Is it Time to Overturn Pit Bull Ban?

[Michael Deneen]

Huffington Post has a great piece today from former Lakewood resident Zachery Ahren about Lakewood's pit bull ban.
Let's just say it does not make our town look good.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zachary-e ... 84116.html

Lest we forget, the pit bull ban was part of the racist backlash of the mid-2000s.
Rising minority population in town spawned lots of whisper campaigns about "crime" and "section 8".
FitzGerald stoked those fears to get elected, as did Tom Bullock.
That era gave us the removal of basketball hoops and the pit bull ban.

We know that the current regime is still hostile to hoops....will it change its tune on pit bulls?

[Meg Ostrowski]

Don't miss the link to sign the change.org petition if you agree.

https://www.change.org/p/city-of-lakewo ... a-pit-bull

[Dan Alaimo]

The problem here is unique to Lakewood and that is, when our civic leaders act on problems, they tend to go overboard. For instance, the nationally reviled "no fun" signs they post on the Fourth of July. Other examples: someone complains about outdoor basketball, so we close down the court. Our hospital needs fewer beds because of the trend to outpatient care, so we close down the hospital.

This is precisely the case with the pit bull law. I'm big on owning dogs - I now have two large retired racing greyhounds, a reliably docile breed. But I wouldn't own a pit bull because of their reputation for unpredictability and wouldn't be too happy if an unpredictable dog lived nearby, especially if the owner let it off-leash frequently. But the specific breed is not something I would legislate.

The trouble with the Lakewood pit bull law is it is too narrow. Most pit bulls are not dangerous, and the situation facing Scrappy shows it is a very bad law. Minimally it should allow for exceptions, like Scrappy, and include other dangerous types of dogs (there are plenty of lists on the Internet).

The real solution is to repeal the bad law and enforce the laws we have regarding nuisance, vicious and dangerous dogs. There's no need to specify breeds.

And an uneducated dog owner can create a dangerous dog no matter the temperament. When I first moved here, the rec department had dog training classes at a very reasonable price. Offering those again would be a step in the right direction.

July 4 no fun sign.jpg (89.86 KiB) Viewed 2335 times

[scott gilman]

Every one of those July 4th rules was put in place because of problems that occurred in the park. Personal fireworks caused injures, tents melted under the fireworks fallout, dogs became scared of the noise and ran from owners. The generators caused Carbon monoxide problems for people sitting near by, the propane grills cause a fire hazard and can easily be turned into an IED, the cooler inspection was added to to a terror threat assessment by Homeland security, Kids Cove is closed because of the distance needed for the fireworks and the skate board park is closed because the lights are turned out. All were rules added to improve safety of the crowd in Lakewood park following the Boston marathon bombing.
When it comes to basketball hopes were removed because the foot print at Harding covered the old location of the court, other hoops are still in place at the high school but are blocked by the modular classrooms and the hoops at Harrison were taken down by a past school employee after the playground equipment was damaged.

[Lori Allen _]

What about the hoop at Kaufman park that was closed, I believe, because the Mayor's friend Mr. Heller didn't like the noise. Is this closure due to a Homeland Security threat? Anyway, getting back to dogs. You have to train a dog to be mean. Do you really think a four year old child with a pit bull is a threat to society? The poor little girl has a disability! If the mayor and city council went after all the people in this city that commit REAL crimes such as robbery, armed robbery, car theft, rape, etc., we might just be able to sit out on our front porches again! Just like the incident with the war veteran that had a therapy dog for post traumatic stress syndrome that I believe was harassed by the city. For once Mr. Mayor and Council, have a heart and quit picking on this little girl and her family!

[ryan costa]

Pit Bulls are not a bad breed.

but they are the most attractive variety of dog to people who really should not have dogs.

There is no clear way to identify and ban such people.

[Dan Alaimo]

"You have to train a dog to be mean."
Yes, but that's not the main issue here. People can breed a line of dogs for specific purposes, This has little to do with the overall dog breed. For instance, many pit bulls are bred to fight - a dog from one of those lines would not be a good choice for a Lakewood family/neighborhood; many more are not and they are great. For a contrasting example, I use the breed I'm most familiar with, greyhounds - they are bred for speed, and secondarily - because they have to live much of their early life in groups of other racing dogs and being handled by a variety of kennel and track personnel - a docile temperament is also a breeding priority. Then there are back-yard breeders who really don't know or care what they are doing with genetics. So, while you can train a dog to be mean, that's not the only issue involved. But once a pit bull like Scrappy matures and the temperament is evident, there's no concern, although the dog is still condemned by Lakewood's ordinance.

