Canadian Association of Professional Pet Dog Trainers

We the executive committee of the Canadian Association of Professional Pet Dog Trainers (CAPPDT), an organization comprising more than 500 professional dog trainers from across Canada, welcome the opportunity to provide our comments on the issue of breed-specific legislation as a remedy to the problem of dog bites.

While there is anecdotal evidence to suggest that certain types of dogs present a greater threat to public safety than others, statistics collected by Health Canada, the Centers for Disease Control and numerous other US agencies consistently show that a wide range of popular breeds, including many breeds popularly considered "friendly", contribute significantly to serious bite and attack cases in North America.

CAPPDT recognizes that so-called "dangerous breeds" represent a larger portion of dog bite statistics than other breeds. However, those same statistics indicate consistently that fewer than 3% of the members of those "dangerous breeds" ever bite or attack a person or other dog. Breed-specific legislation targets an entire population in an attempt to eradicate only a handful of its members.

Other issues of violence are universally addressed with more logic. A gross example: while men commit the vast majority of violent crime, the law recognizes that violent crime is committed by a small minority of men. Men as a group are not considered a threat to public safety.

Further, we believe that bans specific to breeds will cause only responsible, law-abiding owners whose dogs do not currently pose a threat to society to give up the well-bred and safe examples of the banned breeds, while the more dangerous segment of dog owners - outlaws and irresponsible owners with unregistered and untraceable dogs - will continue to own the dangerous dogs you are trying to eliminate.

Both criminals and simply negligent or ignorant owners will continue to acquire, breed and train dogs outside of the law, and the pool of dogs in the banned breeds will become exclusively dangerous, as legislation successfully eliminates only the well-bred and well-owned examples of the breeds. If the dogs become too difficult to acquire, outlaws and the ignorant may simply create dangerous purebreds or crosses of other, currently favoured, breeds, or switch to other large breeds easily trained to violence.

While on the surface banning "dangerous breeds" seems like an obvious first step, the Canadian Association of Professional Pet Dog Trainers asserts it would be a facile and ineffectual approach that will not protect your constituents or enhance public safety.

The CAPPDT urges any provincial or municipal government considering breed-specific legislation to seek solutions and enact legislation that truly address the safety issues posed by dog attacks - dangerous dog laws related to incidents rather than breeds, responsible dog ownership requirements or awareness campaigns, and laws that address human violent offenders and the social issues that lie at the root of using dogs for violence.

Respectfully Submitted,
Naomi Kane, Chair
Roger Hild, Co-Chair
Lynn Reeve, Treasurer
Pat Renshaw, Director of Regions
Carolyn Bray, Secretary
Brian Smith, Past Chair
Andrew Perkins, Newsletter Editor
Canadian Association of Professional Pet Dog Trainers

Last modified: December 4, 2004