A Rotta Love Plus, MN Rottweiler and Pit Bull Rescue

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Restrictions on dangerous dogs
Published 4/25/2008
By Craig Green

When a dangerous dog bites someone, too often the victim is a child or someone unable to defend themselves.

Rep. Michael Paymar (DFL-St. Paul) said the real issue is dangerous owners of dogs, more often than the dogs themselves.

HF2906/SF2876*, sponsored by Paymar and Sen. Ellen Anderson (DFL-St. Paul), would strengthen restrictions on dangerous dog owners. Approved as amended by the House April 21 130-0, the Senate did not concur and has requested a conference committee to work out the differences.

Paymar said the bill would give animal control authorities the tools to protect the public from dog attacks. Animal control professionals agree that most dangerous dogs are "created by irresponsible ownership," he said.

The bill would increase the surety bond required by an owner of a dangerous dog from $50,000 to $300,000, and prohibit dog ownership for anyone who has repeatedly been convicted of crimes involving dangerous dogs.

Owners would also have to notify animal control if the dog is moved to a new location, and all dangerous dogs would have to be sterilized.

Rep. John Lesch (DFL-St. Paul) proposed an amendment that would repeal a statute prohibiting municipalities from enacting ordinances to ban specific dog breeds. Lesch, who offered a similar provision in committee earlier this year, said that there is evidence that specific breeds cause more physical and emotional harm than other dogs, and that municipalities should have the ability to decide if and when these dogs are allowed in their communities.

Understanding the current opposition to the proposal, and the need for further discussion, Lesch withdrew his amendment. But, he said, the idea will not go away. "As long as kids continue to be mauled and killed, it will come back."

Unfortunately as long as Lesch is in office, we are going to have to stay on top with what is going on at the capital and continue to advocate for our pups! Remember, our best defense is to make sure our pit bulls, Rottweilers, Chows, or Akitas are the best ambassadors of their breeds....get them their Canine Good Citizen Certificate or even their Therapy Dog certification and take them out in public with you to show everyone how great they are! Or better yet, get those doggy certifications and email us because A Rotta Love Plus (in addition to the dog safety program for kids) has some GREAT programs we will be soon rolling out and we would LOVE to include as many of these breeds as possible into the programs!!! Take care everyone!

TCOTC Therapy Dog Program

Delta Therapy Society

Therapy Dog International

Rep. Paymar's "Dangerous Dog" bill (HF2906) was presented to the Local Government and Metropolitan Affairs committee today. It passed the committee with no additional amendments and was referred to the Finance committee. No date is set yet for that meeting.
The companion Senate bill, SF2876 will be presented to the Agriculture and Veterans Committee on March 6.

The other item that we are closely monitoring is Representative Ozment's bill, HF3245. This bill is similar to several of the amendments presented by Rep. Lesch. In particular, it calls for the revocation of 347.51, subd. 8...MN's statute that does not allow BSL. It has not yet been scheduled to be heard by committee, but it is important to let your legislators know that you do NOT support Rep. Ozments bill.

Rep. Paymar's "Dangerous Dog" bill (HF2906) was approved by the Public Safety Committee WITHOUT any BSL language attached. Yeah! However it still has to go through several other committees and a companion bill will be traveling through the Senate. Everyone needs to stay on top of it's progress and continue to let their legislators know that they do not want a repeal of 347.51 subd. 8 (our state law that prohibits BSL on the municipal level) and they do not want any breed-specific language attached to the bill.

HF2906 will be presented to the Local Government and Metropolitan Affairs Committee next Wednesday. ARLP representatives will be present to follow the proceeding. We encourage you to continue to contact you State Representatives and let them know that you will not support a bill with any breed-specific language or that overturns 347.51 subd. 8. Please take a moment to review the list of members on this committee. If one of the members is your Representative, give them a call and let them know how you feel about BSL. Represenatives listen the closest to people who are their own constituents.

