Link to the unanimous Opinion of the Court of a three Judge panel of the Eighth Circuit. This is a very short Opinion, taking just five pages.
Simple case and the correct legal decision. While I am not a fan of pit bull bans, ultimately the blame for the bans goes:
To the ■■■■■■■■ who either negligently or maliciously breed pit bulls for aggressive qualities.
To the many morons who get a dog they are incapable of controlling and incapable of asserting dominance over.
I have been seen many pit bulls that are the biggest babies in the world. Sweet and even dispositioned. If the pit bull came from a quality and ethical breeder and its owner has unquestioned dominance and control over the animal, that animal will be safe.
But even if you have a pit bull (or any other large breed) and that animal does not recognize you as the unquestioned alpha of your family pack, that is a recipe for disaster. And if that situation exists AND the animal is from a questionable source, that danger is magnified by degrees.
In the long run, the solution is to more aggressively hunt and shutdown unethical or malicious breeders and destroy dogs from questionable lineages. And maybe pass a statute that requires owners of pit bulls and certain other breeds to show the ultimate breeding source of the pit bull (or other breed) and show that the animal has been properly trained and that they have properly established and are capable of maintaining alpha status over the dog.
But like it or not, the statute is constitutional. It took only 5 pages to firmly establish that.
But there are inherently dangerous individual dogs. In some cases, caused by negligent breeding or by deliberate breeding for violence. In some cases, caused by the abuse or neglect of the animal.
I have been a board member of a couple of animal shelters as well as a donor and volunteer foster. All dogs are screened for potential violence flags. Dogs that pass go on to adoption. Dogs that fail are humanely euthanized. I will never be part of allowing a potentially dangerous dog to be adopted.
It may be human fault (breeding, negligence or abuse) that the dog is dangerous, but in the end, human safety must prevail.
There are some animals that are simply aggressive. In some cases, because they have DELIBERATELY been bred to be that way.
And then you have dogs that simply have, in human terms, a mental illness that makes them aggressive. And these types of mental illness can occur in dogs that you don’t associate with aggressive breeds, such as Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retriever, Beagles and such.
Of course, you have dogs that have been neglected or abused.
I am the first to say that I will NEVER attempt to rehabilitate an aggressive dog or give a dog to anybody else to attempt to rehabilitate it. Once a dog is determined to be aggressive, REGARDLESS of cause, it should be humanely euthanized. I have seen too many people foolishly attempt to rehabilitate such dogs and end up paying a high price, sometimes the ultimate price. Sometimes, it is their children, wife or friends that pay the ultimate price.
Most people don’t understand dogs the way they should either. Certainly not the way our species used to. The symbiotic relationship is long dead in most households like that.
The bad dog owners are prevalent in our society but a poodle, yorkie, shih tzu and many other breeds do not have the capability to inflict the damage a pit bull can. The only reason “we” need laws is because “we” have asses among us.
A lot of the issue is that people don’t understand one crucial thing. Dogs are a pack animal. They instinctively have a pack mentality. And when they join their human pack, they need to understand their position in the pack and your position in the pack immediately. They need to understand that you as the human are the unquestioned alpha of the pack and that they are subordinate to you. With most dogs, that is not an issue. But with some individual dogs and some breeds, that is a critical factor.
If you have a dog that does not recognize you as the unquestioned alpha of your pack, that dog is a ticking time bomb. And if you can’t establish your alpha status over that dog, probably a good idea to surrender the dog to somebody who can.
Unfortunately, many people simply do not realize this.
There’s a lot more than one crucial thing about understanding our best friends, but most people simply don’t understand what it even means to be in a pack anymore. They’re just pets with pets now.