Interesting Fact: St. Albans, Vermont has banned pit bulls.
Best Friends has been successfully working to outlaw breed discrimination. In fact, 19 states across the country now have provisions that outlaw breed discrimination by municipalities. But clearly, there is still a long way to go.
Here are some myth busters from Best Friends Society:
Here are a few truths about dogs, dog bites and related laws:
- All dogs are individuals and they all have teeth.
- All dogs can bite, and the bigger the dog, the worse their bite may be. There is a greater variance of temperament within the same breed of dog than between different dog breeds.
- Pit bull terriers routinely do better on temperament tests than do golden retrievers.
- European countries that have banned or restricted breeds saw no decrease in dog bites and, in fact, some studies actually showed an increase.
- Laws that actually do serve the interest of public safety focus on the behaviors of both dog and owner. Many cities are enacting ordinances preventing reckless owners from owning pets, and many states have passed or are considering passing laws that ban breed-discriminatory ordinances altogether.
- Without DNA testing, the breed or breed mix of dogs is incorrectly identified by shelter workers 75 percent of the time.