On the signs: The information they contain is important, but there's got to be a better way to communicate these rules. Colin, is that something that falls under your responsibilities?

On the basketball: I also noted that Chief Gilman did not mention the Kauffman situation.

[scott gilman]

Kaufman park hoops there were only 3 people there when the confrontation occurred and I was one of them given the situation closing the court was the best decision..

[m buckley]

Scott Gilman wrote: Kauffman Park hoops there were only 3 people there when the confrontation occurred and I was one of them given the situation closing the court was the best decision.
Scott, Care to elaborate, because really I'm not that good at divining what's not being said.
Played hoops my whole life, never heard of 3 people shutting down a court.

[Amy Martin]

I'm sorry, but I'm full on for the ban. As the owner of 2 chihuahuas, I constantly live in fear for my dogs when I am out walking them. About 6 years ago, we were charged by a pit bull o the sidewalk in front of the owner's house and if weren't for my quick thinking, our chihuahua would have been slaughtered. This by a "responsible" owner who said, "she was in our driveway, she's NEVER charged another dog before . ."

Read all of the statistics. Pit bulls are the breed represented most in reports of bites, maulings, and deaths. It IS NOT THE PEOPLE who own them but the breed itself. How many times do you read about a pit bull who attacks a child in it's own family . . .the people always say that the dogs had never shown this type of behavior before. Then, all of the sudden a child/adult/another animal is mauled by someone's docile pet. I'd rather not take that chance.

Those people knew about the ban before moving to Lakewood. To change the law just for them is preposterous and I will fight to keep the ban tooth and nail.

Also, when FitzGerald was running for Mayor I told him that I supported the ban. To my surprise, he did not. So to blame the ban on FitzGerald is stupid. He was against the ban.

[Amy Martin]

In case you need stats:

http://www.dogsbite.org/dog-bite-statis ... s-2014.php

[Missy Limkemann]

It never should have happened in the first place.
I have 4 pits here now at my house/rescue. The rescue is legal to have them, we have an ordinance. Now I have had many many pits over the years in doing rescue, and never had any issue with any of them. I can tell you all my bites, surgeries etc came from other breeds.
Many people get dogs not knowing what they need. They see a picture and think "oh its soooo cute" but they have no clue. Dogs need work and knowing what kind of "job" your dogs need makes for a better pet. Training, training, training...omg I cannot stress that enough.
I personally own a Boxer and a Doberman. And every day is a training session.
Let me ask this. If the city banned these dogs, why didn't our bite stats go down? One would think they would right. Well they didn't. And I do have the paperwork to show that.
Any dog can bite, and yes dogs can do damage. The bigger the dog, the bigger the damage. Ever get bit by a Great Dane? I have...and let me just say it was not pretty. I had a Dane maul me and I still have nightmares. I have and will continue to rescue danes. I actually have one here now that will hurt anyone that comes near me. (we are working on that)
Back to the pits at my house...they are amazing dogs, we cuddle, we play, we run and jump and I treat them like what they are first and foremost...a dog. We work hard every day, I know what they need to make them happy yet tired dogs. My kids play with them too. I had one that was so badly abused, he only responds to my youngest son. That is his home base as I call it. If I could keep him forever I would keep him in a second. Actually I would have kept them all. LOL.
Did you ever notice when the media reports a dog attack/bite they will only state the breed if it is a pit? When another breed attacks or bites, they just say dog and move on and we never hear the story again.
To find out more....
https://www.aspca.org/about-us/aspca-po ... egislation
https://www.aspca.org/animal-cruelty/do ... egislation

And if anyone uses dogbites.org they should know that the person running that site and the person she "quotes" as an expert has been found to be a fraud.

[Amy Martin]

Dog bite stats in Lakewood have not decreased because many people own unregistered pit bulls in Lakewood.

[Amy Martin]

http://dog-bite-law-center.com/pgs/stats.html

[Lori Allen _]

Missy, good post. My sister-in-law is a veterinarian tech and I asked her this weekend what her thoughts were about pit bulls. She said basically the same things you did. It is all about the training. Although there is always the possibility that a dog could turn on you, wouldn't that mean we should ban all dogs? In most cases dogs do not attack unless someone is hurting them first. In my experience as a special ed advocate, mainly in the area of autism, dogs seem to bond with these kids and would give there lives to save them. Perhaps a little research and education on the subject for our city officials is in order.