During the recent Meet the Candidates Forum at Hillsdale College, former city council candidate Cindy Merritt voiced her approval for a city-wide ban on pit bulls.
“I don’t like pit bulls,” Merritt said. “They’re bred to fight. They’re bred to kill.”
She later reiterated her support for the ban.
“I would not have a problem with an ordinance outlawing pit bulls in this city.”
Merritt has a point. Pit bulls can be dangerous. I grew up hearing horror stories about pit bull attacks, but these stories ignore the noble side of the pit bull.
Pit bulls were once renowned as the all-American dog and were lauded for their loyalty and athleticism, according to BADRAP, a pro-pit bull group. The first pit bull I met was so mild that a family friend was willing to put her hand in its mouth. It wagged its tail happily.
Proponents of pit bull bans are quick to cite harsh statistics on pit bull attacks. What they won’t tell you is how difficult it is to verify the numbers of dog attacks. PitbullHero, a pit bull advocacy group, argues that aggressive dogs are frequently misidentified as pit bulls. There is some basis for this claim: a 2015 study in The Veterinary Journal says one in three dogs without pit bull ancestry were mislabeled as a type of pit bull. Additionally, with no central database collecting statistics on dog bites, it is impossible to know the accuracy of the statistics on pitbull attacks.
The questionable validity of statistics on pit bull attacks makes banning the breed unreasonable.
Additionally, 87.4% of American pit bull terriers pass the American Temperament Test Society’s temperament test. For reference, German shepherds and golden retrievers pass 85.3 and 85.6% of the time, respectively.
Even if pit bulls are a problem in Hillsdale, a ban on the breed does not need to be the first step. There are other common-sense measures that would maintain the freedom to own a pit bull while incentivizing responsible ownership.
After violent outbursts, owners of any breed should be fined. This would discourage owners from leaving their dogs unattended while encouraging training the dogs well. Leaving dogs unleashed, unfenced, and unattended could be penalized as a risk to public safety, whether or not the dog actually attacks. If the public still views pit bulls as an issue, requiring a license to own them would ensure responsible ownership.
These measures aren’t perfect, but they show the variety of creative solutions that could help the problem. Rather than banning pit bulls, city council should find solutions that minimize all dog violence while maintaining the liberty of dog owners.
