Looks like Denmark is finding out the hard way what experts told them before they passed their ban on 13 different breeds of dogs -- that it's unenforcable.
Apparently, since the breed ban in the country went into effect, many dog owners have been relicensing their mixed breed dogs as mixes of non-targeted breeds -- and if a vet says the dog's breed was incorrectly registered the first time, the country has to accept the expert opinion of the vet.
The president of the Danish Veterinarian Association, Arne Skjoldager, called the new law banning 13 breeds of dogs "completely useless" because a dog's pedigree cannot be determined with scientific accuracy.
"If puppies don't have a documented pedigree, then it's impossible for a veterinarian to know for certain what it is, expecially if it's a mixed breed," he said. "Not even a DNA test can help."
Of course, experts TOLD the government that before they passed the law -- and case studies of similar impossibilities of reliable breed identification exist throughout the world.
The media article calls it a "loophole" - but it's not a loophole if it's arbitrary and impossible to define. Which is what laws targeting breeds are.
Good for all the vets who re-designated dogs as non-targeted breeds!
Posted by: YesBiscuit! | July 20, 2010 at 01:11 PM
Amazing that so many armed with so much data of failure continue to install this poor excuse for public policy internationally. Yet it happens over and over. So tired of dogs lives being determined by what is politically expedient. Thanks for the update!
Posted by: Dancingdogblog | July 21, 2010 at 02:08 AM