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Article in Sunday Tasmanian

Posted November 18th, 2008 by pos4015

Thanks to Ann Boxhall and "The Sunday Tasmanian" for including a link to my website at the end of the Pets column on the 16th of November.

It was a great piece, and Ann conveyed the message I tried to portray in my original article very well. Particularly with all the debate about Breed Specific Legislation in Tasmania recently, I'd like people to be well informed.

I am against Breed Specific Legislation because it has been demonstrated time and time again that it does NOT work ( http://stopbsl.com/bsloverview/the-failure-to-improve-safety/ ). There is a lot of data out there, and it does not support BSL. Why the idea persists is beyond me. Actually, it's not beyond me, but this is not the time or place to be so cynical...

The argument that "dogs aren't born aggressive, they're raised that way" is weak. It won't wash because it isn't always true. Some dogs are born aggressive. Some breeds do have a tendency towards fight instead of flight (most herding breeds, nearly all terrier breeds, and all livestock guardian breeds). Some LINES of all breeds have a tendency towards aggressive behaviour.

Banning a breed entirely won't stop this. If you want to look at the data for dog bites in Australia, you would probably consider banning the Australian Cattle Dog (Blue Heeler) and German Shepherd at the same time.

We would all like to ban irresponsible dog owners. I saw an article today about a woman who burned her dog (a pitbull) using petrol every time he tried to escape the yard. Hardly a wonder he was trying to escape, was it? How do we ban this sort of person? By banning pitbulls? (Strangely enough, this IS one of the arguments that proponents of BSL use, despite the flawed logic behind it).

With responsible dog ownership, an understanding of behaviour (or the willingness to seek help from a competent trainer) and a dose of common-sense, you can raise any breed of dog to be a good canine citizen. This may require some extra attention and caution in some cases, but it can be done. Some individual dogs will never be safe, and either need to be managed as dangerous dogs or destroyed.

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