It’s no wonder that those of us fighting against Breed Specific Legislation (BSL) don’t appear to be making much headway; there are actually human beings who believe it is OK for their grade-school age children to cage fight!
True story! I saw a report on Good Morning America a few days ago, showing seven year old children, fighting in a cage with their parents and other spectators cheering them on. The first thing that came to mind was the horrible parallel with dog fighting.
Do you think the way people treat each other on reality TV shows, in stores, on the highway, and in homes has a connection to the way we treat animals? I think it does.
Dogs don’t have the luxury of being able to choose their “owners,” but I wouldn’t be friends with anyone who treated me badly or yelled at me. Would you? Why do we watch these types of shows? Is the economy that bad, or has Hollywood really run out of decent writers with creative ideas? Probably a little bit of both!
Those of us who fight to prevent new Breed Specific Legislation (BSL) from being implemented, and are against all current laws on the books, know that it doesn’t work. Why? Dogs don’t fight to the death for “sport!” Owners are the ones who breed, train, and fight the dogs.
Put into action, BSL collects all “dangerous” dog breeds and then either kills them or forces their owners to move outside of the designated area. This is tantamount to rounding up all the Jews in Germany, putting them on a train, and taking them to death camps. Have we learned nothing from history? It had nothing to do with the Jews and everything to do with the PEOPLE! The same goes for dogs.
Irresponsible owners (and parents) are everywhere; they could live next door to you. Michael Vick proved that income has nothing to do with dog fighting; it’s done in neighborhoods that cover all social-economic levels. And interestingly, it’s ILLEGAL in all 50 states. Some states have stricter punishments, including imprisonment and hefty fines. And yet, it continues.
In bite and attack cases, there is often an official history of aggression before the attack, and in nearly every case, there is a clear connection between the vicious characteristic of the dog and a violent personality trait of the dog owner. “A fatal dog attack is not just a dog bite by a big or aggressive dog, it is usually a perfect storm of bad human-canine interactions—the wrong dog, the wrong background, the wrong history in the hands of the wrong person in the wrong environmental situation.” (an except from “Troublemakers” by Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker, February 6, 2006)
If so called civilized humans believe it is right for small children to fight, what chance do our dogs have to live a safe and profile-free life?
Perhaps if we begin treating each other with respect and compassion, dogs will be able to move from being viewed as property, to the place of honor they so richly deserve!
Clearly, breed specific laws are aimed at the wrong end of the leash.
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