You have a point. My 'test' idea would be similar to what people have to do to become caregivers to the elderly, or foster parents - essentially proving you are competent, knowlegable, and have the resources to care for and train the animal properly. But unfortunately the very definition of 'criminal' is someone who refuses to obey the laws. But I sincerely believe the problem is WHO has the dog, not the dog itself.

One day these undesireables will tire of the PB breeds and move on to destroy another one. How does one go about preventing that? They are great animals when properly trained - in Spokane we have a PB mix on the police force and she's an outstanding narcotics dog! And what a darling lover...charmed the socks off of me when I met her. Shows what can happen in the right hands.

For those confused as to why 'the pit bulls seem to be doing all the biting' consider what happened to the GSD after WWII. There was a time that breed suffered from the same kind of image. It was all due to WHO was interested in the dog and WHO was breeding it. Once that specific group of people loses interest, you will most likely see a dramatic decrease in attack reports and the breed image will slowly return to where it was originally intended. Yes I know there are several breeds with similar appearance but I tend to go by the 'slang' since I don't have a very well-trained eye in regards to those dogs. I am a 'pointy-eared GSD' person.

Valerie: I think with the general public, just the name pit bull creates a bad picture in their minds. And truthfully, the regular people who do not know much about pit bulls,(like me) see one and don't know what their owners are like, or how they were raised, just want to avoid them to avoid running into a crazy person. Today as a matter of fact I took my dogs for a walk and saw 3 teenagers walking their dogs, on ropes around their necks. They had a female who was still nursing puppies, and two males, and they were walking down the street together.
I avoided them. Its a pity, but without knowing the person or the dog what can you do? I don't bash pits, but in our area, teenagers, usually those into drugs and gangs have them. It is a shame, I just hate to see it. I think pits are beautiful dogs, but I have to admit I am warry of them when I walk my dogs.
I wish there was something we could do to help, but I just don't know what.

Colorado, Colorado Springs, and Denver all had very specific problems stemming from pits which is the reason the breed ban took effect with such force. I spent 3 years living in Colorado Springs and saw some pretty terrible things reguarding these great dogs.
First one was while driving home one day I noticed two dogs working intently on something on the side of the road that looked like a plastic bag blowing in the wind. These were most definately two pits and the bag I was looking at was actually a 11 year old girl wearing a puffy winter coat and backpack. My sister in law who was with me blared the horn and screeched to a stop and we both jumped out of the car and we ran up. These dogs broke their hold on this kid who was crying and trying to protect her face. Happy we got to her in time before she really got hurt. She got away lucky with a bite to her scalp, her leg, and her side. Seems her backpack saved her. These dogs only briefly backed off and never left eyeshot before we started moving this kid towards the car when they approached us again with charging and mock circling behavior. My in law had an air horn panic spray thing which she sounded once which kept them at bay long enough for my in law to grab her gun out of the car and pop in a clip. It was a residential area so much to our relief the terrain helped us "end this" safely which could have easily not been the case since south Colorado Springs tends to be rather flat. While we were waiting for the ambulance, police and animal control to show up the "owner" of these dogs showed up. Instead of being surprised, angry with us, or sad this young man kicked his dead dog named Paine(no I'm not kidding) and said "I shoulda killed the crazy muther****** myself." This man still had three other young pits in a 4 foot fenced yard with rotting posts and sandy soil. This young man lived less than two blocks from a elementry school.
The other thing that really struck with me about Colorado Springs is that one day I was a block from my apartment at a Wingstop and I noiced across the street there were four kids in their early teens with a sign "pit puppies for sale." I walked over to take a look and there were 12 red nose pits from two different litters. I asked them how much they were and they said $35 dollars or two 24 packs. I said "excuse me?" The youngest boy said their dad preferred Corona and pointed to an old pickup which I noticed had four cases in the back already. These kids are probably still peddling dogs every 2-3 months in that parking lot.
I guess the problem in the minds of most people is how do you keep dogs out of the hands of people who should not have them? The reality of it is that you simply can't in a free market where the market is flooded with dogs. The problem simply carries on. Owning dogs isn't a right like owning a firearm and it's situations like these that fuel BSL into reality. It's not right, or fair but it is what it is.

