Fritz Law Again
Just a few days later, the City Council decided to look at laws making it difficult for Auburn residents to own certain dogs. They’re calling it “Fritz’s Law.”
But advocates for pit bulls said the breed has developed a bad reputation because of a number of publicized attacks, its intersection with gang and drug culture and because of its history as a fighting dog. They say pit bulls are smart, outgoing dogs that are people-oriented.
Andersen and her partner, who live in Auburn, now have two American pit bull terriers of their own and are fostering a third until a good home can be found for it.
“This is the breed for us,” Andersen said.
“These dogs are highly intelligent. They will do whatever you want — they want to please humans.”
She said her dogs do well with children, and are working to become therapy dogs, such as those that visit hospitals and retirement homes.
“I can’t imagine that my dogs could ever be considered dangerous,” she said.
Breed-specific laws simply don’t work, says Anne Holte, who runs the rescue organization Pit Bull Project out of a pet supply store in Seward Park.
“Why do you open the front door and let the dog run out?” she asked, referring to the incident with Raja. “That’s irresponsibility.”
She said that when you see a badly behaving dog — of any breed — an irresponsible owner is almost certainly holding its leash.
“You need to be aware of your own dog’s personality,” Holte said.
Crockett, to whom Fritz was like family, agrees with Holte.
“I don’t blame the dog. I blame the owner,” he said.
I am happy to see the PI expose the other side of the BSL debate. I did find this rather telling:
The city of Buckley goes further. It bans “any dog of the breed American pit bull terrier, Staffordshire bull terrier, or American Staffordshire terrier or any mixed breed of dog which contains as an element of its breeding” one of those types of dogs. But only three dogs in recent memory have been the targets of that city’s dangerous-dog ordinance, said Deputy City Clerk Cheryl Proffitt. And those dogs have all been black Labradors.
It’s not the breed, it’s the owner.
