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I don't get it. Seems that if you are against the introduction of BSL, you'd be against it for a reason. I may have missed your point, but this one left me scratching my head.

What I meant was I disagree with the way they are introducing it, its an abrupt harsh introduction, confiscating peoples property that they already owned. Mandatory registration, perhaps even a 3 day quarantine period for pit's behavior to be observed after registration to determine if the dog is dangerous. Mandatory spaying/neutering, illegal to buy breed or import another pit. But no, they jumped on the "ok everyones pit dies or you uproot and leave town and never come back wtih your dog", just like in my example, "if the cop thinks you're street racing even if you're not, you go straight to jail and say bye bye to your car" - the way the rules are made they are way too open to interpretation, being able to take dogs that "look" like a pit just like being able to arrest someone that "looks" like a street racer.

I hear you. I think some cool case law comes out of this. There's a fundamental Constitutional interest in your property; the taking of it by the government is generally frowned upon by the courts. I would love to be a civilian attorney right now-I'd litigate this happily, and I think I'd win. In any case, I just love me a good political streetfight. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

I'm going to do some off-line research on this topic. I have responded to many posts over my years as a member here regarding BSL and its legal implications. I think the time is ripe to do a scholarly article on the topic. Others have been done; some by dog lovers. But the tides are shifting faster now, and responsible owners need to step up to the plate emphatically to prevent the slippery slope from becoming the norm.

Some would say that this would be a good addition to a book on protection dogs.

Will?

QUOTE: I don't get it. Seems that if you are against the introduction of BSL, you'd be against it for a reason. I may have missed your point, but this one left me scratching my head END

Mike's answer is great and on point. Also, it's an amazingly ambiguous law, and I quote from the Denver newspaper article at the beginning of this thread, "Denver's law applies to any dog THAT LOOKS LIKE A PIT BULL (emphasis mine). The animal's actual behavior does not matter."

So aside from the huge issue of who decides what animals do and do not "look like" pit bulls (and we have all seen the posters of two dozen different breeds and the confusion that reigns when people - experts - try to pick the pit bull out of the group), the law is based on appearance and not a psych eval or rap sheets or maybe assumption of liability by posting a bond or anything else pertinent. No options for the family who has a family dog who may or may not even BE a pit bull (even assuming, for argument's sake only, that pit bulls are all dangerous)........but might "look like" one. Just my opinion..........

I think this is bullcrap. I have worked with pit bulls for 18yrs and NEVER had one bite incedent and so on. Our dogs have intense propensities. I mean, I have a Mal now and I'll be damned if I don't train and raise it correctly it wouldn't be a dog WORSE than a pit bull.

Why?

A pit bull was bred for dog fighting. He has dog fighting tendencies in his blood. This does not cross over to the human side of it. When they fought them for 100's of centuries they would fight them in a pit. Now if ANY dog had human aggression they would kill it. I am in OKlahoma currently and people still leave their home doors open so its not now as much and def. not then when people worry about home invasions.

So through hundreds of years the human aggression is bred out.

Next, its how you raise and train it. Fads and stupid knuckleheads dictate alot of what peopel think. So if they see or hear about it they want to be cool to and thus create probs.

Next, being that the pit bull was bred for human friendliness it might not be that breed.

The Am. Staffordshire terrier is the same dog as the pit bull. They came from the same english and irish stock.

Well, what happened was at that time the "rich" didn't want the dog to be bred for fighting and concentrate more on looks more than anything.

SO they changed the name from pit bull to Am Staff... Thus the human friendliness was bred out b/c they didn't practice the same method of breed conservation and disposition. So now you have a dog that looks "fine" with a bg head, borad chest, etc without any functional ability.

So the breed went sour.

Its just like German Sherperds. YOu have the show versus the working type. Which has a better head? Its obviouis. Its the working bred one b/c he is bred to behave and have certain attributes that make the show breed unstable, weak in the nerve area, bad physical structure, etc.

The working stock is always more mentally stable as well as physical.

So I think its a society of people who enjoy being spoon fed bull and hogwash...

Its their ignorance.....


And people like to be ignroant and let others do the thinking for them. Its how alot of these people are... Doesn't make a whole lot of sense but they'd rather hear it from " person A and B" and assume they are accurate and correct....

Its total nonsense....

Thanks, Aaron, for up-close and personal info. QUOTE: And people like to be ignroant and let others do the thinking for them. Its how alot of these people are... END

Not just letting other people think for them, but succumbing to wildly emotional "rationale." I do understand how one incident can spark terror and insane legislation that's not even possible to enforce; people with level heads and some facts need to get letters to the OpEd pages of their local papers before the wildfire of emotions (think of the villagers in "Frankenstein," storming the castle with torches and weapons!) takes over.

Woah!

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When they fought them for 100's of centuries they would fight them in a pit.

The APBT has only been around for 207 years. Before that was bull baiting, using bulldogs that were similar to the hybrid now know as the Colorado Bulldog.

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So through hundreds of years the human aggression is bred out.

The APBT's breed "founders" choose human friendly dogs in the development of the breed. In the sanctioned dog fight of history, the dogs were seperated multiple times in a fight - a dog could not bite it's handler.

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SO they changed the name from pit bull to Am Staff... Thus the human friendliness was bred out b/c they didn't practice the same method of breed conservation and disposition. So now you have a dog that looks "fine" with a bg head, borad chest, etc without any functional ability.

The AKC created the name American Staffordshire Terrier and is the only legitimate registry in the world to do so. The breed standard for conformation was written from the Colby dog - a small feisty line of fighting APBT. The phenomenom you observe with the loss of drive is the direct effect of the AKC and breeding soley for conformation. There are still healthy, drivey, people friendly bloodlines out there. Look of UKC/ADBA dogs or UKC/NADSR dogs. Remember that there still are fighting bloodlines that are still fought. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

If anyone wants to read a concise history of the breed(s) under discussion here, how they came to be, what happened to the "mascot" image we knew from ads and photos of the 20th century.........generally, what went wrong and why.......... this site wraps it up nicely without all the footnotes and scholarly disclaimers (which are wonderful -- but I was looking for succinct brevity). http://www.canismajor.com/dog/amerpit.html#History

Please visit this website for some EXCELLENT information on the APBT by one of the experts on the breed.

http://www.workingpitbull.com

I dont think the APBTs that are shown on the topdogbully are great representatives of the breed. Most are primarily staff blood, and are oversized. Plus, any kennel that is promoting crossbreeding and blue as a "rare" color isnt very educated....

My dog is a good example of what a true APBT should look like. 43pounds, 19inches, full of zest! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v97/Redcrown/beachpics/gshep.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v97/Redcrown/tyranny04.jpg

Sorry, I lost *any* respect I had for http://www.workingpitbull.com
when they put *crap* like this on their site:
http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/4147614/an/0/page/0/gonew/1#UNREAD
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

The people at that site are playing fast and loose with their facts and that doesn't help their case any. It just makes them look either dumb or dishonest, or both. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />