The Portsmouth Humane Society says they will stop classifying dogs by breed, WAVY reports. The shelter has struggled to identify many of the animals that arrive on their door and conducting DNA tests for each dog is quite expensive. The Humane Society’s external affairs director said he also believed that breed labels can often limit a dog’s potential to get adopted.
“A lot of people will look at a breed and label that dog as, ‘Oh it’s this, so it’s not going to be good with kids,’ or ‘It’s going to be good at this,’ and the reality is that these are dogs that have been mixed. They’re not purebred, and to judge them based on just a quick glimpse, we’re trying to get people to focus on the dog as an individual,” he told WAVY.
While adopting out animals in need of homes is great, the reality is that certain breeds are indeed associated with an increased risk of attacks and bites. It is understandable that not all dogs are easily identifiable by breed, but to fail to classify particularly dangerous dogs is a big risk to put on families hoping to adopt a new pet.
Time and time again, pit bulls, Staffordshire terriers, Rottweilers, German Shepherds and Doberman Pinschers are found to be perpetrators of violence. While not every dog of these breeds is necessarily prone to violence, there’s no denying that these breeds are the most common dogs involved in violent attacks.
Animal shelters owe it to families to be honest about the backgrounds of the dogs they are adopting out.
Virginia Dog Bite Lawyer – Richard Serpe
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