The pit bull ban of Prince George County - in favor of it? (Baltimore: neighborhoods, buy)

[Tiger Beer]

The pit bull ban of Prince George County - in favor of it?

I was just reading it was one of the strictest in the nation. Just curious if there certain incidents that happened that encouraged that legislation and what Marylanders think about it, etc.

Prince George residents...or other Marylanders (or anyone really) about whether if its good that PG banned them or not, etc.

[westsideboy]

Pitbulls are a breed of dogs that can be nice or mean based on how they are raised......just like other breeds. If you ban Pitbulls, people that want big scary dogs will just go buy German Shepherds or Dobermans. Then what, ban them too?

Don't get me wrong, I don't like the thought of living next to a big dog, that if decides to bite will take an arm off with him, but it is really the owners of the vicious dog that are the threat. Let's just enforce existing laws, prosectute alleged criminals to the fullest extent of the law, then incarerate them as long as the law allows. The vicious dog problem will go away with them.

But....I don't live in PG county, so this is just my two cents, you guys down there can do what you want

[bowian]

I'm in favor. Not necessarily because of the breed but because of the thugs who have made the breed a part of their drug-dealing gansta lifestyle. Some people think having an aggressive power dog is cool. The problem is that the dogs are mistreated. Enforcing the pre-existing laws has not helped, hence the breed-specific ban.

[RaisedWell]

Originally Posted by bowian

I'm in favor. Not necessarily because of the breed but because of the thugs who have made the breed a part of their drug-dealing gansta lifestyle. Some people think having an aggressive power dog is cool. The problem is that the dogs are mistreated. Enforcing the pre-existing laws has not helped, hence the breed-specific ban.

Yeah I agree. It's not cool for the gangstas to even be seen with a German Shepherd.

[MrRational]

Banning pit bulls is akin to the effort to ban the "Saturday Night Special" handguns in the 80's.
The underlying intent is reasonable... but the method misses the larger problem.
And will ultimately be shown to create different and very possible even worse problems.

People who are inclined to breed and train dogs for fighting... don't care about laws.

[mdfrommw7]

I'm torn on this issue. Pits are a dumb breed bred mostly for baiting bulls (biting on to the nose of a bull until the bull collapses from suffocation). Is this really a dog you want in a metropolitan area where few people properly train and socialize their dogs. Unfortunately if you ban pits everyone runs out and gets a Presa Canario, Mastiffs, or other hyper aggressive/powerful dogs so the ban doesn't do much unless you ban all aggressive attack/war dogs.

I also realize that making anything illegal almost always creates a criminal element and those who fight dogs typically do it anyways whether it is legal or not. Instead of banning I'd encourage the following.

1) Mandatory registration of the dog
2) Annual behavior check up to make sure the dog is socialized and trained
3) Annual inspection of the dogs living quarters

The above would also discourage responsible owners obtaining pits with dirty blood lines or fighting dogs.

[KLynch10]

This ban seems like more of a slap in the face to the people of pg county and not the dogs. A pit bull is one of the kindest sweetest dogs if it is not raised by an animal itself.

Pit bulls are a huge part of the yuppy neighborhoods of Baltimore, and they cause zero problems, because they are treated as dogs, not weapons.

I don't know what's worse the ignorance of their politicians, or the actions of the citizens that led to this. I guess it could be worse, it could be AA county where it is okay to shoot someone else's pit bull.

[cool rob]

And for the record, more toy breeds (Yorkies, Chiuahas, Cocker Spaniels, etc) are responisble for the majority of actual dog bites each year- Not pitties!

[westsideboy]

Originally Posted by cool rob

And for the record, more toy breeds (Yorkies, Chiuahas, Cocker Spaniels, etc) are responisble for the majority of actual dog bites each year- Not pitties!

So true, most little dogs have a serious Napoleon complex. But when they bite, they don't take limbs off......

[North Beach Person]

To answer one of the original questions, yes, the ban was imposed in response to numerous incidents of the dogs attacking people and othe animals, along with intentional occurrences of planned dog fights. Bowian touched on the gangsta aspect of ownership, that's there, too.

In reality the ban is likely observed more in the continued violation of it than the observance of it.