Action Alert: Bill that will prevent BSL is scheduled for hearing in Missouri! Contact your state Senator today, as them to support this bill!!

SB886, a bill to prevent ordinances to restrict any specific breed, regardless of temperament of each specific dog within the breed, is set for a hearing in the Senate Economic Development, Tourism and Local Government committee.

The hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, February 20 at 2:00 pm. The committee chairperson is Senator Griesheimer.

The Alliance supports this bill for the following reasons:

· Criminology studies show that it is the inhuman acts of human dog owners, as opposed to canine genetics, that are generally to blame for dog attacks. Almost any dog can be trained to be mean and aggressive. Almost any dog may be raised to be a gentle family pet.

· 84.4% of Pit Bull breeds pass a temperament test, compared to an average of 81.5% for all breeds of dog.

· Although the media currently hypes any story about "pit bulls" (even when another breed is actually involved), while ignoring the fact that most attacks are not by pit bulls.

· Throughout history, one breed after another has been unfairly scapegoated by popular myth. In the 19^th Century, it was the Bloodhound. During the 20^th Century, the Doberman, the German Shepherd, and the Rottweiler each had its turn as the focus of media hysteria.

· Denver, Colorado's BSL ordinance has lead to considerable hardship and sorrow for families who owned a dog that was believed to be from a banned breed. However, the ordinance has not protected the public from dog attacks. Identifying the lineage of certain mixed breed dogs has proven difficult and controversial. Protracted litigation has followed this issue for years.

· A more positive response to dog attacks is to develop a system of procedures for identifying and controlling individual dogs that have shown dangerous or aggressive tendencies. Cities and counties should be encouraged to focus on ways to protect the public from individual dogs that exhibit specific behaviors.