Montreal’s Pit Bull Ban Is Wrong On Every Level

The author’s pit bull, Chase.

On Sept. 27, Montreal passed an animal-control bylaw that will make new ownership of pit bull and pit bull “type” dogs illegal. This new piece of legislation comes three months after a dog attack killed a Montreal woman in June. The dog, initially reported to be a pit bull, was according to records pulled by the Humane Society International Canada, registered as a Boxer. Whether the dog was a pit bull*, a Boxer, or some other breed or mix entirely is beside the point; what does matter is that a woman lost her life due to human irresponsibility.

In the wake of her death, in the search for answers, the city of Montreal has grasped upon a solution that’s no solution at all: breed-specific legislation.

What is breed -specific legislation?

According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Breed Specific Legislation, or BSL, “is the blanket term for laws that either regulate or ban certain dog breeds in an effort to decrease dog attacks on humans and other animals.” The breeds most typically affected by such legislation include, the ASPCA notes, are “the pit bull” class of dogs — including American Pit Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers, Staffordshire Bull Terriers and English Bull Terriers. In some areas, regulated breeds also include a variety of other dogs like American Bulldogs, Rottweilers, Mastiffs, Dalmatians, Chow Chows, German shepherds, Doberman pinschers or any mix of these breeds—and dogs who simply “resemble these breeds.”

The ASPCA notes that BSL is frequently enacted as a response “to a particularly violent individual dog attack” or a media attack connected to a certain breed. The organization also points out that there’s just no metric to make these laws seems sensible. “The theory underlying breed-specific laws — that some breeds bite more often and cause more damage than others, ergo laws targeting these breeds will decrease bite incidence and severity — has not met with success in practice.”

Which is basically like a BSL mic drop.

Montreal’s Breed Specific Legislation

Let’s look at the specifics of Montreal’s new breed ban. Under the newly adopted bylaws, which go into effect on Oct. 1, the targeted dogs include:

Staffordshire Bull Terrier
American Staffordshire Terrier
American Pit Bull Terrier
A dog from a cross between one of the breeds listed in paragraph 1 and another dog
And any dog(s) having “several morphological characteristics” of mixes of dogs with one of three breeds.

If your thinking is, “so what, that’s only a few breeds,” let me point out that people have a notoriously difficult time identifying dog breeds. Seriously, they do. Even people who are supposed to be experts at it. On a personal note, I own Grand Champion American Pit Bull Terriers and have had people at dog shows tell me, “nice Boxers.”

If you have a blocky-headed Labrador retriever mix in Montreal after Oct. 1, good luck.

The author and one of her American Pit Bull Terriers.

Importantly, the proposed legislation states:

  • Any dog that kills an animal listed in section 3 (including rabbits, rodents, toads) is declared dangerous, and read that a dog declared dangerous is banned and euthanized — with no appeal process.
  • Any dogs 20kg+ have to wear a halter or harness
  • City representatives can access your home without any warrant, to apply the bylaw.

Yes, you read that right. If authorities believe in any way you are not complying with regulations, they can enter your home and take your dog. In this light, it’s almost ironic that Mayor Denis Coderre defended the legislation by saying, “my duty as mayor of Montreal is making sure I am working for all Montrealers. And I am there to make sure they feel safe and that they are safe.” If I were a bully breed owner in Montreal, I wouldn’t feel safe at all.

If you’re not keen to page through Montreal’s 16-page animal bylaw document, Long Way Home Pit Bull Rescue clarifies just what those other regulations are:

“Any pit bull currently owned must have a $150 registration fee on file, and must be muzzled and on a leash no longer than 1.25 meters (~4 feet) any time they leave the premises of their home. They are also required to be sterilized, fully vaccinated, and microchipped with up to date & accurate registrations. If these regulations are not followed, then that animal is subject to be seized and euthanized.”

Current owners of dogs affected by the new law have until December to comply with the laws. But where does that leave the dogs that aren’t currently owned?

