After reading and hearing numerous sad stories of dogs being used to fight and dogs that are put down just because they are labelled a fightingbreed, I think it’s time I voiced my opinion on the following issues:

Aggresive breeds/BSL (Breed-specific legislation) and Dog Fighting

For starters: I don’t believe but I KNOW that there is no such thing as a Fighting Breed. Nature didn’t make fighters out of these dogs, people did! Yes, there are dogbreeds that will respond quicker with agression and are more dominant than other breeds but those dogs don’t make the difference but the owners do. No healthy dog is born a killer, not a labrador nore a pitbull.

There are no Bad Breeds only Bad Owners! 

These dogbreeds are not born fighters or unstable. Humans create this unwanted behaviour in them. But somehow we still judge our dogs on their breed and looks even in law.

There are several countries where a number of dogbreeds are forbidden just because of their so called bad reputation. Not only do they use this to ban certain types of breeds, they also have rules like;

• Every pitbull has to wear a muzzle
• No stafford or bullybreed is allowed off leash in the dogparks
• Dogs with simalar characteristics to a bully- or pitbull breed and don’t have the right papers are immediately put down for no other reason than their looks

Simple question…What has been learned from human history?
Do not judge on skincolor, looks, religion or background, judge people on their actions… Should we not do the same for our animals? 

These laws were made by people who do not know much about dogs and who are responsible for a lot of animal and human suffering which is totally unnecessary. With these laws they are claiming to protect humans from these ‘killing monsters’.. When in reality they are letting the real monsters go, the dogowners and animal abusers who are responsible.

As I wrote before I would like to stipulate, dogs are not born fighters or born unstable. It is  humans who create these unwanted behaviours in them. If you look at it that way, it is heartbreaking to hear when they put dogs down for what their owners did to them. It is like putting down a victim of abuse, just because of the fact that they were abused they now no longer fit in, because of their unsocialized character or unwanted behaviour.

You would think that after all the opinions of animalexperts, dogowners, breeders and kennelorganisations and the TV hit the Dogwhisperer these opinions and laws would have been changed by now. You would think that people would have come to the conclusion that it is not the dog or the breed but the owners that are to blame and furthermore  that no matter how bad the behaviour seems these dogs can be rehalibated to be a loving socialized pets. Read More