Breed Specific Legislation: Is it fair to blame an adolescent?
Would you blame an adolescent for their actions if you knew the environment they were being raised in? Or would you blame their parent or guardian and question their ability to provide and raise the adolescent properly? Or both? When raising a dog and looking at their behavior it all depends on how the dog was raised, their home environment, and how they are treated. Just like a child, a dog’s behavior reflects upon the owner, or in this case a parent or guardian. If a child is raised in a hostile environment, chances are the child will show hostility and this can have the same effect with a dog. No living being should be judged based upon their appearance and should not be punished for their owner, parent, caregiver, or guardian’s incompetence to provide a safe and comfortable lifestyle.
According to Webster, synonyms of an adolescent is “youthful, exuberant, immature, and unsettled” and Webster defines adolescence as a bridge or transition between youth and adulthood. When dealing with adolescence, with any living being, it is a challenge for both the adolescent and the parent, guardian, owner, superior adult or caregiver. People don’t realize the amount of responsibility and commitment that comes with owning a pet, especially with a young animal who hasn’t yet reached adulthood. Raising a puppy or young dog requires as much time and commitment as a baby, which is something most people don’t realize until it’s too late. Due to the lack of education on pet ownership, dogs are constantly being dropped off at a pound or a shelter because the owner is no longer able to provide for the animal or is no longer able to deal with the challenges that come with it.
Before pursuing research for specific articles, a number of questions and concerns were present. Many of the concerns regarded to the articles and how it could be tied to the argument. The first big concern was if there were articles that pertained to the topic and the specific argument that wanted to be pursued. Other concerns were smaller things such as, finding articles that have a “pit bulls” biology and reasoning for their existence, finding articles that had both professional individual’s and citizen’s opinions on the Breed Specific Legislation ban, and if the good would outweigh the bad. Meaning, the articles that are against the BSL ban outweighed the articles that were for the BSL ban.
At first finding articles was difficult, especially articles that would tie into the specific argument. Using Google Scholar and Academic Search Premiere made things a lot easier. I plan on using my articles to give my audience back ground info on the pit bull breed and how there are many dog breeds that have been victimized by the BSL ban. Although the pit bull breed is my main focus, I will be able to use the other breeds to further my argument on how a dog should not be judged by their appearance, but on their behavior and interactions with other animals and humans and how they are raised. Also that a dog should not be punished for their owner’s failure to provide a safe living environment.
Breed Specific Legislation, other wise known as BSL, has been a problem that many political officials have been faced with for many years. Although the pit bull breed may be the specific target for the Breed Specific Legislation ban at the moment, throughout the years the targeted breed to blame has changed every decade. Although all of the previously targeted breeds may not have had to deal with the Breed Specific Legislation, they have dealt with the many challenges that come with being classified as an aggressive breed. According to the author, Safia Gray Hussain who wrote the article “Attacking the Dog-Bite Epidemic: Why Breed-Specific Legislation Won’t Solve the Dangerous-Dog Dilemma”, there are three common reasons for dog attacks. 1) Most dog bites occur in a familiar place and the victim of