The Bull*** Legislation

THE
BULL****
LEGISLATION

The BS Legislation

ISSUES AND BARRIERS

Passing of this legislation will not allow achievable alternatives to rehabilitation of the breed’s reputation. As stated by the Center for Disease Control, “Studies […] have proven that no one breed of dog is inherently vicious. The CDC supports the position that irresponsible owners, NOT breed, is the number one cause of dog bites.” With numerous non-profit organizations coming together, a voice from the White House recently spoke out against the BSL. In August of 2013, the White House’s official response to an online petition, signed by more than 30,000 people, stated that the "Breed-Specific Legislation Is a Bad Idea […] research shows that bans on certain types of dogs are largely ineffective and often a waste of public resources” (Greenwood).

While there is not a current BSL law in Texas, a law should be implemented to hold aggressive animal owners accountable for their pets. 12 states, including Texas, have already approved the prohibiting of the BSL in California, New York, Virginia, and Ohio. This means that no specific dog breed mix shall be considered dangerous or aggressive, but it does allow the BSL to mandate those dogs of a certain breed be spayed or neutered. (“Pit Bull Bans: The State of Breed-Specific Legislation” 2009). The setback with theses breeds bans and restrictions targets “breed-like” canines by generalizing them by default. This is not different then generalizing and categorizing a human being based on the color of their skin or appearance. Pit bull look-alike breeds are typically the result from improper breeding and/or uneducated owners trying to achieve that stereotypical “block” or “box” head. By doing so, there are other variable that are ignored that influence the physical appearance, unknown genetic mutations, demeanor, etc. Any dog can become dangerous, intentionally or unintentionally, when an underlying cause has gone undetected due to neglect.

Prejudicial Profiling

While Pitbull’s do take the lead on attacks when you search "dog bit attacks" ambiguously. However, someone that accepts things for face value will not ask the right questions to lead to direct facts. Things that should but are not always taken into consideration.

Is the source reliable or credible?
How current are these statistics?
What defines "Pitbull-like" appearance?

These kind of questions validate that categorizing a canine into a cookie-cutter breed that is coupled with negative perceptions inherently formulates an idea before being supported with factual evidence. For example, according to the DailyBeast.com article DailyBeast.com updated their 2010 article, Dangerous Dogs, Ranked By Breed: Pit Bulls, Chows Chows Lead, in 2017 stating, " Just last week, attacks on postal workers by stray pit bulls aborted mail service in several Dayton, Ohio, neighborhoods. Despite the real-life example of the classic feud between pooches and postal workers, children ages 5 to 9 tend to be the most vulnerable to dog attacks" (Dangerous Dogs, Ranked By Breed: Pit Bulls, Chows Chows Lead, 2017).

While this is an unfortunate situation, take notice in this comment is scoped around. First, postal workers are subjected to a higher inherent risk of being attacked by any breed of dog due to the nature of their work. This would then cause rise to be aware that this should not pertain the "average joe" that is walking their family dog down the street. Secondly, these dogs are labeled "stray pit bulls", but how does the DailyBeast.com define this? It is not indicated in the article and the referenced hyperlink does not further elaborate on the definition. Contradictory, the hyperlink to DaytonDailyNews.com displays a broken "404" error page stating, "Sorry, we couldn't find that page. Try searching or go tour Frontpage". Therefore, my question of “are the ‘strays’ truly strays or just escapees from a resident?” An "escapee" would imply that the canine has either been socialized to some degree when further defined while a "true stray" would imply a more "fight or flight" natural demeanor. So, with vague labels, questions are left unanswered that could possibly impact the thinking or perception of the Pitbull breed: shelters and adoption relationships.

Adoptions are not as heinous as they use to be where pit bulls and pitbull-like breeds were almost instantly euthanized upon entering animal shelters policies. It was almost like giving them an instant death sentence merely based on their race. In fact, over one-third of research participants found appearance as the vital components when screening potential canine candidates. Therefore, physical appearance, not personality trait or genetic makeup, influence one's decision-making process and, possibly flawed, nature of human (Gunter et al., 2016). In the 2016 research article, What's In a Name? Effect of Breed Perceptions & Labing on Attractiveness, Adoptions & Lengths of Stay for Pit-Bull-Type Dogs, three "breed exemplar photography" studies were conducted regarding the magnitude over breed perception and appearance impressions on the following objectives:

Study 1: Individual perception when adolescent male and elderly female, a handler, and no human included
Study 2: Shelter environment and individual perception influence shelter duration
Study 3: Extension of Study 2: video recording method

The each study was applied to a control group consisting of 49 participants from a California-based University and 179 online Reddit members. Each individual were shown a random, unlabeled professional images taken in May 2012 and recorded each response. At the end of each study, each participants results were assessed prior to known breed then again upon breed identification. For the sake of this post, the study summaries will indicate the results, as a whole, based on known breed identification.

