Breed-Specific Legislation (BSL)
Breed-Specific Legislation (BSL) refers to laws specifically designed to regulate or restrict certain breeds of dogs, often as a response to concerns about public safety and dog attacks. Typically, these laws target breeds perceived as inherently aggressive, such as pit bulls, with the intent of reducing incidents of dog-related harm. However, BSL is a contentious topic; proponents argue it improves community safety, while critics label it as discriminatory and ineffective, noting that it can unfairly penalize dogs based solely on their appearance, irrespective of their actual behavior or upbringing.
Historically, BSL has evolved over centuries, gaining significant attention in places like the UK with the Dangerous Dogs Act of 1991, which banned specific breeds known for fighting. In the U.S., BSL is more often enacted at the municipal level, and its effectiveness is debated. Studies suggest that factors like training, socialization, and owner responsibility play a more critical role in dog behavior than breed alone. As a result, many states and municipalities are moving away from breed-specific regulations towards laws focused on individual dog behavior and owner accountability. Overall, BSL remains a divisive issue, with ongoing discussions about the best approaches to ensure public safety while treating all breeds fairly.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Breed-Specific Legislation (BSL)
Breed-specific legislation (BSL) describes any law that is explicitly crafted to regulate specific breeds of animals. While BSL is a general term used to reference any law oriented toward an individual variety of domesticated animal, it usually refers to legislation used to bar or restrict certain breeds of dogs to reduce incidences of dog attacks. Such laws are controversial; supporters argue that BSL has a positive net effect on improving community safety, while detractors of BSL contend that these laws are unnecessarily discriminatory and hard to enforce. In the United States, this type of legislation is more typically enacted on a municipal basis rather than on a state or national level due to the controversy often associated with it.
Certain dog breeds are far more likely to be targeted by BSL. In particular, the ownership of pit bull–type breeds are restricted or completely banned in many areas due to their perceived aggressive tendencies, although such characterizations have been cited as false by animal welfare groups. Laws regarding specific dog breeds have also been created with the intention of controlling animals rather than ban the ownership of certain breeds outright. For instance, breed-specific restrictions may require that targeted breeds be muzzled in public, spayed or neutered, or properly controlled at all times. Some BSL regulations may also mandate that owners buy liability insurance for restricted breeds in the event of a harmful incident.
Background
Laws that are specifically oriented to dogs date back to the third century B.C.E., when Romans became legally responsible for the actions of their animals. In Victorian England, dog owners were subject to fines and the potential seizure of any pet deemed to be dangerous or a public nuisance. The first legislation in the United States specifically targeting certain dog breeds was passed in the cities of Minneapolis and Cincinnati in 1984.
In response to a spate of high-profile mauling incidents of children in the early 1990s, the United Kingdom passed the Dangerous Dogs Act of 1991 that banned outright the ownership of four dog breeds: the Dogo Argentino, the Fila Brasileiro, the Japanese tosa, and the pit bull terrier. Not coincidentally, all four of these breeds had been originally bred for fighting purposes. Under the British legislation, dogs were categorized by their appearance, or "type," rather than by their breed. This meant that dogs that merely appeared to look like a certain breed faced restrictions regardless of their actual ancestry. This type of broadly written legislation based on appearance rather than the personality of individual animals is representative of the sorts of restrictions that have led to criticisms of BSL. The British legislation received widespread press when the owner of a pit bull in London was threatened with the euthanasia of her dog when she removed the animal's muzzle in public to allow it to throw up. Although the dog was eventually spared after extended legal review, it brought increased attention to British BSL regulations.
Breed-specific legislation is often created in the wake of dog attacks. In 2024, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) estimated that the total dog population in the United States was 89.7 million animals. While most of these dogs did not demonstrate aggressive behaviors, nonetheless, dogs were responsible for 4.5 million bites per year according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Between 2011 and 2021, attacks by dogs were linked to 468 deaths in the United States. However, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) suggested that most of these deaths were not necessarily attributable to specific breeds or breed types. Rather, the AVMA found such causes as a lack of neutering, poor socialization of the animal, animal neglect, human abuse, and prior mismanagement of dogs were far more likely to be common underlying factors in cases where a dog displayed violent traits. Despite these types of studies, such breeds as American pit bull terriers, American Staffordshire terriers, English bull terriers, and Staffordshire bull terriers are frequently the subjects of BSL in the United States. However, other breeds associated with potentially aggressive predispositions may be targeted as well, including American bulldogs, Chow Chows, Dalmatians, Doberman pinschers, German shepherds, mastiffs, and rottweilers.
