Allow PitBulls Chows and Rottweilers to be adopted

We are asking that you decide to allow these "pitbull" type breeds be adopted. There are many shelters who have great success in adopting out PitBull type dogs. If the shelter would apply the same measures as the rescues there would be no need to kill all these dogs. After all,  any dog will bite and if you google search dauschounds, cocker spaniels, labs, collies, chiuahua exc. you will find deaths of kids and mameing kids. It isnt just "pitbull" type dogs. It all falls on the owners and how they raise their dog, no matter the breed.The media just doesnt report unless it is a pitbull type dog.

While the current demonization of pits is completely unjust, BSL is a dreadful idea no matter which breeds are targeted. Punishing the multitudes for the actions of the physically similar few seems like a poor basis for any law, and the grotesque unfairness to the vast majority of good-tempered, well-behaved canines that make up all breeds (not to mention the responsible owners of these dogs) should offend the sensibility of any fair-minded person.

In addition, these laws fail at their stated purpose of improving public safety. According to study after study, they reduce neither the number of dog bites, nor the incidence of fatal attacks from canines.

In the UK, dog bites actually increased 50% in the decade following the passage of the Dangerous Dog Act in 1997, which banned all "pit bull types" and three other breeds. In the first five years after Spain passed its Dangerous Animals Act in 2000, which covered 9 types of dogs, dog bite statistics remained unchanged. And in Prince George's County, Maryland, a task force convened to study the effects of the county's BSL found that while the new law cost taxpayers $250,0000 a year, there was no positive effect on public safety.

However, animal control officers spent so much time responding to reported pit bull sightings that they lacked resources to adequately respond to other types of violations. The task force recommended the law be rescinded.

Perhaps these examples explain why organizations such as the Center for Disease Control, the American Veterinary Medical Association, and the National Animal Control Association all oppose Breed Specific Legislation.

Better Alternatives

There are better, fairer ways to prevent and reduce dog attacks than to blame entire breeds. The first is to control the human element. The single greatest predictor of a dog causing serious injury is an abusive or neglectful home (present in 85% of all such attacks).

Statutes such as California's, which makes pet owners fully liable for the actions of their animal, along with tougher and more rigorously enforced animal cruelty laws, seem much less likely to hurt the innocent, and much more likely to improve public safety.

In short, BSL is just another short-sighted and ineffective government mandate, whose only purpose is to attract votes by "doing something".  It offers nothing else.  To learn more, you can visit StopBSL.com

Pit bull attacks sell papers%u2026other dogs don%u2019t

By Amelia Glynn

In July, the Denver Post published a provocative article questioning the role of the media in the pit bulls%u2019 %u201Cbad rap,%u201D including the tendency to over-report attacks instigated by %u201Cpit-bull-type%u201D dogs while under-reporting incidents involving other breeds.

You don%u2019t need to look very hard or be very bright to come to the conclusion that pit bull attacks sell papers. The National Canine Research Council recently issued a report that shows how similar attacks over a four-day period involving four different types of dogs resulted in significantly different media exposure. And the ASPCA issued a statement that the media has repeatedly told them that they have no interest in reporting attacks involving non-pit-bull-type dogs.

Last year, the Dogtime.com blog posted a story about a TV station in Mobile, Alabama that mentioned the breed in 100 percent of dog bite stories involving pits. Pit bulls, however, were only involved in about 20 percent of the dog bites in the community (also behind Labs).

To explore the potential bias of his own news agency, the reporter from the Denver Post looked at article headlines over the past five years and found that the paper had covered 20 different stories involving dog attacks. Nine had the breed of dog in the headlines and eight named pit bulls. (One named a Rottweiler.) When you put this into the context that %u201Cpit bulls%u201D make up only 8 percent of the dog bites reported in the state of Colorado %u2013 and aren%u2019t even the top biting dog in the state (Labs were #1) %u2013 you might begin to wonder why the city of Denver went to the trouble of banning the breed in the first place.

