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Banning pit bulls won't solve problem

By Gina Spadafori, Globe Correspondent

Sometimes I think having no pit bulls wouldn't be that bad a thing, but not for the reasons you might imagine.

If pit bulls weren't around, they couldn't be beaten, starved, left chained outside with little protection from the elements, subjected to ear croppings with scissors and no pain relief, made to bear puppies with next to no food. And finally, if pit bulls weren't around, they couldn't be tossed dead (or nearly so) into a vacant lot when they come up on the losing side of a dogfight.

For every headline-grabbing attack by a pit bull, there are countless cruelties inflicted on these dogs by humans. As a person recently noted on a dog-related Web log: ''It's amazing how many other kinds of dogs in the best homes bite. It's amazing how many pit bulls in the worst homes don't."

But those who do . . . oh, what fear and anger they cause. It's no surprise, given the horror of recent attacks, that the call to eliminate pit bulls has never been louder. But that call remains the wrong one: Breed-specific legislation is not the answer to the problem of dangerous dogs.

It doesn't help much to argue that the odds of an attack by a pit bull are so low as to be insignificant compared with life's other risks, not in the face of saturation media coverage of every such attack. It doesn't help much to argue that a well-bred and properly raised pit bull can be a better companion than many other popular breeds, based on temperament-testing statistics that show these dogs to be stable and calm.

So let's try this: If you want to be protected against a dog attack, banning the pit bull isn't going to accomplish that goal. That's because every large breed or mix you can think of, and many small ones you can't imagine, have been involved in attacks on humans.

You cannot predict the likelihood of an attack by the type of dog, but you can see clear trends based on other criteria.

Poorly bred, unsocialized, unneutered, and untrained dogs are most often involved in attacks. If you want to prevent those attacks, you need to address those root causes.

We need to make it harder for people to casually breed and quickly sell dogs, and we need to make it easier to have animals neutered. We need to recognize that dog-fighting is as much of a danger to our communities as it is to the animals participating in this illegal but popular blood sport. We need to outlaw keeping dogs on chains, a cruel practice that leaves animals feeling isolated, territorial, and more likely to attack.

And even as we need to crack down on irresponsible and criminal dog owners, we need to help those people who want to do right. We need to educate prospective dog owners on responsible care, training, and socializing, so that they may raise dogs who are not dangerous.

And yes, we need to establish zero tolerance for all dangerous dogs, with no second chances: If a dog attacks someone, that animal needs to be put down.

We need to stop looking for scapegoats in the face of every pit bull, and address the human reasons behind the problem of dangerous dogs.

Only then can we hope to be safer around not only the pit bull, but all dogs. And maybe then the pit bull will be safer around us, too.

December 16, 2005 - Has banned Pit Bulls

August 2006, Pit Bulls are banned from the city of Kearney - Ordinance