Well, to put it frankly, dead. Any dog that is listed under the banned breeds or resembles those breeds will be euthanized. No consideration will be given for the animal’s potential, for its temperament or behavior. In Montreal, those are things that no longer matter. Here’s the real kicker:

“Additionally, the council voted to leave it open to boroughs to add in additional dog breeds as they see fit, without a vote needed.”

Translation, now that this law has been voted on and enacted, there no longer needs to be a vote to ban breeds. Don’t like the looks of it? Ban it! Think your breed of choice is safe? Well, maybe for now.

Who Stands Against Breed-Specific Legislation?

We’ve seen that according to Montreal’s law, appearances are all that matter. And that’s really, deeply true, because in this case, the law exists to lend the mayor the appearance of being effective, of being decisive, of being protective. In reality, the decision was both lazily and hastily applied; a knee-jerk reaction that only looks reasonable if one doesn’t spend a few minutes researching to discover that BSL doesn’t work, and that just about anyone in a position of expertise agrees that it is, in fact, B.S.

Who opposes BSL? Well…pretty much everyone:

The American Bar Association “urges all state, territorial, and local legislative bodies and governmental agencies 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, and to repeal any breed discriminatory or breed specific provisions.”

The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior maintains “that such legislation is ineffective, and can lead to a false sense of community safety as well as welfare concerns for dogs identified (often incorrectly) as belonging to specific breeds.”

The American Veterinary Medical Association states:

By generalizing the behaviors of dogs that look a certain way, innocent dogs suffer and may even be euthanized without evidence that they pose a threat. Responsible dog owners are forced to give up their dogs or move. Cities and states spend money enforcing restrictions and bans instead of putting that money to better use by establishing and strictly enforcing licensing and leash laws, and responding proactively to target owners of any dog that poses a risk to the community.

The United Kennel Club writes:

Realistically, the number of dog bites nationwide has been fairly consistent over the last century, and there has not been any meaningful increase. Attempting to attribute bites to a single breed and labeling that breed is fruitless, as there exists no real, factual data to show that any one breed is more responsible for bites and attacks than others. Singling out a breed to attach blame does not work to decrease dog attacks. Case in point, the Dutch government lifted a 15-year ban on ‘pit bulls’ because there has not been ANY decrease in dog bites.

The American Kennel Club argues:

There are a number of inherent problems with breed-specific legislation. Banning a specific breed punishes responsible dog owners who have well-trained dogs of that breed, while irresponsible owners who want a “dangerous dog” as a status symbol will simply choose another breed. Public officials are left continuing to add to a list of forbidden breeds. Italy’s list grew to over 90 breeds before the statute was repealed.

The White House is more than clear on its stance:

We don’t support breed-specific legislation — research shows that bans on certain types of dogs are largely ineffective and often a waste of public resources.

In 2000, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked at twenty years of data about dog bites and human fatalities in the United States. They found that fatal attacks represent a very small proportion of dog bite injuries to people and that it’s virtually impossible to calculate bite rates for specific breeds.

The CDC also noted that the types of people who look to exploit dogs aren’t deterred by breed regulations — when their communities establish a ban, these people just seek out new, unregulated breeds. And the simple fact is that dogs of any breed can become dangerous when they’re intentionally or unintentionally raised to be aggressive.

According to the National Canine Research Council, “the Province of Ontario in Canada enacted a breed ban in 2005. In 2010, based on a survey of municipalities across the Province, the Toronto Humane Society reported that, despite five years of BSL and the destruction of “countless” dogs, there had been no significant decrease in the number of dog bites.”

Furthermore,

An evidence-based analysis published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association explains one reason that BSL could not be expected to work even if particular breeds could be identified as high risk. The authors calculated the absurdly large numbers of dogs of targeted breeds who would have to be completely removed from a community in order to prevent even one serious dog bite-related injury. For example, in order to prevent a single hospitalization resulting from a dog bite, the authors calculate that a city or town would have to remove more than 100,000 dogs of a targeted group. To prevent a second hospitalization, double that number.

