BREED SPECIFIC LEGISLATION (BSL) OR BREED BANS
In Houston, three of the five kill shelters i.e the Houston SPCA, Houston Humane Society and Harris County animal control (HCPHES) refuse to adopt out dogs that they believe are "Pit Bulls" or Pit Bull mixes. They choose to kill these dogs rather than give them a chance at adoption, even if the dogs are perfectly healthy, behaviorablly sound and adoptable. They are killed.
A large number of people, including shelter employees, misidentify dog breeds most of the time.
After DNA testing, a study confirmed that shelters had mislabeled the breed of dogs 87.5% of the time.
SheltersMisIdentifyDogs.pdf
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PICK THE PIT BULL:
Find out if you can pick out the Pit Bull in pictures attached below.
Click here to play Find the Pit Bull game.
Visit the Understand a Bull website to find more information on BSL.
BITE STATISTICS
In 2002, the American Temperament Testing Society statistics listed that APBTs, AMSTAFFs, and Rottweilers were all in the 82 percentile, meaning 80+% of the dogs tested passed the temperament test. that is a very high percentage, especially when compared to breeds which are common family dogs, such as Golden Retrievers and Bichon Frise who tested at 77%, Chihuahuas at 71%, Greyhounds at 81% and Lhasa Apsos at 71%. These test results are available at www.atts.org.
Click to read the CDC's Stand on Dog Bite Statistics
"According to the CDC, of the 4.7 million Americans who are bitten by dogs- bites ranging from mere scratches to fatal attacks- there are only about 16 fatalities, which is about 0.0002 percent of the total number of people who are bitten.
In reality, the CDC feels that because the number of people killed by dog bites is relatively miniscule, there's just no way that anyone can accurately identify the number of dogs of any particular breed that is more likely to bite and kill.
The CDC is more concerned with dog bite prevention via education versus eliminating a particular breed."
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