Topic Today
The effectiveness of BSL has been the subject of widespread public debate. Oftentimes, such laws make generalities about breed characteristics. For instance, pit bull types are among the most legislated breeds. However, many mixed-breed animals that have the physical traits of pit bulls do not actually have any pit bull heritage. Rather, they merely resemble such animals. However, they are still affected by the application of BSL. Opponents of breed-specific laws therefore suggest such legislation places an unfair bias on a class of dogs that has no genetic basis for possible aggressiveness or violence.
In addition, dog owners contend that BSL regulations ignore how individual dogs have been raised or trained. Studies reviewing the effectiveness of local BSL have indicated that such laws may actually have a negative effect on public safety, as such legislation typically led to an increased profiling of certain types of dogs—complaints that required more time to be spent on reviewing cases of nonviolent animals. Such fieldwork stretched the capacities of animal control officers and reduced their overall effectiveness. In addition, many analyses of BSL have shown that such laws had not actually led to reduced incidences of dog attacks.
Instead, animal rights advocates have suggested that dog control registries, which track individual animals rather than specific breeds, have proven to be a more effective means of preventing animal attacks. Under such measures, dogs that have a history of violence are required to be safely controlled at all times. When outside, the dog may require a muzzle and the oversight of someone able to fully control it—measures that at their most restrictive might require a minimum age or weight of the dog walker. Episodes of repeated violence may lead to the euthanasia of the animal.
BSL has become increasingly unpopular in the United States. Between 2012 and 2014, five states and ninety-seven municipalities passed ordinances banning the creation of BSL. By 2024, seventeen states had banned the establishment of BSL outright. However, such trends are not universal, as many municipal districts continue to establish new legislation that target individual breeds. Nonetheless, dog control legislation in the twenty-first century has trended toward increasing the accountability of dog owners and reducing legislation that is reliant upon targeting specific breeds.
Bibliography
"Breed-Specific Legislation Is on the Decline." National Canine Research Council, 25 June 2014, nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/breed-specific-legislation-on-the-decline/. Accessed 13 Jan. 2025.
Clare, Sean. "Dangerous Dog Laws: A History." BBC, 22 May 2012, www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-18114406. Accessed 13 Jan. 2025.
Clarke, N.M., and D. Fraser. "Animal Control Measures and Their Relationship to the Reported Incidence of Dog Bites in Urban Canadian Municipalities." Canadian Veterinary Journal, vol. 54, 2013, pp. 145–49.
Larkin, Malinda. "Pet Population Continues to Increase While Pet Spending Declines." American Veterinary Medical Association, 6 Nov. 2024, www.avma.org/news/pet-population-continues-increase-while-pet-spending-declines. Accessed 13 Jan. 2025.
Lynn, Colleen. "How the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Has Harmed Our Cause in the Past, Continues to Harm It, and Ideas to Reduce or Eliminate This Harm." DogsBite.org, 13 Feb. 2014, www.dogsbite.org/pdf/dogsbiteorg-cdc-remedies-dog-maulings-and-fatalities.pdf. Accessed 13 Jan. 2025.
Patronek, Gary J. et al. "Co-occurrence of Potentially Preventable Factors in 256 Dog Bite–Related Fatalities in the United States (2000–2009)." Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, vol. 243, no. 12, 2013, pp. 1726–36.
"QuickStats: Number of Deaths Resulting from Being Bitten or Struck by a Dog,* by Sex — National Vital Statistics System, United States, 2011–2021." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 7 Sept. 2023, www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7236a6.htm. Accessed 13 Jan. 2025.
"Total U.S. Pet Industry Expenditures." American Pet Products Association, 2024, americanpetproducts.org/industry-trends-and-stats. Accessed 13 Jan. 2025.
"What Is Breed-Specific Legislation." American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, www.aspca.org/animal-cruelty/dog-fighting/what-breed-specific-legislation. Accessed 13 Jan. 2025.
"What Is BSL?" Stop BSL, stopbsl.org/bsloverview/. Accessed 13 Jan. 2025.
Zoller, Mary L. "Canine Profiling and the Important Role of Dog Trainers." The Dog Trainer's Resource: The APDT Chronicle of the Dog Collection. Edited by Mychelle E. Blake, Dogwise Publications, 2009, pp. 357–60.