Dog Community

Pembroke Pines Fl wants to ban vicious dogs (BSL)

Posted : 6/25/2007 10:19:35 AM

Under Fl law cities or counties can't pass BSL legislation but the tactic that they are using appears new.

Pembroke Pines commissioners last week unanimously agreed to take steps to win the right to restrict dogs by breed. They want Gov. Charlie Crist to appoint a panel of experts to study the possibility of breed-specific laws and would offer Pembroke Pines as a test city for the study.

Larry Smith of Hollywood, the city's Tallahassee lobbyist, suggested Pembroke Pines work with other cities because a solo effort would be useless. He said cities should parade victims of vicious dogs before lawmakers to show the need.

Commissioners agreed to try creating a coalition of cities.

"Collectively, as a group of cities, we need to put pressure on them," said Commissioner Iris Siple, whose daughter, Amy Siple, 29, was attacked by a neighbor's dog in May. She is still recovering from the German shepherd's bites and may need surgery.

Commissioner Angelo Castillo said South Florida cities and counties need to work together because northern Florida politicians "love their pit bulls" and are preventing regulation by breed.

Here is a link to the article: [linkhttp://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbbaddogs0625pnjun25,0,7561094.story?coll=sfla-news-broward]http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbbaddogs0625pnjun25,0,7561094.story?coll=sfla-news-broward[/link]

Bobsk8

Posted : 6/25/2007 1:32:49 PM

Since many people in Miami moved to South Broward after the ban, this has become an issue there too. A ban in Broward has been expected for some time by the residents of that area.

cyclefiend2000

Posted : 6/25/2007 1:48:43 PM

at least some of the legislators realize that this isnt the answer....

"Plantation Councilwoman Diane Veltri Bendekovic agreed.

"I applaud them for doing it, but it isn't the dog itself, it is the owner," she said. "Aggressiveness is a behavior dogs learn. Owners make them aggressive."
....
Plantation adopted an ordinance to punish owners of vicious dogs of any breed two years ago, after a rash of dog attacks.

"We made owners responsible for their dogs," Veltri Bendekovic said. "I realize pit pulls do the most damage, but even a cocker spaniel can jump into a 4-year-old's face and do the same amount of damage."

hopefully this will not pass.

timsdat

Posted : 6/25/2007 1:53:02 PM

One real problem I am seeing is that this time it is going to be a number of cities going forward. In the past it always has been just one and we have been able to stop it. With that many cities at the same time I don't know if the groups can counter that.

cyclefiend2000

Posted : 6/25/2007 2:04:45 PM

i have my fingers crossed for you floridians.

are they just targeting pit bulls? or other breeds too?

timsdat

Posted : 6/25/2007 2:12:16 PM

From other cities that are trying to get this it's the typical

it bull description as Denver has. You know ... or any dog that has the physical charactistics of such breeds.

cyclefiend2000

Posted : 6/25/2007 2:16:09 PM

tragic.... that encompasses many dogs. basically vague enough that it could be almost any medium sized dog.

Bobsk8

Posted : 6/27/2007 8:04:39 PM

Here is another PB attack in the Atlanta area, one of many. This is why people don't want PB's living in their neighborhoods.

[linkhttp://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/northfulton/stories/2007/06/22/0622pitbull.html]http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/northfulton/stories/2007/06/22/0622pitbull.html[/link]

cyclefiend2000

Posted : 6/27/2007 10:28:27 PM

it is sad for the lovely pitties out there when a community lets a couple of bad apples ruin things for all pitties.

the saddest part is that once pitties are banned, the irresponsible owners who are responsible for their bad behavior will move on to some other breed.

in the particular article posted above, i lay the blame on the victim. she was warned not to approach, and did so anyways. WTF? it seems the owner was doing many things to prevent the attack. the dog was leashed and the victim was given warning to stay away. the dog even gave a warning growl. granted he could have had the dog muzzled, but if there was no prior bite record why muzzle?

poor amelia is mistaken for a pit a lot. if i were in the shoes of the owner of achilles, i would have slapped the woman before letting her get close enough to pet. i would rather face assault charges than have amelia murdered in front of me.

Bobsk8

Posted : 6/28/2007 6:40:25 AM

ORIGINAL: cyclefiend2000

it is sad for the lovely pitties out there when a community lets a couple of bad apples ruin things for all pitties.

the saddest part is that once pitties are banned, the irresponsible owners who are responsible for their bad behavior will move on to some other breed.

in the particular article posted above, i lay the blame on the victim. she was warned not to approach, and did so anyways. WTF? it seems the owner was doing many things to prevent the attack. the dog was leashed and the victim was given warning to stay away. the dog even gave a warning growl. granted he could have had the dog muzzled, but if there was no prior bite record why muzzle?

poor amelia is mistaken for a pit a lot. if i were in the shoes of the owner of achilles, i would have slapped the woman before letting her get close enough to pet. i would rather face assault charges than have amelia murdered in front of me.

A dog like that, that was obviously known to be aggresive by the person walking it, should not be out in public without a muzzle on. What if a toddler came up and tried to reach for the dog, it's then OK for the dog to rip the kids face off.
That is what upsets many people about PB's, because when something happens and someone is severely injured, some people are so quick to try and blame the victim.. The other thing to learn from this story is that the only way the dog could be stopped was to shoot it in the head. I have heard this same type of story again and again, about people trying to stop a Pit Bull attack and being bitten themselves, until someone gets a firearm, or a club or something.

cyclefiend2000

Posted : 6/28/2007 8:26:41 AM

so are you suggesting we euthanize all pit bulls because a handful have bitten people?

as far as i am concerened this is an isolated incident. there is no mention of how many people own pit bulls in north fulton that have never harmed anyone.

even the (outdated) cdc document that most people use to support BSL states that BSL is not the answer.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/duip/dogbreeds.pdf

under conclusions it clearly states .... "Many practical alternatives to breed-specific ordianances exist and hold promise for prevention of dog bites."

a quote usually overlooked by pro-BSL people.

Liesje

Posted : 6/28/2007 8:47:16 AM

even the (outdated) cdc document that most people use to support BSL states that BSL is not the answer.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/duip/dogbreeds.pdf

under conclusions it clearly states .... "Many practical alternatives to breed-specific ordianances exist and hold promise for prevention of dog bites."

a quote usually overlooked by pro-BSL people.

Yeah, this is my favorite. I've seen pro-BSL, anti-pit people use this article to prove their "point" (mainly referencing the bite data) and never bother to read the conclusions!

Bobsk8

Posted : 6/28/2007 9:40:20 AM

as far as i am concerened this is an isolated incident. there is no mention of how many people own pit bulls in north fulton that have never harmed anyone.

When the isolated incidents start becoming more numerous, they are not isolated incidents any more.

cyclefiend2000

Posted : 6/28/2007 10:07:24 AM

what do you call numerous?

i havent heard about a pit bull attack here in a year or more. one is not numerous.

Bobsk8

Posted : 6/28/2007 10:26:08 AM

ORIGINAL: cyclefiend2000

what do you call numerous?

i havent heard about a pit bull attack here in a year or more. one is not numerous.

Where I live, there have been about 6 such attacks since the first of the year. That, to me , is numerous.