Dog Attacks Prompts Call For Ban On Some Breeds (St. Paul: city hall, credit)

[JameeLynn25]

I have a Rottweiler and I would be darned if they tried to take her away! Imo this is not the way to go. (story below)

(AP) St. Paul A state lawmaker called on his colleagues Friday to make it illegal to own five breeds of dogs he deemed a threat to public safety.

[Delaneyland]

I'm thinking the Government controls more than they should now. I'd like to see these friggin pandering legislators pay a little attention to the useless legislation they have already passed and help enforce the way too many laws now instead of just getting on the milk box to gain popularity before polls. If our do nothing legislators want to pass laws about dogs while pedophiles, rapists, thieves, arsonists, dopers, etc. walk free amongst us, maybe the so called dangerous dogs ought to be let free on the legislators.

[Wanderlust07]

For crying out loud, why do legislators always start posturing about "banning" certain breeds when something like this happens? The city of St. Paul already has a very balanced approach to dangerous animals, and outlawing certain breeds is just adding fuel to an illogical fire. "Punish the deed, not the breed" -- enforce the existing dangerous animal laws, don't pick on an unfairly maligned breed like the APBT!

I hope the reasonable people of MN actively oppose Lesch's proposed ban, and remind him that breed-specific legislation is just discrimination...and it shouldn't be tolerated.

[MacFan]

Originally Posted by Delaneyland

I'd like to see these friggin pandering legislators pay a little attention to the useless legislation they have already passed and help enforce the way too many laws now instead of just getting on the milk box to gain popularity before polls.

Well put Delaneyland. How does an idiot like this get elected three times in a row? By pandering to the ignorant masses, that's how.

I sincerely hope that the dog owners and others are able to get enough accurate information out there to counteract Lesch's fear mongering propaganda.

Lesch is just another prime example of legislators, or people in general, acting as an authority and speaking about things they have absolutely no first-hand knowledge of.

Feel free to send Representative Lesch an e-mail and let him know the truth about these breeds and where you stand on this issue. Remember to be polite and stay factual, it doesn't do any good to call names or make personal attacks. Even if you don't live in the area, I say send him a message and let him know that this is not just a Minnesota issue.

Mailing John Lesch (DFL) 66A - Minnesota House of Representatives

[Sam I Am]

Interesting. One legislator has deemed himself dog patrol? I'm a long way from MN but obviously, as the owner of 6 Rottweilers, extremely concerned about breed banning. We attempted to buy a home in a neighboring town but couldn't due to a breed ban there on - you guessed it - Rotts and Pits. I do believe that town knows I exist, however; I made a wide sweep through city hall on my way down the road!

Please gather all of your forces in MN who protect our breeds and rally against this - it is an injustice to the responsible pet owners and the working dogs who are working at therapy, in the schools, in the hospitals....everywhere.

Good luck to you all - if you need a little help from Arkansas, just yell!

[PitBullMommie1206]

"You never hear stories about roving packs of golden retrievers attacking children in our streets," Because that's not what people want to hear! People would rather hear made up horror stories than the truth and the media wants good ratings, so the media gives the people what they want! So sad!

The dog that attacked Brianna was previously declared "potentially dangerous" by city inspectors. So, that would be the owners fault, not the dog! I don't understand this "potentially dangerous" crap anyway! Any and all dogs are "potentially dangerous", hell, cats are "potentially dangerous"!

Dillner said better enforcing existing dangerous dog laws would be more effective than enacting breed-specific bans. Exactly!!!!!

The city of Denver enacted a pit bull ban in 2005. This April, three dog owners filed a federal lawsuit over the ordinance giving them the choice of moving out of the city or giving up their pets to have them put to death. A least 1,110 dogs have been seized and killed under the law, according to the lawsuit's backers. That is so sad! There is no way we would give our dogs up! If we had to move out of the US that's what we would do! That would be like asking us to give up our children! People should be more scared of my husband and I than our dogs! lol! We even got a sign that says "Never mind the dog, beware of owner!" lol! I'm just so sick of this crap! I'm going to have a freaking heart attack before I'm 30!

