Matak said:
The problem has to be eliminated at the source at some point. It is much more enforceable to ban the breeds outright than to try to register breeders. How would a by-law or police officer spot a dog that was illegally bred? How is an ownership course going to enforce good attitude? But, I have to concede, it will be difficult (if not impossisble) to determine just what breed some dogs are. When is a Rottie not a Rottie? Is a half Shepherd/ half Staffordshire still a Staffordshire? I can just see the Ontario chapter of the CKK being dragged into this as a ruling body. All of a sudden a volunteer dog show judge is now a paid government employee.
There is no 2nd amendment concerning the right to bear dogs here in Canada. But until then...
It is quite simple for somebody to enforce licensing laws. If you see a Pit Bull or a possible Pit Bull cross, you check its tags. If the tags arent on the dog or the dog is not registered or you havent taken the course than the dog is taken from the owner until whichever of those stipulations needed are met.
The ownership course will work wonder as it will be spread over a 1-2 month period. Where the future Pitty owner goes 2 nights a week for 2 hours. Over this time I am sure the "Teacher" would get a pretty good idea of the owners attitude. If they dont pass both the attitude test and the knowledge test they dont get the license to own the dog! Simple as that.
You are however right that it would be easier and probably alot cheaper to just ban the breed but it is not right. Especially since it is proven that Pit Bulls are far from being the most dngerous dog out there. As I mentioned before, they account for only 1.8% of dog bites/attacks. Where as labs, JRTs, and Cocker Spaniels account for more than 3% EACH! The only reason people want to ban Pit Bulls is pure un-education and discrimination towards the breed. The only reason they have to do it is that Pit Bulls can do more damage than most other dogs IF they attack. So in their minds this is justification to ban them. Even though they are 3-4 times more likely to be attacked and seriously injured by their precious Golden Labrador or Jack Russel Terier.
You are also right about us not having the right to bear dogs. This is very true. BUT we have the right to protect our families. And any Dog owner knows that a dog will become just as much part of your family as your own child is. And I will do anything and I mean anything to protect my family whether it is my Wife, my kid, my brother, my cousin, my mother, and even my dog.
P.S. I had another much more detailed much longer post written instead of this one but when I tried to post it, it was deleted instead.
