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What is Breed Specific Legislation (BSL)? |
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| BSL is any legislation that targets a breed of dog, based on the actions of a few members of that breed (or suspected crosses). This may range from automatically declaring an entire breed "dangerous" and placing restrictions on their ownership, up to current proposals to ban entire breeds and completely eradicate them from our society. |
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| BSL does not consider the individual dog, its past actions and behaviour, or even the way the dog has been raised and treated by its owner. Just being of the "wrong" breed is all it takes - the dog is assumed to be guilty until proven innocent! Every dog has the potential to bite - regardless of breed. It is up to us, as responsible owners, to raise our dogs correctly, so they can become valuable members of our community. |
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Your Breed Could Be Next! |
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| It may not be your breed under threat today, but if banning of breeds under BSL takes hold then your breed is certainly at risk. Banning a handful of breeds on the notion that they are "dangerous" will not stop dog attacks, and does nothing to address responsible dog ownership. Rather, the removal of one breed from society will simply turn the spotlight onto others. Once started, where will the banning stop? |
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Education is the Key |
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| Australia is not the first country to consider banning entire breeds of dogs - but Australia is ignoring the results in other countries, where the introduction of BSL has failed to achieve any significant decrease in dog attacks. Rather than banning entire breeds, education has proven to be the key to success in other countries - in one case resulting in the reduction of dog attacks by almost 50% in just 2 years! |
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