Pembroke Pines Fl wants to ban vicious dogs (BSL)

6... in a metropolitan area of over 4 million people. and only 6 were attacked by dogs? i would be more concerned about gang violence or dying in a car accident. those things seemed more prevalent and threatening when we lived in the atlanta area.

6... in a metropolitan area of over 4 million people. and only 6 were attacked by dogs? i would be more concerned about gang violence or dying in a car accident. those things seemed more prevalent and threatening when we lived in the atlanta area.

 
And of course you don't hear about any of the other bite incidents involving other breeds.  All you ever hear about in the news are the sensational stories.
 

not to mention they never show a pic of the dog in question. are we supposed to assume tv reporters know a pit bull from a hole in the ground. it seems more likely that any short haired, medium sized dog that bites is automatically assumed to be a pit bull.  it wouldnt sell newspapers and attract viewers otherwise. 

I don't think it matters if its a Pit Bull or an almost Pit Bull...or a bully type..etc etc.   The attacks by these dogs are happening more and more. The reputation of them with the knowledge that they are used as fighting dogs, makes it worse.
I don't think they should be banned... I don't want them to be banned. But something does have to done, I am not sure what, except punishing the owner seems to be the only answer. Make it so that they WILL make sure their dog does not attack.  Maybe then there will be more responsible owners and less news about attacks to spread more fear.

ORIGINAL: dyan

I don't think it matters if its a Pit Bull or an almost Pit Bull...or a bully type..etc etc.   The attacks by these dogs are happening more and more. The reputation of them with the knowledge that they are used as fighting dogs, makes it worse.
I don't think they should be banned... I don't want them to be banned. But something does have to done, I am not sure what, except punishing the owner seems to be the only answer. Make it so that they WILL make sure their dog does not attack.  Maybe then there will be more responsible owners and less news about attacks to spread more fear.

In the Atlanta area, they say it is getting harder and harder to move into a sub-division that allows Pit Bulls.  Many apartment complexes won't allow them either. So even if there is no breed ban, these restrictions as to where these dogs can live is having an effect on the population of these dogs.

I'm sure that is even true in my area around Cleveland Ohio. I hear it all the time.   ITs so  sad,,not long ago I young fella brought in a cute little PB puppy to my clinic...there was question as to living in that area would be a problem with it,,but the fella said it will be fine.    A few weeks later he came in with his GF and brought another kind of puppy,,,when I asked what happened to the other he said he could not live where he did with a PB so he had to "get rid of it!"  Where did that poor puppy go??  Who knows..probably another statistic.
This whole thing is so sad. Its a trend that has to stop...but how do we do that?  Obviously its getting worse with less and less places to live with this breed.  Ignoring the fact that these dogs are sometime dangerous and causing people fear is useless, as is trying to explain to eople that they are mostly not dangerous.   Something real has to be done and quickly.
Next it will be my Great Dane,, or your Rotty, or Dobie or Boxer,,etc.   Many of these new rules do include these breeds now.

My boyfriend and I were noticing the high concentration there are of pitbulls here in Florida. In fact when we were looking at dogs, it was difficult to find anything that wasn't mixed with pitbull. Our apartment complex bans residents from owning pitbulls, boxers and chows. When I lived in Boston I remember there were several dog attacks and where pit bulls were cited as the dog which attacked. I have a friend in Boston who has a pitbull/mastiff mix and she has been asked not to bring him to certain places because people are "afraid of him". He happens to be a great dog! She now has to bring a "good canine citizen" certificate with her when she takes him places to show that he is not a danger (I guess they get the certificate after passing an advanced training program). It is really sad that all dogs in that breed are painted with the same brush.

ORIGINAL: cyclefiend2000

6... in a metropolitan area of over 4 million people. and only 6 were attacked by dogs? i would be more concerned about gang violence or dying in a car accident. those things seemed more prevalent and threatening when we lived in the atlanta area.

So what would you consider an acceptable serious attack threshold before people get worried, 10, 15, 20....? 

ORIGINAL: timsdat

6... in a metropolitan area of over 4 million people. and only 6 were attacked by dogs? i would be more concerned about gang violence or dying in a car accident. those things seemed more prevalent and threatening when we lived in the atlanta area.

And of course you don't hear about any of the other bite incidents involving other breeds.  All you ever hear about in the news are the sensational stories.

The serious and life threatening or life ending attacks in my area seem to involve mostly  Pit Bulls vs other breeds. Without knowing the population statistics of that breed vs other breeds, it would be hard to come up with a percentage.  I can't remember the last time I read about  a non-bully breed involved in a serious or fatal attack in our local newspaper.  The problem is that many of the PB attacks, are sensational, serious and maiming injuries or death of the victim.

