anita
says:This is GREAT news!
I am very much for this ruling. There are no specific dogs that bite more than others. The little cute chihuawa sp, will bite you quicker than any of the so called dangerous breeds. So this is good that someone has the brains to realize this for sure. And it is not fair to the breed that they will be killed if picked up or lost. Or be prejudiced against just because of their breed. Yeah for this ruling. About time
Judy
says:There should never have been a ban on breed specific dogs in the first place. There is no such thing as a bad dog. People are the ones that don’t treat dogs right and should be educated on training their dogs to be the best they can be.
There is no excuse for not training a dog to be good, because there are numerous sites on training dogs on the internet and great shows on The Animal Planet on TV. There are so many species of dogs that could be labeled as biting dogs, from very small dogs to large dogs and there is no ban on them. It is the owners that are ignorant and too lazy to take the time to work with their dogs. I foster dogs that are considered throw away dogs. If a puppy nips a kid, the dog gets put in a shelter, Usually a kill shelter. What happens to the kid that caused the dog to nip. This is the problem..Kids learn that dogs are throw away creatures and then the kid grows up having no compassion for animals. If the parents supervised their kids around the dogs this might not happen, and teaching the dog not to do that, would be too hard. People Suck, not dogs. Small dogs nip or bite more often than big dogs, because small dogs are babied too much. I guarantee I would get a Pit bull before I would get a chihuahua.
Mary DiBlasi
says:Not if the Republicans have anything to do with it. They don’t let anything he says or does make a difference if they can obstruct it. But I’m glad he made the statement. Too many people have been separated from their dogs needlessly. I wonder if the President knows Pit Bulls are banned on army bases? Maybe he could start there in changing attitudes.