Breed Bans Could Lead to More Dog Bites in Calgary

In May the city of Calgary has had five dog attacks in five days and several of these attacks involved pit bulls. The City of Calgary is looking into higher licensing fees for breeds considered to be dangerous and stronger penalties for owners of dogs that bite. A breed ban similar to those in Winnipeg, Denver, and Ontario has been brought up.

Bill Bruce was a director of Calgary Animal and Bylaw Services and designed Calgary’s bylaw for Responsible Pet Ownership. this bylaw focuses on animal sterilization, training, socialization, exercise, and medical care.

Bruce believes that a breed ban would be counterproductive, it is an owner’s responsibility to ensure their dog is well trained and prevent bites. Bruce said, “You want to be so careful in your legislation that you’re not negatively impacting responsible people. If you look at the Ontario numbers, you look at the Winnipeg numbers, they haven’t gone down in bite numbers. Yes, they’ve got less bites by pit bulls, but their bite numbers are generally up.”

If pit bulls are banned then people may just replace them with other dangerous/aggressive dogs. Bruce says, “All dogs can and will bite. All that happens is your bites shift to another breed.”

Barbara Walmer, Behaviour Department Head at the Calgary Humane Society said dog attacks are not breed specific. Walmer says, “We need to educate people on training and socialization and basically responsible pet ownership,” she said. “If dogs are not social, we need to make sure we’re using preventive measures such as muzzles and leashes to prevent those interactions from happening.”

The director of Denver’s Animal Protection, Alice Nightengale, said Denver’s ban is due to the severity of bites. From 2007-1012 the Coalition for Living Safely with Dogs found that Labrador retrievers bit most, followed by pit bulls.

Calgary’s Ward 2 Councillor, Joe Magliocca wanted to require muzzles on all dogs in public until they are trained. Once dogs are trained they would be required to wear coloured bandana to indicate how dangerous they are. Magliocca withdrew this action following many complaints.

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