Public security

The dirty secret behind banning certain dog breeds

Over at Snopes, Brooke Binkowski has a thorough rundown of the research on a favorite topic of mine — the futility of breed-specific dog bans. This is when a local, state/provincial or, in some cases, national government bans certain types of dog breeds arbitrarily deemed “aggressive” by local authorities. Just about any breed of dog can be aggressive, and the dogs bred to look tough aren’t always the breeds that do the most damage.

More to the point, there’s just not much evidence that prohibiting certain breeds cuts down on bites. Binkowski, for example, notes that since Ireland banned 11 breeds in 1998, dog bites in the country have risen by 50 percent, a huge increase even after adjusting for the country’s increase in population over that period.