In the city of Santa Rosa, CA, new legislation is being considered. Santa Rosa has had several incidents, like everywhere else, with pitbulls and other “dangerous” dogs. What they have in mind is requiring the owners of dangerous dogs to muzzle their dogs and have the dog wear a bright yellow collar so that people can recognize the dog as a threat. The owners would also be required to have a liability insurance policy. There is already a law that requires owners of pitbulls to have their dog neutered or spayed, with the exception of professional breeders. So far as I can tell, the existing pitbull regulations aren’t being enforced. I still find ads in the newspaper offering pitbull puppies for sale.

I love dogs and have had a dog just about all my life. I currently have a border collie and an Australian shepherd. I’m also a member of the local Humane Society. However - I think pitbulls really do present a risk to the public. I truly believe that dog breeders should reconsider adding even more pitbulls to the unwanted dog population. Have you ever been to an animal shelter? The majority of the dogs given up by their owners are pitbulls or pitbull mixes.

I am also against the idea of the indiscriminate euthanization of all pitbulls. What I would like to see is the eventual discontinuation of the breed. This doesn’t mean that I hate pitbulls in particular. I simply hate seeing so many of them in animal shelters and pounds. It isn’t the dogs’ fault that they have gotten such a bad reputation. The fault lies with those who choose to continue breeding these dogs for profit. A professional dog breeder should at least attempt to use selective breeding in order to weed out the aggressive genes from the pitbull gene pool.