BSL up in NC

[msdavis]

Hello to my fellow Chow lovers. I don't post often because we no longer have a Chow our female passed away a few years back and the ones we have thought of adopting just never worked out. However I will one day have another as I can not see me with a dog that is not a Chow Chow. This hits home to me as I am in NC.
http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2013/Bill ... H956v1.pdf
While no dog should be discriminated against it does anger me that Chows are listed when some other dog breeds aren't. If you look at bite stats most bites from Chows are from the late 80s and early 90s when there were plenty of horrible backyard breeders. It seems that no matter how well behaved most Chows now are they are discriminated against because of 20 year old data. If any of you care to there has been a petition started here. https://www.change.org/petitions/north- ... e_petition

The thing about dog bites too is you never hear the dogs side of it. How many times did they feel threatened?

[XsoundXhoundX]

I think they shouldn't judge based on breed but by the temperament of each individual dog. It helps open up some new jobs (maybe?) and stops the discrimination between dog breeds.

[applebear]

BSL should be illegal period. In my town, we have BSL restrictions but not a full ban...thankfully enough showed up to the meeting and fought it. The thing is, we weren't even having a problem...not with pits, chows, rotts or any other breed normally found under BSL. We weren't having a problem with loose pits or even bites. They tried to ban them simply because of fear, nothing else. Media loves to play up how horrible these breeds are, and soon people that have yet to even meet one dog in the breed hate them.

[Victory]

I think one of the things that the public needs to do is find a way to get the insurance companies to come up with new data and stop using this outdated nonsense. 20 years is how many generations for dogs? Under normal breeding conditions between 10 and 15. So many things can change during that time, we even have proof, in photographs from the beginning of the century to now, the chow has changed a lot and many of those changed have occured in that past 20 years. We need to send petitions to insurance underwriters, demanding that they update their stats and prove it with factual paper work.

It has been proven over and over again that most so called "experts" that talk to the media have no idea what some breeds are.

[msdavis]

I agree and if you look at the bite stats on the CDC and other pages the vast majority of Chow bites were in the late 80s and early 90s when they were being bred for profit by tons of backyard breeders. I also believe with Chows a lot of bites happened because of the dogs being startled and they acted out of fear. I think a lot of Chows get a bad rap by dogs with purple spots on their tongues. I can look on petfiner right now and see tons of dogs listed as Chow and they are not Chow at all. If those dogs end up biting it will be said chow mix bites. I wish there was someway to get it through to people that purple on the tongue does not mean Chow.

[Cam Atis]

Not only is the chow breed a victim of that 20 year study of dog bite stat, the chow is also a victim of wrong breeding resulting in poor health. What's more? Bad publicity.
A chow can pack a bite given the muscle but they are not what they are described. Yes they bite without a warning growl or bared teeth - but that should be taken note of. The chow is sweet tempered when not agitated.

[msdavis]

It's my understanding now that the bill is probably not going to make it out of committee so it should die there.
I'm happy about this but at the same time I hate that Chows are still being lumped in this group and in fact no dog for that matter should be lumped in as aggressive it is the owner not the dog.
I was just watching a video posted to fb of a female Chow who is now listed as rescue only. It's obvious to me in the video she isn't mean, she is just scared. I have a feeling though she will be put to sleep because the shelter has deemed her one way which she isn't at all.

[JasonandNat]

I can't understand why they just don't put the laws in effect to punish stupid people. It would solve all these issues. Yes a chow looks like as cudky as a teddy bear, no a chow isn't interested in your attempts to grope. If we were to substitute 'chow' for child, we would not be trying to 'save' the groper.

We do however allow cats loose to scratch and bite people, and other disgusting things. We do let little dogs act viciously and bite and think its cute. However once the animal being discussed hits 20lbs and acts like this we think the gates of hell have opened. It would be amusing if not such a sad statement on society in general.

[Piff Poff]

Not only is the chow breed a victim of that 20 year study of dog bite stat, the chow is also a victim of wrong breeding resulting in poor health. What's more? Bad publicity.
A chow can pack a bite given the muscle but they are not what they are described. Yes they bite without a warning growl or bared teeth - but that should be taken note of. The chow is sweet tempered when not agitated.

I disagree with your statement that a chow will bite without a warning growl, alright a growl might not happen but the warning is there for sure. A chow will bite as a last resort imo, a chow will move away from a situation it does not like, whether the person causing the situation listens is another thing. It's there in the body language, the eyes, the stance, the unwillingness to move. Our chow for example will warn us of danger by growling and refuse to walk, he is also warning the coyote or moose that he knows that the predator is there. And you can tell if your chow is emitting happy or cross huffs and puffs too.

[Cocoa]

I totally agree with you Piff Poff. Cocoa does the same as Henry with the backing away from an uncomfortable situation or growling and refusing to walk if she senses a threat. Cocoa is also very clear with her body language as well as in her "talking", there are definitely differences between upset, angry chuffs and grumbles, contented ones or play ones. The signals are there if you watch for them.