Miami and Cincinnati are two other major cities that ban pit bulls, according to the American Canine Foundation. Hahahahaha!! Wow! Umm.. They obviously haven't seen the dog bite statistics for Miami! lol! NOTHING has changed in Miami, so saying that Miami did it should just show people that banning breeds DOES NOT WORK!

This just in! Any poorly-raised dog may attack!! http://home.hamptonroads.com/blog/reply.cfm?replyID=19181&page=87&page_id=9512&uid=5 3 (broken link)

I don't even know what to say! I'm so sick of this s***! We are responsible, respectful owners that own small, friendly, well trained, well socialized, extremely obedient dogs! How is that wrong?!?! I just don't understand this, it makes absolutely NO sense! Just like Sam said, I don't live in MN, but I own APBTs and anything that has to do with the banning of any breeds anywhere upsets me! Once one city decides to do it, another one will and then another and another! What the hell do we have to do to be able to own our dogs?

[JameeLynn25]

Originally Posted by PitBullMommie1206

"You never hear stories about roving packs of golden retrievers attacking children in our streets," Because that's not what people want to hear! People would rather hear made up horror stories than the truth and the media wants good ratings, so the media gives the people what they want! So sad!

The dog that attacked Brianna was previously declared "potentially dangerous" by city inspectors. So, that would be the owners fault, not the dog! I don't understand this "potentially dangerous" crap anyway! Any and all dogs are "potentially dangerous", hell, cats are "potentially dangerous"!

Dillner said better enforcing existing dangerous dog laws would be more effective than enacting breed-specific bans. Exactly!!!!!

The city of Denver enacted a pit bull ban in 2005. This April, three dog owners filed a federal lawsuit over the ordinance giving them the choice of moving out of the city or giving up their pets to have them put to death. A least 1,110 dogs have been seized and killed under the law, according to the lawsuit's backers. That is so sad! There is no way we would give our dogs up! If we had to move out of the US that's what we would do! That would be like asking us to give up our children! People should be more scared of my husband and I than our dogs! lol! We even got a sign that says "Never mind the dog, beware of owner!" lol! I'm just so sick of this crap! I'm going to have a freaking heart attack before I'm 30!

Miami and Cincinnati are two other major cities that ban pit bulls, according to the American Canine Foundation. Hahahahaha!! Wow! Umm.. They obviously haven't seen the dog bite statistics for Miami! lol! NOTHING has changed in Miami, so saying that Miami did it should just show people that banning breeds DOES NOT WORK!

This just in! Any poorly-raised dog may attack!! Opinion (HamptonRoads.com/PilotOnline.com)

I don't even know what to say! I'm so sick of this s***! We are responsible, respectful owners that own small, friendly, well trained, well socialized, extremely obedient dogs! How is that wrong?!?! I just don't understand this, it makes absolutely NO sense! Just like Sam said, I don't live in MN, but I own APBTs and anything that has to do with the banning of any breeds anywhere upsets me! Once one city decides to do it, another one will and then another and another! What the hell do we have to do to be able to own our dogs?

PBM, I think I am going to have that heart attack before the age of 30 as well! Like you mentioned, it would be like trying to take away my young child and thats not going to happen. I would be damned if someone even tried to take her. If the law goes to pass, Josie and I are moving to Canada. There are alot, and I mean alot of owners in Mn with so called " potentially dangerous dogs" This is a very touchy subject for alot of Minnesotans. Not just for the people that live here but others with these types breeds in other states as well. Just out of curiosity, does anyone know of any states that have passed this law? I know a few cities have, but I wasnt sure if an entire state has passed this ridiculous law.

If anyone is ever interested please visit awholrottalove.com to check out a wonderful program here in the twin cities fighting this proposal. You can also order cheap fun items from there store and all of the money goes right into caring for these Pits and Rots and finding them a good home. Its a great website that will touch the heart of us dog lovers/owners who have to live with this media garbage.

[JameeLynn25]

Originally Posted by Sam I Am

Interesting. One legislator has deemed himself dog patrol? I'm a long way from MN but obviously, as the owner of 6 Rottweilers, extremely concerned about breed banning. We attempted to buy a home in a neighboring town but couldn't due to a breed ban there on - you guessed it - Rotts and Pits. I do believe that town knows I exist, however; I made a wide sweep through city hall on my way down the road!

