In response to public safety concerns about dog attacks, municipalities around the country are looking for more effective ways to deal with dangerous dogs. Management of dangerous dogs is a complex issue, especially in a metropolitan area where the policies of one municipality are almost certain to affect its neighbors.
| The existence of dangerous dogs arises from a complex set of social issues and cannot be effectively addressed by breed specific legislation. |
- A dog’s tendency to bite depends on at least five interacting factors, largely determined by its human owner: heredity, early experience, later socialization and training, health, and victim behavior.
- Dogs are more likely to become aggressive and eventually bite when they are unsocialized, unsupervised, and not spayed or neutered.
- Any dog will bite, given the right set of circumstances.
- Dangerous dogs are produced by negligent and/or abusive owners, who will simply acquire another dog if the breed they own is banned.
We encourage you to utilize these resources as you consider responses to dangerous and potentially dangerous dogs in your community.
Coalition for Living Safely with Dogs is a coalition of animal health, care, and control professionals in Colorado framing the civic conversation about dangerous dogs.
|
|
