Everyone knows that racism is wrong, but what about “doggy” racism? That’s what Breed Specific Legislation (BSL) is though, racism with dogs. Imagine walking down a road when the police take you to jail, sentence you, and then place you on death row just because another member of your ethnic group did something illegal. It is completely un-fair and irrational, so why would you do that with dogs?

Breed Specific Legislation is a violation of your rights in the fourteenth Amendment. The fourteenth Amendment gives citizens the right to life, liberty, and their property, and the state can’t deprive them of that. A dog is your property, and if that dog has done nothing wrong, the government can’t seize and euthanize your animal.
BSL doesn’t do anything to solve fatal dog bites, either. Sure, it euthanizes all the “dangerous” breeds, but it does nothing to stop the vicious Boston terrier down the street. All BSL does is hurt the owners and family of a well-trained BSL targeted breed. In July of 2004, a 7-year-old girl sustained injuries to her body, head, and neck and was hospitalized after being attacked by a mixed breed dog. On March of 2006 a grandmother lost part of her finger and sustained “massive trauma” to one leg after being attacked by two boxer mixes. And on August of 2006 a 7-year-old girl underwent facial reconstruction to repair damage inflicted by an alleged german shepherd mix. All these severe dog attacks occurred in Denver, Colorado—where a ban on “pit bull type” dogs

has been in place for decades. The ban clearly did nothing to prevent these people from becoming dog attack victims, nor has it helped any of between 400 and 500 annual Denver dog bite victims that are attacked by non-“pit bull type” dogs.
Why should it be that if I was attacked a Siberian husky it would be a sad story placed in the middle of the newspaper, but if I was attacked by a BSL targeted breed it would be a headline story? It’s because people make it out to believe that if a non-stereotyped dog bites you, it’s just an accident but if a Pit-bull bites you it was on purpose because they are “man-eating animals”! The media hypes up theses breeds as if they are serial killers and scares citizens into believing that certain dogs should not be alive. That is why so many Pit-bull looking dogs are also euthanized. There is no possible way at this moment to actually identify a “mixed” dog’s breed so any dog that resembles a BSL targeted breed is euthanized. This “racial” profiling isn’t right either, just because a dog looks like another breed doesn’t mean it is so it should not have to be seized for any reason.


Another reason why BSL shouldn’t be allowed is because it’s costly. Euthanizing

only one targeted dog can cost around $68,000! Imagine euthanizing all 4.5 million
registered pit-bulls in the U.S. alone. That would be $306,000,000,000 not counting all of the akitas, American pit bull terriers, American staffordshire terriers, bull terriers, cane corsos, dogo argentinos, dogue de bordeaux’s, kuvasz, pit bull terriers, presa canarios, staffordshire bull terriers, and tosa inu. In the end the total cost would be unimaginable, and for what, just to let more “dangerous” breeds take their place. When the government makes these dogs off limits, it is only going to cause people illegally breeding them or a bigger and better breed to take their place. It will only be a vicious cycle until all dog breeds are completely banned!

BSL doesn’t just affect the owner of targeted breeds, it affects people who live next to non-targeted breeds that are being dangerously mismanaged by irresponsible owners, people who have bitten or even attacked by non-targeted breeds, people who are ignorant enough to not realize that any dog can kill or inflict injury, or anyone who comes in contact with any breed of dog. In other words, everyone is affected by BSL. I, personally, am effected by this because I own an America staffordshire terrier and she is a targeted breed. I am a responsible owner of her and have socialized her well. I realize that any dog can bite or kill, but I don’t blame any breed. I wouldn’t want to have my dog taken away from for no reason, and no one else should.

One way everyone can stop BSL is by writing legislatures, senators, city counsel members, and even the president. Petitions need to be sent out opposing BSL!

The truth needs to be spread; any dog can be vicious, and this “breed profiling” is wrong. The fourteenth Amendment needs to take effect and our dogs are our property and that should not be taken away. If everyone who believes in this cause does this BSL would most likely not take effect! Tell the government that there are alternatives such as non-breed specific ordinances, breeder regulations, and low-cost training for these dogs. An obedient, manageable dog is much safer in a community than an out-of-control, unsocialized canine.

Breed Specific Legislation is a violation of the fourteenth Amendment, it is racism, and it kills animals that did nothing wrong. No family or breed should be put through something so horrible, especially when it doesn’t solve the problem in the first place. BSL needs to be stopped!