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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A shift from Breed Specific to Breed Neutral Legislation?

A new national survey commissioned by Best Friends Animal Society revealed that 84% of those polled believe that local, state or federal governments should not infringe on a person's right to own whatever breed of dog they choose. 

The survey, conducted by Luntz Global, is consistent with a growing trend by many state and local governments that have repealed breed discriminatory provisions and enacted behaviour-based, breed-neutral dangerous dog laws. 

Breed Specific Legisltaion (BSL) has been a controversial topic for decades. Behaviour specialist, Barbara Walmer, recently submitted an InfoStream article outlining the 'grey' areas of BSL. 

"Within each dog breed certain characteristics tend to be selected for. However, due to genetic variability some offspring display these characteristics while others do not," she said. "It is also important to consider that depending on what environment and stimuli dogs are exposed to, some dogs may display certain behaviours to a different degree than others." 

Last week, a preemption bill passed by the Utah State House was also passed by the state Senate. The bill would prevent any local government from enacting breed discriminatory legislation and will now be placed before the governor.  

In Canada last year, New Westminster B.C. reviewed their own breed specific provisions. At the time, most of the Lower Mainland was moving toward breed-neutral legislation. The City of Winnipeg introduced Canada's first ban on pit bulls in 1990 and Ontario introduced its province-wide Pit Bull Ban in 2005. In 2004, New Brunswick considered breed specific legislation but opted instead for legislation which deals with all dangerous dogs. In Calgary in 2013, the city received public pressure for BSL following three separate attacks by pit bulls. 

According to statistics posted online in February 2013 by the American Temperament Test Society, 86.8% of American Pit Bull Terriers successfully pass their temperament evaluations - a higher passing rate than many other popular breeds such as Golden Retrievers, Cocker Spaniels, Collies, Boston Terriers and Dachshunds. Out of 32,438 dogs tested since the organization was founded in 1977, the average passing rate for all breeds is 83%.