The Senate version of the bill is SF2876 and will be presented to the Agriculture and Veterans Committee the first week in March. Similarly with the request above PLEASE contact the Senators on this committee to let them know that you are in support of bill SF2876 in it's entirely and without change. Again, it is important to communicate to them that you are NOT in support of making any breed specific amendments to this bill or a repeal of 347.51 sub. 8!

We have also created a wonderful one-sheet handout of important facts related to the arguments that are being used by the proponents of BSL in Minnesota. We encourage you to download this sheet and give it to anyone who may be interested. Our BSL Educational Packet is also available for download.

BSL Opposition One-Sheet

BSL Educational Packet

Stay tuned for updates as the Dangerous Dog bill progresses through both the House and Senate.

For more information on how a bill becomes a law, check this out:
How a Bill becomes a Law

And because we could all use a little lightness during this stressfull time:
I'm just a bill...

Rep. John Lesch's proposal to repeal 347.51 subd. 8 and to declare pit bulls, Rottweilers, Chows, Akitas, and wolf-hybrids "potentially dangerous dogs" received a NAY vote in the Public Safety Committee tonight!!! More details to come, but for the moment BSL is off the table!!

Thank you to everyone who called and emailed their legislators...one representative even commented on how many emails he had received on the subject and there did not appear to be any support for this type of legislation this term!

We'll post a full summary of the days events in the next day or so, but for now...
Dogs - 1, BSL - 0

Rep. Paymar will also be discussing his bill, HF 2906 which is a revised and enhance dangerous dog bill that contains stronger liability and penalties for owners who allow their dogs to become dangerous or harm the public, but avoids any breed specific language. This is a very good bill. The authors were in consultation with several respected animal control and humane organizations. We plan to post a summary of the bill shortly.

Rep. Lesch is scheduled to address the Public Safety and Civil Justice Committee (of which he is a member) on the subject of "Prohibiting certain breeds of dogs" on February 19.

At this time, we suggest contacting your legislators and the legislators on the Public Safety and Civil Justice Committee and letting them know that you are in support of Rep. Paymars bill and that you DO NOT support any type of breed specific legislation.

In particular, let them know that you do not support any law or statute that overturns or repeals 347.51 subd. 8, which is the state level law that does not allow for breed discrimination.

Who is on the Public Safety and Civil Justice Committee? Where can I find there info?

On Friday, June 15, 2007 St. Paul Rep. John Lesch held a press conference to annouce that in 2008 he would propose a ban that would outlaw the ownership of 5 so-called "dangerous breeds", including Rottweilers, "Pit Bulls", Akitas, Chows, Wolf-hybrids...and ANY mix thereof in the state of MN.

As of February 10...many concerned citizens and humane groups have actively lobbied to ensure that this doesn't come to pass and to worked together to develop other solutions that would help protect people from dangerous dogs without infringing on the rights of responsible dog owners and their pets.

What is BSL?

BSL stands for Breed Specific Legislation. Any legislation that is directed at a dog solely based on breed is considered BSL. Breed-specific legislation (BSL) comes in many forms, from extra insurance policies and special licenses, to outright bans of particular breeds.

What is A Rotta Love Plus doing to help fight this?

A Rotta Love Plus attended this press conference to let Rep. Lesch know that this will not go unanswered.

Don't get us wrong...we are deeply sympathetic to victims of dog attacks and we also feel that something needs to be done, however we also know that banning certain breeds will NOT solve the problem. The problem lies in the hands of the dog owners and they are the ones that need to be educated and held responsible when and if their dog harms a human being.

Over the course of the last year ARLP has joined forces with other humane organizations and concerned citizens, to help educate the public, and our legislators, as to why banning entire breeds of dogs based on the behavior of a poorly owned few is ineffective.

BSL Informational Packet

We have put together a comprehensive packet to help educate the public on what BSL is, it's history in Minnesota, why it is ineffective, and what YOU can do to help.