 Quote: Melissa Thom

I guess the problem in the minds of most people is how do you keep dogs out of the hands of people who should not have them? The reality of it is that you simply can't in a free market where the market is flooded with dogs. The problem simply carries on. Owning dogs isn't a right like owning a firearm and it's situations like these that fuel BSL into reality. It's not right, or fair but it is what it is.

This is a really old thread.

Melissa, as horrible as the situations you cited are, they are people problems, IMHO. The victims are the little girl and the little puppies. Until we can ban scumbags, we shouldn't be able to ban dogs. JMO. They will move on to a different breed, and drag them down as well. Remember, at one point it was Rotts; at another Dobes, and it will be something else at another point in time.

I agree it is mostly people. PEOPLE decide to breed indiscriminately or selectively for the wrong traits. PEOPLE don't care for them properly or keep them secured. PEOPLE praise the wrong kind of behavior.

I knew someone who once had a pitbull/chow mix. He was very proud of her 'baddass' fighting ability and encouraged it, even though she would kill wildlife and stray animals. One day she turned on him and he has the scar on his jaw to this day - she tried for his throat.

If he hadn't praised her and egged her on she probably wouldn't have needed to be put down. There is a point where you actually lose control of the dog and people who see the dog as an extension of their egos don't realize that. Not until it's too late. So how on earth do you fix that?

This IS a really old thread.

Regarding Mellissa's story, breed has absolutely nothing to do with that incident. Absolutely nothing. I have lived in Denver for 30 yrs and never seen anything like that w/a PB type dog. I did however see a Chihuahua bite a kid in the face, been bitten by a Min Pin & my cousin's Blue Heeler bit the mailman. TWICE.

I don't know what can be done. Only thing I know is education, but, then again we have a problem with education as well. :shrug:

i am always leery of the stories involving "packs of pitbulls" as by their very nature, these are no longer 'pack' dogs! if you ever see a 'pack of pitbulls' running together, first, be surprised, second figure that they're 100 times more likely be lighting into each other than to a person, and thrid, question whether they're really pitbulls at all.

as someone who spends a lot of time reading these 'pitbull attack' stories, i can tell you that more often than not, a few days later, there is some disclaimer saying that the dogs were in fact packs of mutts of various origin - NOT in fact a 'pack of pitbulls.'

Well, let's just say this, that dogs need better care. And I know it is probably really hard to know-people being untruthful- their intent on getting a dog. Most people think, dogs are just dogs, and don't spend much time training them or anything else.
Little dogs can be very agressive and bite like crazy, when I was little a small dog, not sure the type, like a chiwawa (spelling) chased me all the way home biting my leg as we went. It got out of the yard.
The only thing animal control possibly could do or people who sell pits or any dog for that matter, is to check up on them about 6 months later, when the peoples excitment over having a dog wanes. I feel very sorry for the dogs, alone, tied up out in the back yard without food, in cold or hot weather without water, and I feel sorry for the dogs in the house who are not trained, and act up and end up at the animal shelter or put down. I wish there would be strickter screening, but it just comes down to people.
I hope we can make a difference. Yesterday I was talking to a lady at the store re: commercial dog food and how bad it is, she says she knows its bad, but feeds her dog that anyway. I told her raw is , in my opinion easier and healthier. She looked at me with the expression, too much work, it is just a dog. So, ther is really nothing we can do, but to be good dog owners ourselves and to tell what we know to others.
I have compassion on those attacked by any dog, my daughter in law was attacked by a pit bull and now she is not a fan of any dog. We hope to change that so that her family could enjoy a dog.
Anyway, sorry for the ramble, Let's just spread good eating, training and handling knowledge around and maybe some will listen.
God bless you