Controversial ban of pit bulls as service dogs contested by disabled man

[caption id="attachment_19864" align="alignleft" width="300"] pit bull terrier[/caption]

Leanne Jenkins----Miami-Dade County has banned pit bulls, producing controversy regarding the rights of a disabled person who has this type of dog as a service animal and the ordinance which requires registration and the payment of fines to prevent more of these dogs from entering the county.

Felix Conde has obstructive airway disease and claims his physician prescribed the pit bull named Lucky as a service dog. The dog is said to fetch the inhaler, for example, that Conde maintains is needed for his condition. He has been fined $10,715 for keeping the dog and has been warned many times about the need for registration. Conde has had to send the dog elsewhere, which he hopes will be temporary, as the Miami-Dade County law allows for the killing of the dog if it remains in with Conde in the County.

Conde is reported to have received various notices during the year about the regulations, and the fine was originally $715. Since the dog was sent away, Conde was in an automobile accident where he sustained catastrophic injuries and is seeking to have his dog back, using the Americans with Disabilities Act as the platform for his lawsuit.

A number of pit bull owners and their supporters maintain that the dog has the characteristics needed in a good service animal.  One advocate maintains,” In fact, they are known to be gentle and dependable dogs.” Another writer takes a similar position by saying, “They are companion animals who have enhanced the lives of many through their devoted people-loving natures, positively channeled physical prowess, bravery and intelligence.

Property owners who offer rentals are particularly concerned about having pit bulls as one of the dogs used as service animals. The owner of the property is in part responsible if there is an aggressive attack and could be sued, so the notion of having a dog that some believe has negative breed specific behaviors is controversial.

The American Bar Association has taken the position against breed-specific laws and believes that the law should be neutral on the matter of whether or not the pit bull can be a safe and responsible animal to help the person with disabilities.

 

 

Pit bull controversies surround legislation and pit bull breeding

[caption id="attachment_10804" align="alignleft" width="480"] American Pit Bull terrier[/caption]

Lindsey Markham ---PETA, one of the world’s most famous animal activist groups, has declared there should be restrictions on breeding pit bulls.  Is this because there are animal specific behaviors, leading to this dog as being particularly aggressive or are there other reasons why people are concerned about pit bulls and why are there so many controversies and concerns concerning them?

The founder of PETA, Ingrid E. Newkirk  was the director of a large animal shelter in Washington D.C. for many years.  In her role as chief of animal disease control and working directly with animal care, she was the first to begin spay-and-neuter programs, according to the PETA website and also personally helped many abused and neglected dogs or dogs trained to attack people.

PETA’s concern is that pit bulls have difficulty finding homes, given the controversies surrounding their behavior, often in the news.  Stories in newspapers around the world regularly highlight the dangerousness of the pit bull, after citing an attack on a person, often a child or a smaller animal.   The bias against the pit bull has become part of the conscious thinking of many people, so these hard-to-place animals often have to be put down because there are no homes for them.    Besides many of them have also been raised to be aggressive and that makes placement even more of a problem.

It’s for those reasons PETA asserts there should be breeding restrictions for pit bulls.

But are there breed specific behaviors with reference to pit bulls that substantiates public anxiety about this type of dog?

ASCPCA offers an answer on the question.  The organization acknowledges that various breeds of dogs have certain characteristics that develop from the ancestry of dogs, the pit bull coming initially from Europe, most especially England,  from where many American settlers had come, bringing the pit bulls with them.  In these early years, pit bulls became part of a spectator sport where people watched animals fight, and the viewers made bets on who might win or lose.   Initially bulldogs are said to have been used to control livestock, then became involved in the “sport” called baiting, where they were trained to fight other pitbulls, bears, and large animals.  But does this mean pi tbulls now have an innate tendency to fight other animals?

According to ASCPCA, the pitbull, with its large, muscular body, can be trained to be aggressive.  Yet it can also be trained to be a family pet, with kind, loving care and socialization.  Given the history of the pit bull, however, ASCPCA maintains it is especially important for the pit bull to have better than average training in how to deal with other animals and around people.  That’s because they were once regarded as fine, kindly creatures before they gained their fighting reputations.  It is because of that reputation people have developed a bias against them.

The pit bull has only in recent years been the most controversial of dogs, in terms of potential for aggressive behavior.  in the 1970s  folks were concerned about German Shepherds, and in the 1980s, Doberman Pinschers.

Despite the fact that pet experts have indicated that with proper care, a pit bull can be a friendly pet, many states and municipalities have passed what is called BSL, or breed-specific-legislation.  The U.S. Centers for Disease Control, however, conducted a study of the years from 1979 to 1998, finding 30 different types of dogs were responsible for human fatalities, with pit bulls being 1/3 of them.

But it is the pit bull who ends up on the national news when an attack ends in someone’s death, whereas the other breeds that kill are often only discussed in the local media.

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Lindsey Markham owned a pit bull throughout the dog's life, found the dog to be a good pet and offered this information for this journal to look at the pit bull in terms of the public bias  about this breed of dog.