Pit Bulls Banned in Denver

This story has me livid. Banning a specific breed* of dog because it has the potential to be dangerous to others is ridiculous. Do we ban white guys for beating their wives or for having the potential? Some may say that I'm comparing apples to oranges, but I think a person's pets should be additional family members. If you can't treat them as you would want to be treated, then you shouldn't have them.

Of course, Denver is saying the ban exists because "all" pits are being used in dog fights and to protects drug lairs. Yep, that's a great way to solve a much bigger problem: just get rid of the dogs then hey, all those dog fights will stop and those guys will stop running the drugs. Jesus fucking christ people!

Then I read this:
Georgia and New Mexico have recently introduced bills that would ban the breed statewide.

WTF? Where will all those dogs go? They plan on euthanizing them, that's where.

Owners who already have pit bulls get to keep them only if they have the dogs fully neutered, leashed and muzzle in public. Damn if this doesn't ring of discrimination doggie style.

I have recently started volunteering for an organization called Pet Harbor who mostly rescue Huskies. They are one of the best breeds for family's and children I think, yet Huskies are on most states dangerous dogs list because they have a high prey drive. Peanut loves Brock because he gets up on the trampoline with Peanut and jumps/plays with him but its not rough. Brock played carefully with Peanut, almost as if he understood this was a kid. When other dogs got up on the trampoline with him, Brock would growl and fight them off.

A dog being of a certain breed does not give any indication the dog will turn into an Evil People Attacking Machine. There have been enough of just about every breed that bite, but we seem to only hear about the same dogs over and over again. No one gets to hear about the Great Danes, Golden Retrievers, Collies or Springer Spaniels that bite kids/adults on a regular basis. We only get to hear the hyped up stories of the more aggressive dog breeds as a sort of media frenzy attack in order to scare the shit out of people. Dogs become agressive and a problem because of their owners and upbringing, not their breed.

Not too long after the pit bull attacks near my house in Spotsylvania County happened, I saw a guy walking his two pits (massive babies they were) on the sidewalk in Carytown. Then there was another guy walking his pit puppy (brindle and the cutest). I have 3 pit bull mixed breeds and the only one that is iffy around kids is the pure bred who was severely abused when she was a puppy (so much so that she still can't hear the jingling of a belt and it's been 7 years at least).

I think it's about time that legislator's start punishing the owners of the agressive dog(s) or take each occurance as a case-by-case basis. By banning a whole breed, it's like saying all black guys are thugs so if police arrested them all and put them in jail, they'd be saving themselves a lot of time by getting it out of the way already.

I love pit bulls, bull dogs, bull mastifs and the like. I have met more good pits than bad as it depends on the ownership and care the dogs get. By banning the breed, the overall problem of bad ownership is being condoned and those who want dogs to protect them will just find another breed to do it with. Next thing you know, no one will be able to have any dogs because they will all be considered too dangerous.

*Pit Bulls are actually two breeds: American Pit Bull Terrier and American Stafordshire Terrier. The former are usually smaller and more Bull Dog, the latter are taller, lean but still muscular. Most of pit bulls get bored easily and have a "dumb dog" complex but get to be very smart as they mature (my youngest can open doors with the handles).