'Punish the deed, not the breed'

By CHERIE TAYLOR in Rotorua
Kathy Folley reckons her pooch is a placid puppy, so she's taking on the Rotorua District Council over a new bylaw that makes her walk it with a muzzle.

The Rotorua woman has two dogs, an eight-year-old staffordshire bull terrier and a six-month-old american staffordshire bull terrier, called Suede.

She registered Suede at three months and was handed a notice stating her dog was predominantly a "pitbull terrier type" - classed as a menacing dog requiring muzzling in public.

She said she was a responsible dog owner who had "selective status" with the council, which means she gets a discount on her dog registration fees for having a well-fenced property and no complaints about her pets.

Mrs Folley has challenged the bylaw before the council's Dog Control Act Hearings Committee, chaired by Rotorua district councillor Maureen Waaka. A decision is expected within the next two weeks.

There are three breeds of dogs banned from being imported into New Zealand because they are classified as dangerous - the brazilian fila, dogo argentino and the japanese tosa.

The Government introduced The Dog Control Act 2003, which classifies pitbull-type dogs as menacing with owners required to muzzle them in public. The Act came in after Auckland girl Carolina Anderson was attacked by a vicious dog.

The council, along with many other councils throughout New Zealand, has classified pitbull terrier-type dogs - including american staffordshire bull terriers - as menacing dogs under the legislation.

The Act also allows the council to ask owners to neuter their menacing pets and, as of June next year, it requires all menacing dogs and newly registered dogs to be microchipped.

Mrs Folley said her elder dog was not classified as menacing and she didn't understand why her other pup, which was closely related, had been. She has had the pup neutered and a microchip inserted for identification purposes.

"He is so docile. We have never had a problem before. They are both so loving and such happy pets," she said. "How am I going to be able to teach him to catch a ball with a muzzle on?"

Bad dog owners needed to be taken to task, not breeds of dogs, Mrs Folley said.

"Punish the deed not the breed. You can't blame the breed. It's the people who train the dog."

If she loses this fight with the council, she intends to appeal the decision.

Rotorua pitbull judge and dog owner Lisa Galvin said similar by-laws to the Rotorua District Council's introduced overseas had not worked because the pitbull dog incorporated a multitude of breeds.

"In Germany alone there are 30 or 40 dogs on the breed-specific list," she said.

American staffordshire bull terrier and pitbulls were hard to distinguish because their genetics were the same, said Miss Galvin.

"They are very closely related. They have not been out crossed. The american bull terrier is just a bigger version. They come from the same dog," she said.

She disagrees with the council's bylaw, saying she gets around it with her dogs by exercising them at home on a treadmill.



Dogs needed social interaction and muzzling them defeated the purpose of taking them out in public, said Miss Galvin.

"Part of obedience training is socialising but they are more focused on getting the muzzle off, which ruins the experience," she said. Rotorua District Council senior animal control officer Kevin Coutts said it was difficult for dog-control officers to distinguish between pitbull and american staffordshire bull terrier breeds. "It is impossible to pick them apart. Even the experts are saying you can't identify between these types of dogs."