There is a collective fear of pit bull dogs fueled by media accounts of horrific dog bites and gangland tales of high intrigue dog fighting rings. Viewing the dog as the criminal and treating the pit bull as contraband is often articulated as the solution. In other words, some cities simply outlaw the possession of pit bull dogs within their borders. Notwithstanding the wisdom of focusing on the dog rather than on the dog fighter or lax owner, the zeal to ban the breed has led to a conflict with the Federal American Disabilities Act (ADA).
Specifically, what if the banned pit bull is a service dog?
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In Denver, where a lawsuit continues to challenge the ban of breed,, a Vietnam veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder depended upon his pit bull dog “Precious”, to cope with his disability. City officials seized his dog citing the city’s pit bull ban. The city finally returned the dog to him but only if the dog was muzzled and complied with other conditions. There is a pending suit alleging violations of the ADA as it is asserted that the conditions preclude the dog from performing his duties properly.
Similarly in Iowa, a retired Chicago police officer, suffering from disabilities resulting from a stroke, who relied on his part pit bull part labrador, service dog Snickers, was told by the city that he could not keep the dog due to the pit bull ban. The city asserted that the ADA was not violated as the officer could simply get a new dog that did not violate the ban! A federal judge has just ruled against the city and Snickers is now home. The judge stated
“whatever the legal bark of the City’s Ordinance prohibiting pit bull dogs as a general matter of public health and safety, it is sufficiently likely that enforcement of that Ordinance against Snickers would take such an impermissible bite out of Title II of the ADA and the regulations and guidance promulgated to implement it that a preliminary injunction is warranted.
Unfortunately things did not turn out so well for a 74 year old woman who was forced to give away her service dog Mikey or face eviction and fines by the co-op board of her apartment complex for violating a “no pets” clause. She died a month after losing Mikey.
One wonders if an ADA challenge would have been successful there as well.
Article first published as What Happens When A Pit Bull is a Service Dog? on Technorati
About Madeline Bernstein
pitt bulls being penalised again? its the dog owners who cannot control their dogs who are to blame. However, why breed them as service dogs when there are other breeds that can be used and are at the end of the day less powerful? it is very sad though for these people who obviously loved thier dogs who became their helpers. For that lady who had her dog taken away that was wrong and she died of heartbreak god bless her
yes they should have reviewed her case as an exception and they would have seen that her dog was her best friend. And also yes you are right about pitt bulls being blamed for being viscious. Any dog can be viscious if the owners do not care to train them properly.
Hi Madeleine it is the same old thing. Everydoby knows 99% of the time a dog is what the owner makes it into. The queen of England has corgis they are the snappiest dogs you can find and are probably more likely to bite you than any pit bull ever is going to. Do they get bad press NO. I rest my case.
Thanks lee
well many, many people frown on pit bulls as they have quite the reputation for attacking, mauling and killing. Therefore, they don’t expect to have a pit bull as a service dog without ever having to take a whole lot of flack for it from the general public. Most trainers will tell you that pit bulls aren’t the easiest dogs to train for the purpose of service work. They were bred for the purpose of fighting in a pit, bull-baiting, and bear-baiting, they says they’re not on the list of the most intelligent dogs. It doesn’t mean that they’re not trainable, but they’re definitely more difficult to train. well i agree somehow that its the dog owners who cannot control their dogs who are to blame, well it depends just train them well..
I really can’t see any problem with having Pit Bull. Just because they look fierce and were originally bred as fighters doesn’t mean they really are one. What happened to Nature vs Nurture? If a Pit bull (or any dog for that matter) are trained early on their life to be calm and submissive, then there wouldn’t be any problem. Do you think a docile-looking Lab doesn’t know how to bite a man to death? Sheesh.
many people frown on pit bulls as they have quite the reputation for attacking, mauling and killing, which is well deserved if you ask me. Therefore, don’t expect to have a pit bull as a service dog without ever having to take a whole lot of flack for it from the general public. a service dog is going to accompany you just about everywhere you go, that is, if you’re truly disabled and your pit bull is a REAL service dog.
Hi
Over here in the uk pit bulls have been outlawed as a breed for years. I new several people with them when you could still own one and they were soppy happy dogs and as long as you treated them that way you would have a great pet. There are some really bad tempered breeds that never have had any media attention which are snappy who ever owns them and the humble pit bull has got ny on extinct through a few irresponsible owners.
Great post thanks lee
Pitbulls have a bad reputation in general. Everybody knows that. News of a pitbull attack makes it big. You never or seldom hear of German Shepherds in the news. We sell about 2,000 trained dogs worldwide, but never had a request from customers for pitbulls. The reason is simple : law enforcement in general like ‘social dogs’ that also will ‘work’ on request. Pitbulls have already the reputation of not being social. So therefor we do not train or sell these kinds of dogs.
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The issue of having a pit bull as a service dog is fine. The concern is that whilie there is no doubt that this dog would be well behaved and in the top 1% of dogs the breed rap has people concerned. I’m all for any dog who can make it as a service dog havign the opertunity to do this for others.
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Pitbulls are not good service dog materials. There are plenty of breeds out there that can do better work than this breed. Look for wonderful breeds for serving people such as Border Collie, German Shepherd, Bloodhound, Labrador Retriever, German Shepherd or Belgian Malinois among a few best dogs.