Please gather all of your forces in MN who protect our breeds and rally against this - it is an injustice to the responsible pet owners and the working dogs who are working at therapy, in the schools, in the hospitals....everywhere.

Good luck to you all - if you need a little help from Arkansas, just yell!

Sam, I know what you mean about being "looked down upon" because of owning a wonderul dog like the Rot. It's the price we pay for having such a magnificant dog. However I give you alot of credit for handling 6 at one time. Are they all males/females around the same age? My gosh one female at this time is alot of work for me. I would never deny a Rottie though if someone needed to find them a good home or whatever the case. They sure are amazing dogs!

[BrianH]

I honestly dont think that a statewide band on five breeds and probably 10 or so "type" dogs would pass. Nonetheless, its scary, and he is most likely being urged on by a one person, or a very select few who want it their own way. It was the same when my Council brought up banning the above breeds, and about 15 more to boot! Id like to point out that the council member was being urged on by one person, and one person only. And it is now the council members pet project. The councilmember is however, afraid of dogs, and couldnt tell the difference between a poodle attacking and a pitbull attacking, and thats a quote. Most people pushing these laws are afraid, and couldnt tell a pitbull from a barn door in most cases.

If you are afraid of this you need to lobby lobby lobby. Get up as many "dangerous dog" owners that you possibly can, give them all the phone numbers to local legislators and call every single one of them on a weekly basis. Put pressure on them to challenge and shoot down the law. Thats what I did. I visited with individual council members, told them my concerns and showed them evidence that BSL does not work. It has been tried by many many desperate politicians and passed, but has absolutely no effect. Generally, post law statistics are not made publicly known like pre statistics where. Most towns do not show an decrease in dog bites, in fact, most stay the exact same or are higher. But a politician isnt about to turn around and get rid of his useless law that hasnt worked, hell defend it to the death.

Denver passed this law because of gangs. They had (have) allot of gang problems, and as we good, responsible owners know, our dogs are being used as fashion accesories or bred to attack / fight or whatever. Did it solve the dog bite and gang problem there ? Hell no, but it sure as heck made a bunch of useless politicians feel like they did something, and it appeared they did to the gerneal public, while in the meanwhile they get to turn their back on the underlying problem, like it no longer exists.

Anyway, back to me. When I showed other council members existing BSL laws and stats on how they dont work they began to listen. I showed them temprement tests done on dog, and how Staffs have better stability than most of the other breeds out there. After much lobbying, three out of the four concil members voted to table the BSL for a rewrite of the proposed law, and you guessed it, the one who pushed for it in the first place didnt want to have a change of minds.

Our group of responsible dog owners will be meeting with open minded logical councilmen, hopefully pretty soon. What are we going to push for. Abolish all of the rewritten law, and revert to the old one to enforce with a few exceptions. We want to push for Breeding Laws, of any dog. Make breeders register with the City, have a business license and conform to breeding standards. Make it illegal to sell dogs in parking lots etc for a quick $100. Then, we want to push for punishing owners. YOU have a bad dog, YOU cannot control it, YOU cannot own another dog for say, 4 years or whatever. Solves that problem. Roaming dogs come down to bad owners, they cant open padlocks themselves, the owners just dont shut the gates or dont care if they roam.

At the end of the day you need to do everything you can to stop the law. Call call and call again. Get lots of other people calling too. Get every responsible owner of any breed to call. Tell the AKC, UKC, CKC, every dog organisation to get their backing, if big enough an issue, the AKC will kelp. If need be call the American Civil Liberties Union.

I have gone, and am currently going through BSL. So if you have any questions, or need advice, feel free to PM me or ask here and ill reply as best as I can.

[kuan]

The pure statistics are overwhelmingly in favor of banning pit bulls. Pit bulls account for 1-3% of the dog population in the United States but are responsible for 50% of serious bites.

The only way to sway the statistics in favor of the breed is to show that of all those dogs which were involved, there was a serious error in the way the dog was handled by the owner, or that the owner was a felon, mentally unfit to own a dog, or had some previous violent criminal history. I have no interest in this, but if I were the dog lobby, I'd look into seeing if this was indeed the case.

Next step is of course to try and restrict the ownership of pits bulls and rotts to those who are actually capable and responsible. But hey, are we talking gun control here? is pet ownership a right or privilege?