Deteriming what is dangerous -- the military and base breed bans

On September 30th, Camp Lejuene, NC's breed ban on its military base will take effect -- forbidding pit bulls, Rottweilers and wolf hybrids from living in military housing -- as part of an initiative that began in 2009 to remove dogs of certain breeds from military bases.

The new rules were put in place in January, 2009, following a fatality at Camp Lejeune in May of 2008, in which a 3 year old boy was attacked and killed by his babysitter's dog. Due to hysteria that surrounded the incident (the news report ran on many national media outlets), the military began implementing bans on various bases. While Camp Lejeune put restrictions in place immediately, the full out ban will take place at the end of the month.

And not only is the military wrong in trying to ban breeds of dogs -- they are actually, likely making situations much less safe for their soldiers.

Something that has been gaining awareness now for several months is the problem of military suicides. In 2011, a total of 301 active-duty military personnel committed suicide. The number is up 22% this year, and July was the worst month on record with 38 soldiers taking their own lives.  The military is now averaging one suicide EVERY SINGLE DAY within active military personnel. It's worse when it comes to veterans -- where 18 per day commit suicide.

The reasons for the increases in suicides is unclear -- although geopolitical issues and post traumatic stress disorder are two suspected causes. 

It is estimated that 13-20% of the 2.6 million service members who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan suffer from PTSD. 

Meanwhile, one of the best helpers they've found to help soldiers deal with post-traumatic stress?  Dogs. And soldiers rave about dogs ability to help them deal with life after the war. And there are no shortage of positive stories on the subject. A couple of years ago, Time Magazine ran this extremely touching video of military veterans with their service animals telling some of the stories. I'm going to go ahead and imbed it here:

Interestingly, but not coincidentally, the first officer in the video chose a 'pit bull' as his companion.

I think it's really unfortunate that suicide is such a prevailing threat to our military personnel -- that dogs can help them overcome this very real threat -- and the military chose to ban certain types of dogs from military bases due to how they look -- based on a single, tragic, isolated instance. While tragic, the threat of the dogs taking military lives is almost invisible compared to the threat of them taking THEIR OWN lives. It's  threat of one death in 5 years to one death EVERY SINGLE DAY. A threat that can actually be lessened by, get this, dogs.

It's a really short-sighted move by Camp Leguene and other military bases that are following suite -- and I hope they'll reconsider their position based on the needs of the dogs, and the soldiers they're claiming to want to protect.

 

 

Comments

[Dianne R]

For more videos: P2v is now c4h
http://companionsforheroes.org/

I volunteered with P2V at the Washington Animal Rescue League shown in the video. The exciting news is that since these videos, Dave Sharpe has gotten married and had a son.

In our area the bases forbid a long list of breeds including German Shepherds (!). Makes no sense.

[Erika]

Exactly. People need to understand that for a member of our armed forces, often moving off-base so that they can keep their four-legged family member is not an option. They have very limited control over their own living situations, and already sacrifice so much.

For someone struggling with emotional or mental issues, a dog can be a vital lifeline. We've already seen one high-profile case of a person taking their life because of breed restrictions (the non-military case of actor Nick Santino) and for someone struggling to readjust back into normal life, even little bit of comfort they can get counts.

[Theresa Donnelly]

Thank you so much for this blog. My name is Theresa Donnelly, and I own a pet resource called Hawaii Military Pets. I have teamed up with nonprofit Dogs on Deployment to launch a petition on Change.org asking The Deparent of Defense for consistent pet guidelines. The petition now has more that 16,000 signatures. I am active duty myself and am exploring multiple official feedback channels to see if privatized housing can adjust their policies in base housing. We do think if the military leads on this issue and creates an overarching, breed neutral consistent pet policy, others will follow. Thank you again for spreading awareness on this important issue. We do think in time our military leaders will choose a more scientific path to solving the problems with dangerous dogs.

[Keira Fritzen]

Over a year ago I was taking agility classes with my dog. One day after class the instructor was talking to me & my husband & petting my dog. She suddenly said Lennon reminds me of the dog my sister had. I of course asked what happened to her sisters dog. She proceeded to tell me her sister was sent to Iraq & her mother took on the dog. The dog was put into a house with what this trainer called "house border collies". 5 of them. Needless to say her sister's pit-mix that had never lived with other dogs was not given a room of her own but was thrown in with these 5 "house" border collies.
They euthanized her sisters dog after it got into 2 fights with her mother's dogs. I know this really has nothing to do with military bases, but I was really hurt by this story. I do not take classes at that facility anymore. It is very hard to find good non-biased trainers. This story would have upset me no matter what the breed. I just can't imagine euthanizing a military person's dog while they are in Iraq.

[Brent]

Theresa/Diane, you should both be very proud to have been a part of those programs. They're great programs, for all parties involved. Thanks for all you do.

Keira -- yeah, I've had a few friends serve multiple stints in the Middle East -- and I can't imagine something happening to one of their pets while they were away. They would have been devastated.