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Originally Posted by Amethyst
Okay, there are too many pages since I was last here for me to read them all...
How many little old ladies are killed by dogs in Canada to say that it's always a pitbull? There are other breeds that could definitely kill a person, especially a vulnerable person, and if pitbulls didn't exist, those owners would have another "tough" breed instead, likely bred to look tough, without consideration for mental stability.
I agree that many people adopt dogs they can't handle and that shouldn't happen. I was involved in rescue for years and disagreed often with people who thought every dog needed to be saved and took on way more than they could handle. Sometimes humane euthanization is the right call.
And, hey, I'm all for special training or licenses, but how are you going to enforce that? Because the people who are the problem won't follow the rules unless someone makes them.
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Thank you for posting this, it is pretty much exactly how I feel. You can't save them all, you can't have people adopting dogs who have issues or are too powerful for them. It isn't fair to the dog or any potentially victims.
Anyway, I don't know the future of bully breeds in Canada, but I could see some legislation handed down for getting tougher on owners and potentially licensing dangerous breeds, but those who are the issue will not follow those or any other rules. How do you stop them? You can't. I think they will always be around no matter how much people think banning the breeds will help.
Also, for those interested, below is a detailed list of all the fatal dog attacks in Canada since the 1930s:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...acks_in_Canada
It is interesting to point out there are far more husky/malamute/sled dog deaths than bully breeds on this list. One thing to note though is there are a lot on there what are groups of dogs (more than 2) who were responsible. I agree that most people should never have more than 1 powerful dog breed no matter the type. If you want a mastiff and another dog, get a mastiff and a border collie or something smaller. It is a lot harder to control dogs when you have more than 1, just from a personal experience over the years as a foster parent to a lot of dogs, they get this primal way about them when they have a group without a human alpha and that leads to issues IMO.
I haven't spoken about my own dogs but we have 3. 2 are seniors, 13 years old and wouldn't hurt a fly (cockapoo and shepherd/border collie mix, have lived together since they were about 4 years old) and our other is a 2 year old lab/mastiff mix, who is higher energy, isn't a covid dog, we fostered him and 3 of his siblings from 10 weeks old, he was raised with our other dogs and my shepherd/collie mix, female, is the alpha, he listens to her, respects her in all ways. He is a mutt from the humane society so it is possible he has a bully breed mixed in there, people ask us be we do not know.
We have to somehow put a stop to breeding these dogs, other than bylaw officers going door-to-door in the city, I don't know another way to stop those backyard breeders. People would have to start reporting and telling on their neighbors and we all know how that goes!