5 May 2005

ACT to resist national dog laws.

| johnboy
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In a rare, but welcome, moment of clarity the ACT Government has declined the opportunity to bring in discriminatory anti dog laws according to this story on ABC Online.

Urban Services Minister, John Hargreaves says while domestic dog legislation in the ACT is due to be reviewed later this year, he believes there’s no need for breed-specific laws.

“To have breed specific legislation, it’s a bit of a knee-jerk reaction really. At this stage of the game, my particular preference is to have very responsible dog-ownership,” he said.

“Because we know pit bull terriers can attack kids, but we also know that the smaller yappy dogs actually do attack probably more people and so it’s really up to the owners to keep their dogs under control.”

Do the bad owners over and the dogs will follow. Thank You John Hargreaves, I doff my cap to thee.

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John Hargreaves? The same dimwit that thought a single lane freeway to Gungahlin was a good idea? I think I smell a rat. Some pube with a brain has put out a media release saying they were going to apply some common sense while the other states are letting the pollies make the decisions. This is definitely not the brainchild of our John. It’s far too sensible and balanced.

DT, It is a myth that ‘pit bulls’ and ‘pit bull types’ of dogs are unique in the way they attack. Other breeds also bite and hold. A bite and hold attack is not qualitatively more severe than a series of slashing bites.

These dogs can do just as much damage to someone as any medium to large breed could. So using your logic, only the small rat dogs will be around or insured. Not fair considering that MOST medium to large dogs don’t attack anyone. Probably less medium to large dogs bite compared to the small dogs, as the bites from the larger dogs would be reported more. A small dog can be dangerous to small children, and even kill them.

Banning breeds is not the way to go about this, it hasn’t reduced attacks in any other country, why would it work here. It also opens up the door to other breeds being banned, and will also result in litigation. All of this for nothing… it doesn’t save lives because they are focusing their attention on the wrong end of the leash.

What really needs to happen is the introduction of insurance against attack included in the registration. Then lets see what happens. No insurance company in their right mind would insure a pitt bull (and I mean American Staffordshire here – same breed ANYone who is realistic will concur). The damage caused by these dogs is what counts, not the fact they bite. I am so sick of all these ignorant people trying to blame the owners. Dogs are not guns or cars. They think for themselves, and act upon that. No one wants to see dogs put down. But no one wants to see their dog, or heaven forbit child or elderly relative, bitten by a dog that causes so much damage. Sure, cattle dogs bite. But they nip. Pit bulls hold on and crush. Ever wondered why you never see old pitt bulls around? Ask yourself that question.

i dont hate anybody or anything.

i just think recumbent bicyclist go against nature.

Why hate recumbent cyclists? Because they’ll take it lying down.

Bonfire, why all the hate towards recumbent cyclists?
K

ari you are a dog gone genius.

Why not train the savege dogs to attack recumbent bicyclists?

Channel the aggression into a useful activity.

You know a dog catcher spent about 20 mins trying to entice my dog out of the yard so that he could take him away. My dog is a very very likeable jackrussell silky cross. Mean while large dogs ridgy’s etc were just roaming about attacking anything and every thing that they liked.Savage dogs only belong to savage people.
Untrained dogs belong to untrained people.
There is no such thing as a savage puppy, so why is there savage dogs????
I’ll leave that for you all to ponder.
Happy commercial day on sunday girls hope you get the gift they want to flog off.

hopefully we can enact a law banning recumbent bicyclists. they are far more dangerous than dogs.

The NSW plan won’t work. It will just send the breeders underground. People will get around it by not registering their dogs.

I’m very glad they’ve said this, hopefully it will stop Vicky Dunne getting up and saying anything about dog breeds.

A couple of years ago she had a bit in the paper about dogs breeds that needed to be banned. One of which was Staffordshire Bull Terriers. While staffys may have started as a fighting dog, I think anyone who knows the breed nowadays can safely say that they are a family dog. The take off in the breed over the last 20 years has been huge, to the point where they are the 7th most popular in the ACT, when previously they were unheard of.

So keep your mouth shut Vicky, you don’t know what you’re talking about.

Nobody will be having to put their dogs down in NSW. The new laws there prevent breeding and selling them. Existing pets will be allowed to remain until they die of natural causes, but they will not be allowed to be replaced by these so called “dangerous breeds” when that happens.

Good work “John Hargreaves”, blame owners not dogs. I have spent many a cold saturday morning at a dog obedience school training my dogs. There was all sorts of dogs large and small, with adults and children training them. In the 18 months I went not one person was ever bitten by a dog. Its not a coincidence.

I predict a spike in ACT Pit bull numbers as NSW owners try to move the dogs on without having them put down.

Fan….tastic.

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