Acting against dangerous dogs

The terrible pit bull death raises, yet again, the question of how to control dangerous dogs. Should whole breeds be banned? Can they be?

Early last year, the incomparable Malcolm Gladwell tackled precisely this issue in a New Yorker piece. His real target was racial profiling on the Subway and why it would be a mistake, but in the process he provides some very useful information about pit bulls.

The problem with banning pit bulls, argued Gladwell, is this:

A mean pit bull is a dog that has been turned mean, by selective breeding, by being cross-bred with a bigger, human-aggressive breed like German shepherds or Rottweilers, or by being conditioned in such a way that it begins to express hostility to human beings. A pit bull is dangerous to people, then, not to the extent that it expresses its essential pit bullness but to the extent that it deviates from it. A pit-bull ban is a generalization about a generalization about a trait that is not, in fact, general.

He proceeds to argue that identifying individual dangerous dogs is the only effective method of reducing the threat they pose, before writing this concluding sentence.

It is always easier just to ban the breed.

Well, yes, it is. Which is why I am in favour of it.

Comments

[Nick]

I agree with banning.

I don't understand why such dogs, who to my mind are potentially lethal weapons, are allowed on the streets. If I carried a weapon (say for self defence purposes, from a pit bull!) I would be committing an offence but the dog owner isn't.

I'm sure many of these dogs cause no trouble and their owners love them - but is it worth the risk? Probably many gun/knife owners felt the same when they handed over their weapons.

[Candadai Tirumalai]

I have nevewr owned a dog but have known several perfectly amiable ones, and know that there are thousands of people for whom they mean the world. An Englishwoman loved her dog so well that when it got lost among some restless cows on a Common, she waded in and got trampled to death heself. But I respect Balzac's view that the dog is a combination of wolf and child (some breeds more than others); very occasionally the wolf comes out. A man who bought a German Shepherd was told by the previous owner that it resented its bowl being moved when it was eating. The new owner incautiously moved it, when the dog attacked him so violently that he died of his injuries. And sometimes the dog's guarding instincts get the better of it; a boy came home one afternoon, found his parents out, climbed over the side-gate, when the two family dogs which had known him well mauled him severely and fatally. The decision to get a dog must be a very individual one, with restrictions on some breeds.

[rebecca]

i think that they should not be banned but instead you should have a licence to have them that is signed by the rspca and they should be walked with a muzzle at all times when out. And a harness if the dog is to strong for the owner at all times.

[Alisha]

Ok people yes the license to own a pit bull is a great idea because those dogs are one of the top dogs to be used as fighting dogs. You should research abused pitbulls and see how they are treated and then you will understand why they attack humans. If I was treated like they are I would try and fight anyone that came around me.

[Norm]

First of all, I don't believe "pit bull" is a breed, is it? It merely describes a dog that has been bred and trained to fight other dogs for sport; many of the fighting dogs are mixed breed. This activity should be banned and punished severely. If you have a dog, it should be treated just like a child -- raise it to be responsible and loving, and you will get the same back. We should ban the humans who abuse animals and humans.