(It%u2019s interesting to note that the term %u201Cpit bull%u201D is a slang term used to describe three distinct breeds: the American pit bull terrier, the American Staffordshire terrier and the Staffordshire bull terrier. These three targeted breeds achieved a combined passing canine temperament score of 86.6 percent %u2013 a higher passing percentage than the golden retriever%u2019s 83.6 percent.)

So how does the San Francisco Chronicle%u2019s reporting fare, you ask? Inspired by the Denver Post story, I did a quick search in the Chronicle%u2019s archives for %u201Cdog attack,%u201D which yielded 34 stories about specific dog attacks on humans written between January 1, 2005 and today. While 22 of those articles mentioned the breed in the headline (100% named pit bulls as the attackers), the other 12 articles, which involved attacks by other breeds (including shepherd mixes, boxers and a golden retriever mix), had only generic %u201Cdog attack%u201D headlines, rather than outing the specific breed. Media bias? It certainly looks that way, but I%u2019ll let you be the judge.

Nearly every time a pit-bull-attack story appears in the news, it ignites new fervor for breed-specific legislation (BSL). However, the mass banning of specific breeds has been shown to be ineffectual when it comes to dog-bite prevention. Most BSL legislation that has been implemented has been costly, problematic to enforce and has ultimately not solved the problem. Most laws on the books contain vague language to determine what a pit bull is and often completely ignore the responsibility of the owner. Spaying and neutering of animals, proper training and socialization and responsible breeding are all important factors in preventing dog bites.

In Denver%u2019s case, the apparent media bias of its newspapers and television stations has helped spur countless lawsuits, the senseless killing of thousands of dogs and mountains of legal fees paid at taxpayer expense to support a ban that hasn%u2019t helped to solve the problem for which it was originally proposed: to reduce the overall number of dog bite incidents.

Please read the links on the link I am posting, it is too many to place here.It is from the Natiional Canine research counsil  http://nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/canines-issues/media-reporting/

I hope you take into account the links provided above and start allowing the PitBulls, Rottweilers and Chows be saved from euthinasia and placed into wonderful great homes.
What we need to be doing is putting a stop to known drug dealers, people with violent crimes, known gang members and kids under the age of 18 from owning them. We also need to work on stiffer laws to protect these breeds from the abusers. It is the people who fight dogs and abuse them that make them bite, and this is with any breed. If the laws would be more for protecting the animals we would be able to get this under control. Also I feel it should be a mandatory spay/neuter for anyone who isnt a liscenced, registered breeder and I feel they should only be able to produce a certain amount of litters a year. There are spay/neuter non profit organizations all over the US that help to get animals spayed/neutered. Some states even spay/neuter PitBull type dogs free and some even offer free obedience classes.
It isnt fair to responsible owners to not be able to tgake in one of these breeds due to the discrimination against them. Also, it is a proven fact that a pitbulls skull and jaw structure show their jaws do not lock. It is proven their bite is no different than that of any other breed.

A Pit Bull%u2019s Prayer

Spirit in the sky, who watches over all animals: it is my prayer and my request that you grant greater understanding, and acceptance to humans; those who love us, and those who hate us.

That they will know how loyal we are, how brave we are, and how loving we are.  Help them to accept us as a breed in whole and not let the few tragedies shine brighter then the many great traits that we have.

And those who would kill me, let them know, I forgive them even though I don%u2019t understand their hatred.  And those who would beat me, let them know I still love them, even though it is not the honorable way (to treat me).

Thank you for all the strong traits that you have given to me and my breed.  Help those to know that I stand for courage, strength, loyalty, and bravery, and as my master already knows, let those who would come against my family know that I would surely die defending them.

And just one thing that I would ask: let my master know, that if you should call me away, that I will wait patiently at those pearly gates until the one who chose me comes home.

Amen.

Author Unknown