Breed-Specific Legislation

In recent years numerous studies have focused on the impacts of breed-specific legislation. One study in particular published in the Journal of American Veterinary Medicine published and conducted by Gary Patronek and Jeffrey Sacks among others, found that several factors other than the breed of dog play a major role in the occurrence of dog bites. These factors as seen in the graph above include a lack of an able-bodied person to intervene, the failure of the owner to neuter their dog, isolation of the dog from frequent positive human interactions, mismanagement of the dog, and/or a history of animal abuse on the part of the owner. The same study also found that only 17.6% of dogs were able to be correctly identified by their breed after an

For example, both the CDC and the American Veterinary Medical Association have come out in opposition to breed-specific legislation. Another example of this is the American Bar Association who even as early as 2012 publically disproved of the legislation. They also encouraged all governments to “adopt comprehensive breed-neutral dangerous dog/reckless owner laws that ensure due process protections for owners, encourage responsible pet ownership and focus on the behavior of both dog owners and dogs.” They also advocate for the governments to “repeal any breed discriminatory or breed specific provisions.” This has put pressure on many local governments to reconsider their own breed-specific dangerous dog laws, as well as having an impact on the state

These laws include revised dangerous and vicious dog laws as well as problem pet owner laws. These pieces of legislation focus on dogs that either behave aggressively or have a history of aggression, as well as ensuring that people handle their dogs properly rather than banning a specific breed. An example of this type of legislation was passed by the government of Highland Park Illinois, which in order to cope with the statewide ban on breed-specific legislation passed a set of ordinances that are almost identical to the majority of breed-neutral ordinances and laws currently in