Denver voters heavily favored a ballot measure Tuesday to overturn the city’s 30-year-old ban on pit bull ownership. That’s well over 100 in dog years.
The move will allow residents to own pit bulls – as long as they are microchipped and meet requirements set by Denver Animal Protection.
Critics of the ban argued that a dog’s breed alone was not a valid indicator of whether it would be violent and that the city had wasted millions on enforcement.
But the ban’s proponents said since it went into effect in 1989, the city had not seen a single pit bull-related fatality. In the five years before the ban, the city saw 20 attacks, including one that killed a 3-year-old in 1986.
Denver’s city council voted to repeal the breed-based ban earlier this year, but Democratic Mayor Michael Hancock vetoed the legislation.
Under the new measure, residents can apply for provisional licenses to own up to two pit bulls at once, according to the Denver Post. If they go three years without any incidents, they can have a full license.
Check local dog shelters around cities with crime problems and you’ll find upwards of 80% of dogs there are pit bulls and pit bull crosses, a significant number of them removed from their owners for abuse or found abandoned. The Wicomico shelter is packed with them, all year, every year, dogs raised by people who have no resources to raise a dog right, people who chain dogs in bare dirt and hot sun, who ignore the dog, taunt the dog, starve the dog, torture the dog.
The problem with violence in this breed is 99% owner and 1% dog.
I couldn’t agree more with your last statement. We rescued a pit bull from the Wicomico Humane Society about a year ago. When we first went to see him you could tell that he was weary of humans and kind of timid. We took him for a walk and spent sometime in the play area with him. We ended up leaving him that day and coming back the next day to see if we could have him interact a little more. When we arrived he instantly remembered us and got super excited. We eventually adopted him later that day. He is super smart and the most loving, loyal dog that you could ask for.
Dogs more important than humans.
On the off chance someone contemplating adopting a pitbull will read this: Do not ever allow the dog around small children or other animals. The statement earlier that 99% of problems with pit bulls are caused by humans is inaccurate, the danger in this breed is inherent in its genetics. These dogs have a very high prey drive and people not willing or able to follow the above guidelines AND who are not experienced in dog ownership should not own one. We owned a pit bull in the mid 80’s, before they were widely known and will never own another. She was a sweet, tranquil dog and the star of her obedience class and fortunately for us, we never had an issue with her. However, while we owned her she chewed up car tires, logs, and one time RAZOR BLADES. Prospective owners need to understand the massive bite force these dogs wield, along with a diminished response to pain. Thus, the razor chewing episode, we came home to several crumpled razor blades on the bathroom floor (where she had chewed into the bathroom cabinet and destroyed a pack of disposable razors) and what looked like a total bloodbath. Standing in the middle of the carnage, our sweet girl, blood flowing profusely, wagging her tail and tickled to see us; completely OBLIVIOUS to her injuries. Thankfully, rushed her to vet and she recovered. We were lucky nothing worse ever happened; a player on our daughter’s softball team not so much. When she was 2, a pit bull she had been around since childhood and that had been raised with the same love we gave ours one day attacked her as she was running around in the backyard. The dog did nothing wrong; it did what it was bred to do, the small child running around just aroused its prey instinct on that day. The dog would not release the child in spite of her mother yelling, turning hose on dog and beating the dog. She resorted to running into kitchen for a knife and slitting the dogs throat; the dog did not release until it had sufficiently bled out and was weakened enough by blood loss for them to pry its jaws open. In the years since, these dogs have increasingly been crossed with larger breeds, like Mastiffs and Cane Corsos, by unscrupulous breeders, resulting in dogs much larger who can deliver even more damage. This is just one story of someone I know personally, there are thousands of news stories if you look where similar incidents have occurred, many people do not survive. Be especially wary of adopting an adult pit bull that you have no idea how it was raised and what its triggers might be. We always own at least 2 dogs and over the years have had a boxer, a collie, two golden retrievers, a Chespaeake retriever, a cocker spaniel, a Pomeranian, a Scottish terrier and a Jack Russell- all wonderful dogs, two were rescues from the pound, some requiring more owner experience than others, and all with their own unique quirks. We will never own another pit bull. Please adopt with your head, not just your heart.