Click here to download ARLP's BSL Informational Packet (PDF)

Taskforce

ARLP holds monthly BSL taskforce meetings. At these meetings we gather to share information and ideas to help educate the community about why breed-specific legislation is not the answer to dog attacks, to work together to defeat the upcoming proposed legislation and to develop ideas on how to enact legislation that will actually help make our communities safer without infringing upon the rights of responsible dog owners. For more information on the taskforce and to be put on the taskforce mailing list, please email Kellie Dillner.

Education

For two years we've been helping educate children on dog safety and bite prevention. Since the events of this summer our program has been more popular than ever and we couldn't be happier about it. Children are the primary victims of dog bites and educating them about the do's and don'ts of how to behave with dogs should be a priority.

What can I do to help?

Join us on our online forum

Please join our online forum where you can join other dog activists and lovers and keep up to date on the progress of this proposed legislation, what we're doing to fight this, and what you can do to help.

Contact your politicians

What matters most to politicians are the views and opinions of their constituents. Take the time to write them a letter or give them a call and let them know how you feel about BSL.

MN District Finder
Visit this web site to find your districts state representative and their contact information.

Tips for Effective BSL Communication (PDF)
We know how heated this topic is and how passionate people feel about it but we can not stress enough how important it easy to remain calm, mature, and respectful. StopBSL has compiled some fantastic tips for communicating effectively when dealing with people who don't see it the way we do (yet).

MyDogVotes.com
Your voice, and your vote can make all the difference in the world. My Dog Votes is the world's only clothing brand with the mission of saving dogs and democracy! How? By engaging dog owners and democracy in a national efforts to elect local dog-friendly candidates interested in the cause of responsible dog ownership.

Where can I find out more about BSL? What else should I know?

Animal Law and Historical Center
A 2006 Fordham Law Review paper titled "ATTACKING THE DOG-BITE EPIDEMIC: WHY BREED-SPECIFIC LEGISLATION WON'T SOLVE THE DANGEROUS-DOG DILEMMA". A meticulously written and cited paper covering both the legal and statistical reason why BSL will not, and can not solve the problem of dangerous dogs. Lengthy, but a must read.

National Canine Research Council
The National Canine Research Council is an organization comprised of canine experts created to present accurate statistics and to provide detailed information on the human and canine behaviors which have contributed to cases of severe and fatal dog attacks.

StopBSL.com
Great information about what BSL is and why it doesn't work. Also offers some fair and effective alternatives.

Understand-A-Bull.com
A WEALTH of information regarding BSL. My favorite however is this...whenever the topic of BSL comes up, the proponents often cite a report by the CDC in 2000. What they neglect to mention is that the CDC and doctors involved have since gone on record saying that the finding were inaccurate and should NOT be used as a source for any legislation. Visit this site to find out more.

Fatal Dog Attacks
Speaking of fatal dogs attacks, author Karen Delise has done her research. She has published one of the foremost and complete books on the subject and she another being released in July that deals exclusively with the so-called "Pit Bull Problem".

What pit bulls can teach us about profiling.
A wonderful article that appeared in The New Yorker in 2006. While it focuses on pit bulls it's a thought provoking article on the dangers of "breed profiling".

NoPitBullBans.com
A very informative site regarding breed bans, started in 2003 by a group fight proposed BSL in Chicago.

Find the Pit Bull
One of the problems with BSL is identification of so-called "Pit Bulls". The term Pit Bull actually encompasses 3 breeds of dogs. Even then many people couldn't point one out if they saw them. Think you could? You'll be surprised.

Stay tuned to this site, and particularly this page, for updates on the status of the proposed bill as well as ways that you can help.

Breed Specific Legislation in MN

BSL Information

What is BSL?

What is A Rotta Love Plus doing to help fight this?

BSL Informational Packet

Taskforce

Education

What can I do to help?

Join us on our online forum

Contact your politicians

Where can I find out more about BSL? What else should I know?