An Overview of the Issue of Dog Aggression, Dog Bites and Social Policy

NOTE: Segments of the report below have already been published as part of the Tufts Center for Animals and Public Policy report on the pit bull terrier issue in 1988 titled Dog Aggression and the Pit Bull Terrier, edited by A. N. Rowan. The report was developed out of a workshop held at Tufts School of Veterinary Medicine on July 17, 1986. The workshop was developed after Dean Franklin M Loew suggested in June of 1986, that the Tufts Center for Animals should organize a workshop to explore the growing furore over “pit bull terriers.” The city of Lynn in Massachusetts had recently passed an ordinance restricting pit bull ownership and other cities and municipalities were considering similar legislation. Breed-specific legislation has seldom been reported to have been accompanied by a reduction in dog bites. Those individuals who want to have an aggressive dog simply switch to another breed (in Lynn, a local veterinarian reported that the number of pit bull terriers in his practice fell but the number of rottweilers increased to take the place of the pit bull terriers