So overnight a little 4 year old girl in Melbourne was mauled to death by a pitbull terrier.
I have had a couple of close encounters with this breed of dog in Canberra – once by one that yanked its leash out of its owner’s hand and came at my black ball of fluff and the second time by one that was roaming free as I was relaxing in a park with my kids. Again it came barrelling at us very aggressively. (On a side note, what’s with the huge numbers of dogs that roam our suburbs during the day time… are there people out there who let their dog out for the day while they go to work?)
I’m fairly certain the both times things could have turned out quite badly if I didn’t know how to react in that type of situation.
So, my question is: is it time for the ACT government to reassess its policy to not restrict the ownership of pitbulls in the territory? They have been selectively bred for aggressiveness and I can see no reason why anyone would need to own one.

Ban them
I believe it is the responsibility of the owner to make sure that the dog poses no threat. If it does, then I’m all for the dog being taken away or put down.
Also, I believe the owner should be punished in such instances. I say this as the housemate of a dog owner who seems to believe he doesn’t need to train his dog for whatever reason. It’s not violent, it just has no sense of boundaries or rules because the owner looks the other way.
I feel that the only way people will learn is with direct consequences.
matt31221 said :
While I agree that it is the owners truly to blame (I propse, should a dog prove so bad it needs putting down, the owner be required to join it in the afterlife), you’all seem to forget that these many different breeds only exist because humans pick traits in mutts they like and “breed” them together to get what they like the look/speed/temperament/whatever of.
So, we as society either take the libertarian approach and let people breed dogs however they want, or we take the authoritarian approach and limit the breeding to dogs with traits we as society enjoy. While I like to dabble in libertarianism, I still sometimes think there are situations where. The greater good etc etc… Plus, pit bulls are fugly looking mongrels.
I would like to add – go to the dog park in Tuggers, to the big dog area and you will see big scary breeds, Pit bulls, Great Danes, Labradors, big black dogs with 3 foot long strings of drool flying from their mouths etc, what is it that the absolute majority that these dogs have in common? They are big friendly softies that come up to you for a pat and a cuddle. Goes to show that the owners care enough to train them well and care for them. With the exception of one time most of the trouble I have had is in the small dog section, little balls of screaming terror running around barking and attacking!
It truly is up to the owner as to the temperament of their pet regardless of breed.
To the people who want to ban breeds – you are not god. What right do you have to dictate whether a breed of dog lives or dies? It is almost fascist in my opinion. Piss off to Commie land if you want your freedoms taken away and everything banned, go and live in a sterile nanny state.
Tooks is right, it is the owner not the breed.
What about Staffies? I like the look of them and they are supposed to be good family dogs.Planning on adding one to the family once Im satisfied with the fencing around my yard.
A ban on a particular bread of dog no matter how aggressive leads to bans on lesser aggressive dogs. A golden retriever is a large dog with the capability of killing and so is a Labrador and many others should these dogs also be banned?
colourful sydney racing identity said :
Please! This is the exact sort of fear mongering that Abbott uses. No way would I use anything that Abbott says!
This slogan comes from a hard fought campaign against Breed Specific Legislation that is being argued all over the world! By responsible dog owners of all breeds that are discriminated against! Discriminated against from media beet ups!” New York Pitbull advocacy” has a great Facebook and web site for anyone who wants to see what happens when this form of legislation comes int effect! The pictures and stories are not for Th feint hearted, as the can be very graphic!
Jethro said :
If it isnt an issue in our state then why would/should we take action on it?
Yeah, let’s just ban everything we don’t completely understand.
On the other hand my cat just bites everyone.
“I have owned a few dogs including a pure bred Staffy , a staffy ridgeback cross and a pure bull terrior which I swear was the smartest dog I have ever seen, you could literally have a conversation with it.”
My dog reads Simon Schama history, smokes a pipe and drinks scotch, on the rocks of course.
Sorry made a mistake The Pommerainian killed a baby several years ago not six months ago as I previously stated!
clintonDogowner said :
Who writes your slogans? Tony Abbott?
YOUR DOG’S BREED COULD BE NEXT!
Punish the deed not the breed
Does anyone actually know what one looks like? I challenge anyone to pick one from a line up of dogs! On a website called ” The Proper Pitbull.com” there is a page that has several breeds of dogs commonly mistaken as an American Pitbull Terrier choose one than click on it you will be surprised! Oh and wikepedia as everyone knows is edited by it’s users!!
No dog should be labelled as dangerous just because of it’s breed! Did anyone hear about the thirteen dog attacks in Sydney one night a couple of months ago four were allegedly from pitbulls the other nine went unreported! Or how about the Pommerainian that killed an infant about six months ago? Or Th family golden retriever that mauled four people in Sydney!
Get a grip people!
Erg0 said :
And this comes back to the original point I made when posting this topic. All I would like to see is some stricter regulations in the ACT for these dogs (and other breeds of dangerous dogs). We are the only state or territory that has no additional regulations (on top of normal dog ownership regulations) on pitbull ownership.
shadow boxer said :
Ahahahahaha…Wikipedia is alway the most reliable source of information.
shadow boxer said :
And yes, sorry – I’m not sure where I got the impression that people were planning to raid homes and kill innocent dogs! I’m not necessarily against restricting or monitoring the breeding of pitbulls or what have you, so I think I may be arguing against nothing LOL