Denmark Breed Ban is failing (and why the solution is not more banning)

Last week, an organization in Denmark called "Fair Dog" released a report detailing some of the failures of the Breed Ban in Denmark.

If you recall, on July 1 of 2010, Denmark banned 13 breds of dogs, including the pit bull terrier, Tosa Inu, American Staffordshire Terrier, Fila Brasileiro, Dogo Argentino, American Bulldog, Boerboel, Kangal, 3 breeds of Ovtcharkas, Tornjak and Sarplanina.

In the Fair Dog report, they accumulated dog bite numbers for the 12 months prior to the ban and for the 12 months post the ban -- by accumulating data from veterinary offices, the internet and police numbers. While they acknowledge the data is more of a collection of facts than truly statistical, the numbers do give some insight into the failings of the National Breed Ban.

The report focuses on 464 bite episodes from every region of the country, and even breaks down the bites from dog vs human, dog vs dog, dog vs other animal and fatal attack.

Based on their data, the number of dog bites on humans went from 67 in the 12 months prior to the ban to 107 in the 12 months after the ban (a 60% increase), dog bites on other dogs from 75 to 117 (a 56% increase), dog bites on other animals 21 to 24 (14% increase) and fatal attacks from 23 to 30 (30% increase)*.  Total dog bites went from 186 to 278 -- a 49% increase.

*The study doesn't specifically mention what constitutes a 'fatality' -- my assumption is that a fatality includes human and other animal deaths and not just human deaths -- as 30 human fatalities in a country of just over 5 million people would be a ridiculously high number -- as 30 is a high number of fatalities per year in the U.S. where we have a population of over 300 million people.

Of the bite incidents, 6.5% of all bites in the 12 months prior to the ban were from the banned breeds, this number dropped to 4.3% in the 12 months after the ban as bites from non-banned breeds increased.

The top biting dogs have changed little from before the ban vs after. Post the ban, the top biting dogs are Schaefer (German Shepherds -- who were #1 before the ban), Rottweilers and Bladinghundes (which is the Danish term for mixed breeds).

The Danish Government has responded to the poor first year of the ban, not by acknowledging the failure of targeting breeds vs targeting careless owners, but by discussion adding another 12 breeds to the banned list.

That too, will fail.

The report also details other areas in which breed bans have failed, including detailing information from Spain, The Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Scotland and the UK. Continuing to

The problem with dogs is not dogs. It is with people. And laws that continue to focus on dogs and not on the owners are destined to fail because they are targeting the wrong end of the leash. This has been true throughout the world -- and study after study proves it.

Focusing on responsible dog ownership is the solution, not targeting dogs based on their shape.

You can read the entire report here (much of it is in Danish but Google Translate can help you muddle through it). Some pieces are in English.

H/T to Kenzo the Hovawart -- who has more there and has been doing a great job of covering the news in Denmark.

Stubby Dog also has more on the story.

Comments

[Lisa in OH]

Just curious, does it say anywhere what the 12 additional breeds would be?

[Holly]

The irresponsible owners no longer have the banned breeds to train in a certain manner so they are doing with with the non-banned dogs. Basically Denmark's ban just shifted "mark" a little so to speak. Sort of like "I can't smash my walls with a baseball bat any more so I'll do it with a tree branch instead".

[Brent]

Exactly Holly.

Kenzo has them listed in a different blog post (they have been very good at keeping up with the latest over there). They include:

Anatolian Shepherd Dog
Bull Mastiff
Cane corso italiano
Cao fila de Sao Miguel
Dogo canario
Ibero mastiff
Maremma
Mastin espanol
Mastino napoletano
Polski Owczarek podhalanski
Rottweiler
Staffordshire Bull Terrier

http://kenzothehovawart.blogspot.com/2011/05/danish-breed-ban-rests-on-historically.html

[zbyszek]

In this State there is something wrong. It really worries me that in Europe is the center of sabotage against the dogs.

[kmk]

Wow, more breed bans, brought to you by a country where public safety is clearly placed about all else, and where Child Pornography is legal - Denmark! Everyone here in America gets their shorts in a wad when a city that refuses to ban smoking in public buildings bans pit bulls! Denmark's idiocy makes California's silly laws almost seem sane.

Thank goodness they banned this breed - Polski Owczarek podhalanski

the name alone is scary, LOL. Is that a Polish Lowland Sheepdog? My Polish is a bit rusty, I guess.

[Jennie]

You know how you can REALLY get the dog bites down? Ban dogs altogether! Why stop at 25 breeds? (I'm being sarcastic so don't blast me)

[Nicklas]

kmk,

May i ask u wtf u mean by saying that CP is legal in Denmark? It's very illegal.

[Charlotte Andersson]

Thank you Brent - it is not human fatilitys ;) The fatlitys mentioned in the report is on dogs and other animals - we have only had 3 human fatilitys caused by dogs since 1970 in Denmark. NONE by any of the 13 breeds of the list.

It is only two political parties that have suggested to put further breeds on the list - The danish Folkpartie and Venstre.

But there is a Observation list now with 12 other breeds as Kenzo mention on his blog. Those breeds might very well get on the ban list after the summer if those two parties get their way. We keep our fingers crossed and hope that they don't. But I do believe that they wont as many politicians here in Denmark now got ALL the facts and are positive to look at other alternatives.

Charlotte Andersson
Chairman of Fair Dog

[michelle jeffers]

When breeds get banned, then people go to other breeds for family pets. In a state in Ohio (I don't remember which one), labs this year have the most number of bites (something like 36, and I think Pits are at 28 or 29 followed by shepherds and huskies). Am I surprised? Absolutely not! When a breed, such as labs, who are suppose to be great "family dogs", become popular, breeders start inner breeding and poorly breeding their dogs to keep up with the demand. This leads to issues, such as aggression. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this out. The more dogs of a breed, the higher the chances of bites! Dog bites will not stop until the right people start being held accountable! Banning 25 breeds will NOT fix the problem! I have had a person tell me I should have my children taken away for owning a pit bull, and he continued to tell me to get a beagle instead. Well, we had a beagle, who had aggression issues from day 1, but she was controllable because she was small, until I had my son. He was 6 months old and crawling on the floor when she went to attack him. Luckily, we are responsible dog owners and were right there. We had to have her put down. ANY dog can bite, and when it comes to children especially, even the small dogs can do damage!!!! Punish the deed, NOT the breed!!!

[kmk]

I'll check up on the child porn statement.

[Mark Borg]

Everyone is aying that German Sheperds are the worst biters. Isnt that because everyone thinks that they are gaurd dogs and as such are trained to be agresive. I brought up three kids alonside my german sheperd and beleive me when I say that the dog had it the worse. Through his thirteen years of life I never heard a snarl or an angry noise out of him. If trained propely they are the best dogs to have around your family.