Toronto, which has banned pit bull type dogs since 2005, has seen an increase in dog bites, despite the fact that pits are all but locally extinct.

Shutterstock

So What Does Work?

Education. Of the public. Of pet owners. Of the dogs themselves.

In contrast to Montreal, the city of Calgary focused on ownership and personal responsibility to reduce dog attacks. The approach worked. Calgary’s animal-control program is considered among the most effective in North America. In an interview with the Montreal Gazette, Bill Bruce, Calgary’s former director of animal services said, “We have to get to the root of the problem, and that is that people must maintain control of their animals.”

The Montreal Gazette‘s interview was enlightening:

Forcing responsibility onto owners, educating the public on the importance of quickly dealing with problem dogs and ensuring pets are licensed led to a precipitous drop in the number of aggressive incidents.

Problem dogs are aggressive for one of two reasons, Bruce said. Some owners choose intimidating breeds because the dog gives them a sense of increasing their own power. Those are not good dog owners, he said, and often must be separated from their pets, and fined strictly if the dogs are aggressive. Ban a breed and that type of owner will gravitate to the newest trend in intimidating or demonized dogs — in the 1960s, it was German shepherds, in the ’70s it was Dobermans, followed by Rottweilers and then pit bulls. The latest move is toward larger breeds like bull mastiffs and Cane Corsos.

What does education look like when it comes to people that are not the aforementioned bad owners?

For some, it looks like common sense. For others, it looks like a wakeup call:

  • Children should not be left unsupervised with dogs, regardless of breed. Children should be taught how to appropriately interact with dogs, and when to avoid an interaction. Lassie and Good Dog, Carl are works of fiction, not dog training manuals. Dogs are neither angels, nor devils, and they are most especially not little people in fur suits, complete with our shared moralities. They are animals. Animals may act unpredictably. Speaking of unpredictability…
  • Learn to read canine body language. Do you know how to read behaviors within the context that they are presented? Canine body language goes beyond “wagging tail means happy dog” (which it doesn’t always). Given that we’ve shared our lives with this species for tens of thousands of years, it’s shocking how little effort we often put into really understanding how and what our dogs communicate with us. With this in mind, is it possible that people who claim a dog “attacked without warning,” may indeed have been warned, but failed to recognize the warnings in time to avoid the attack?
  • Do your research. If preparing to add a dog to your family, ensure that you are choosing an animal, whether purebred or mixed-breed, that fits into your home. This means considering that what you find attractive at the surface level may not be an ideal match for your lifestyle. Be honest with yourself about the amount of time you can and will realistically put into working with your dog. Dogs whose needs are ignored become problem dogs. If you don’t fulfill their needs, they will find their own way to fulfill them, and it may not be in a way that you appreciate.
  • Understand that breed is not a good predictor of dog bites. But if you’re still on the fence about bully breeds, be aware that in 2013, the American Temperament Test Society found that of the American Pit Bull Terriers subjected to the test, 86.8 percent passed. That is a higher percentage than 121 other breeds, including Golden Retrievers. The American Pit Bull Terrier has a rich history of being an incredible family dog, an exceptional athlete, and an example of heroism. Their capacity for forgiveness, adaptation, and redemption is legendary. The breed is so much more than what the media would have you believe. And for the last f*cking time, their jaws cannot and do not lock.
  • Work with your dog, that partnership by training your dog; training is learning to communicate with him, and ensuring that the two of you can coexist harmoniously. Your dog isn’t a project that simply gets finished. He’s a living, breathing, thinking being that is seeking ways to interact with you. Think of training as a way to continuously build and support a bond of communication between yourself and your best friend.

How Do We Help The Bully Breeds And Their Families In Montreal?

And finally, make certain that your own family dog is an excellent ambassador for its species and breed. Don’t get a dog to feel cool, get it because you want a relationship.

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