Читать книгу American Pit Bull Terrier Handbook - Joe Stahlkuppe - Страница 25

Laws targeting these dogs (see Breed-specific Legislation, page 74) became a shotgun solution to the blight caused by the invasion of these dogs. When the citizens groups, city councils, and legislatures sought to identify the culprits, guilt by supposed association took over. The “pit bulls” that the laws and regulations sought to banish became the APBTs, the Staffordshire Bull Terriers, the Bull Terriers, the American Staffordshire Terriers, and other pure breeds. The laws may have been just and well intentioned, but the targets were the wrong dogs.

We have also become a litigious society. Lawsuits and legal actions began to center on any area of real or imagined personal injury. The emerging “pit bull” became a litigator’s dream. An unsavory dog with a bad reputation owned by a real or imitation criminal type wouldn’t find many friends among the judiciary or among juries. Certainly, some dog bite cases were horrendous. Small children killed or frightfully maimed should make every reasonable person shudder. Dog bites, especially by large and powerful dogs, can be crippling and disfiguring. Legal remedies and public outrage in such cases are certainly more than appropriate, but unfortunately, society tends to use a broad brush in inflicting our retribution.