If the attacking dog is a pit or rot, the breed is always mentioned in the headline.  If it is any other breed, then is is a "dog" attack.  The is honestly how it is handled in the papers here.  We had a guy recently shoot a GSD to stop it from killing his lab.  The GSD was refered to as a "dog" in the headline and you had to read all the way to the bottom of the story to get the offending dog's breed, and it was only mentioned once.  If it had been a pit or rot I would be willing to bet everything I own that the breed would have been mentioned right away.

Look at the woman who had the face transplant in France.  The papers said she was mauled by her "dog."  Right away I figured that the dog must not have been a pit, rot, or dobe, because those breeds would have been mentioned right away.

I was right--over a week after the story broke it *finally* came out that the dog in question had been a lab.  And you want to talk about blaming the victim?  At first the reporters on the story were making guesses that maybe the dog ripped half the woman's face off because he was "trying to wake her up."  I love labs, I own a lab, and I do not buy that for one second, especially since the dog was reported to have had aggression issues previously.  After a while the "waking her up"theory was dropped but the attacking dog's breed was tiptoed around--you would be very lucky to have heard it at all.  If the dog in question had been a pit, the breed would have been mentioned everytime the story was brought up. 

Pit bull and rottie attacks are "sexy."   Attacks by America's favorite family pet are not.

Please don't think I'm bashing labs, I obviously love them, nor am I somehow pleased to hear that it was a lab instead of a pit bull--I love both breeds dearly and attacks like that can spell disaster for any breed.

So what would you consider an acceptable serious attack threshold before people get worried, 10, 15, 20....?

How many people in that area are saved from injury or death by their pitbulls each year?   I would be very surprised if that the number didn't exceed 6 by a very wide margin.
 
Both numbers have to be considered in situations like this.  Otherwise, we would be banning childhood vaccines because a few children have fatal reactions.

I can't remember the last time I read about a non-bully breed involved in a serious or fatal attack in our local newspaper. The problem is that many of the PB attacks, are sensational, serious and maiming injuries or death of the victim.

You determine which breeds inflict more damage by what the newspapers report??
 
In other decades it was other breeds that made the news.  The current media has decided that pitbulls are "news worthy" and other breeds take a backseat.
 
Aside:  One of my sisters was in Australia when a hurricane hit Houston.  She called our folks in a panic because the news made it sound like the entire city of Houston had been wiped out. 

ORIGINAL: janet_rose

I can't remember the last time I read about a non-bully breed involved in a serious or fatal attack in our local newspaper. The problem is that many of the PB attacks, are sensational, serious and maiming injuries or death of the victim.

You determine which breeds inflict more damage by what the newspapers report??
 
In other decades it was other breeds that made the news.  The current media has decided that pitbulls are "news worthy" and other breeds take a backseat.
 
Aside:  One of my sisters was in Australia when a hurricane hit Houston.  She called our folks in a panic because the news made it sound like the entire city of Houston had been wiped out. 

When the several media people, go  to the scene of attack, interview people that witnessed the attacks,  and take pictures of what happened, I tend to believe that more than I do someone that wasn't anywhere around and  insist that it didn't really happen.

When the several media people, go to the scene of attack, interview people that witnessed the attacks, and take pictures of what happened, I tend to believe that more than I do someone that wasn't anywhere around and insist that it didn't really happen.

If it wasn't a "pitbull", how many of these cases would be deemed "news worthy"?  Are the media people capable of telling a actual pitbull from a mongrel?  If the TV showed a boxer mix, would you know the difference?
 
I don't doubt that dog attacks happen.  I just doubt that a larger percentage of purebred pitbulls bite than say purebred GSDs.  Any breed can be bred for aggression, but the folks that do that don't care a hoot about keeping their dogs purebred. 
 
If you ban every dog breed that is capable of doing a lot of damage and which sometime bites, you are going to be destroying an awful lot of dog breeds.

It just doesn't do anyone any good to keep talking about the media only mentioning PBs vs dogs.  Janet, I agree with you. I remember when it was the Shepherds...then the Rottis...and Dobies... there were probably others in between. Now its the PBs. BUT all of those years I never heard of so many deaths or near death attacks by the other breeds,,,,not even close.  Perhaps there that is because there might be more PBs than there were the other breeds at that time...  I can't help but to believe that there are just as many attacks by Chi's, but of course...who cares because who is afraid of a tiny dog that you could probably kick away from you if you had to??  
But we are not going to change the media...we are not going to change the "news!"   We need to work on a different angle.  We need to quit sticking up for the PBs and get into the business of saving them by going after their owners...making all of them more responsible. Try to stop the owners from breeding PBs litter after litter when most of them end up in shelters. Stop them from selling to people that will use them for fighting. Stop the fighting of PBs. And go after the owner that has a PB (or any other breed) that has attacked,,,making sure that person is punished so that it will not happen again.    Not sure how to do all of this...but I think it needs to be done. We need to stop the cities from wanting to ban the breed by showing them there is no need to do this.