Study 1 Summary

The participants consisted of 49 participants from a California-based University and 179 online Reddit members perceived behavior influences the adoption likelihood. The breed exemplar subjects were scoped around pitbull-type ("lookalikes") breeds versus Border Collies and Labrador Retrievers. After observation, the participants answered six questions of based six-levels, i.e. Likert scale with null neutrality, of feasible interaction over: complacent, intelligence, sociable, trainable, and adoptable. The results indicated the pitbull was perceived to be the least approachable, intelligent, friendly, thus, most aggressive, and least likely to be adoptable of the three breeds.

Study 2 Summary

The participants consisted of 39 individuals intending to adopt from the Arizona Animal Welfare League and SPCA animal shelter.

The breed exemplar subjects were scoped around mixed shelter breeds from January to February 2014. The object was to determine the impact of breed labeling affecting the duration of stay and perceived attractiveness of labeled versus phenotypically similar ("lookalikes"). The breed exemplar were obtain from the AAWL's online inventory database. The AAWL subjects consisted of fifteen pitbulls and fifteen pitbull lookalikes adopted between October 2013 to January 2014. After observation, the participants answered six questions of based six-levels, i.e. Likert scale with null neutrality, of feasible interaction over: complacent, intelligence, sociable, trainable, and adoptable. The results imply pitbulls and pitbull lookalikes longer duration of stay was influenced by perception. Therefore, a correlation between breed labeling and shelter duration is parallel.

Study 3 Summary

The participants consisted of 51 individuals intending to adopt from the Arizona Animal Welfare League and SPCA animal shelter.

The breed exemplar subjects were scoped around mixed shelter breeds from December 2014 to January 2015. The object was to determine the impact of breed labeling affecting the duration of stay and perceived attractiveness of labeled versus phenotypically similar ("lookalikes"). The breed exemplar were obtain from the AAWL of one-minute adoptable dog video recordings. The AAWL subjects consisted of five pitbulls and five pitbull lookalikes available for adoption between May to December 2012. After observation, the participants answered six questions of based six-levels, i.e. Likert scale with null neutrality, of feasible interaction over: complacent, intelligence, sociable, trainable, and adoptable. The results imply pitbulls and pitbull lookalikes longer duration of stay was influenced by perception. Therefore, a correlation between perceived attractiveness via digital recordings

negatively impacted the participants impression.

Additionally, "over 50% of dogs labeled as pitbulls lacked DNA breed signatures of breeds commonly classified as pitbulls" confirming humans are incredibly flawed (Gunter et al., 2016). Therefore, the sole use of human judgement, as a tool for measurement and classification, provides unfactual and unreliable conclusions. Consequently, by doing so could negatively affect the pitbull's cousins, e.g. American and English Bulldogs, and further cripple pitbulls reputation. In a world of superficial tendencies outliers, i.e. classifying an shelter intake stemmed around the word of a displaced owner and subjective employee, contribute to the root issue. All in all, breed assignment is highly correlated to pre-determining the fate of pitbulls and pitbulls-alike; higher probability of duration of stay leading into higher euthanasia rates.

KILL COUNT

In 2006, the article, Pit Bull Bans: The State of Breed-Specific Legislation states that The National Canine Research Council found that “97 percent of dogs involved were not spayed or neutered, 84 percent of the attacks involved owners who had abused or neglected the dogs and 78 percent of the dogs were not kept as pets but as guard, breeding, or yard dogs” (Campbell, 2009). This would not be a surprise to why dogs with a behavioral or temperament issue would not be adoptable. Behavioral and temperament issues are a key factor in why any dog is unable to be fostered or adopted.
In the article Factors Associated with Shelter Dog Euthanasia versus Live Release by Adoption or Transfer in the United States, it states that “The breed or breed variations with a brachycephalic skull type include pit bulls, Staffordshire terriers, or American Bulldogs. Previous studies have found that these breeds are often less likely to have favorable outcomes” (Cain et al., 2021). When compared to the fiscal year 2020 for the Dallas Animal Services, we get similar results.

Table 1. Intake Total

Table 2. Total Outcome (Pitbull Only)

While the numbers do not seem staggering for pit bulls and pit bull-like breeds, when you compare the information below, keep in mind to get a clear perspective, one is to compare the “Outcome Type” for “*Pit Bull and Pit Bull-like Breeds” to the total “Intake” of 6,102. For example, when you review the number of pit bull only breeds that were adopted, you will find 2,167 in table 2. That means, out of the 6,102 that were went through the intake process, alive, only 36 percent were placed for adoption. On the contrary, “All breeds except *Pit Bull” out of the 16,242 intakes, a little over 45 percent were adopted.