Maintained by Anne P. Mitchell. Read Anne's blog here.
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Welcome to Defeat861.com This website is dedicated to defeating the recently passed California law, SB 861, also known as the "Dangerous Dog Breed" legislation.
SB 861 was passed by the California legislature in October, 2005. Put plainly, SB 861 authorizes any California town to slowly remove from the dog population any breed of dog by allowing a town to require forced sterilization of any particular breed that they choose to target. While we believe that responsible pet owners should neuter or spay their dogs, we also believe that it is not up to a state or town to make that decision, and not on a breed-by-breed basis. In addition, having a particular breed targeted by a local law will make owning that particular breed less attractive, perhaps even intimidating (can you imagine having the police stop you every time you walk your dog so that they can inspect her belly, or look between his legs?) This of course will only hasten the town becoming free of that breed. Thus, while SB 861 claims to only be about sterilization, it truly is a law designed to help towns ban breeds.
While it is true that the Dangerous Dog Breed law was passed in response to incidents in which people were injured by dogs - often by particular breeds - the answer to such incidents is to hold the owners responsible, not the breeds of dog. Irresponsible dog owners are to blame for such incidents, not the breed. It is not the particular breed's fault that certain types of dog owners choose to train them to fight, or to attack, and for every dog of a given breed that has been irresponsibly trained, there are hundreds more of that breed who are loving family pets. More to the point, for every dog of a given breed that has been irresponsibly trained, there is an irresponsible dog owner - and it is that dog owner who must be held accountable, not the dog, who is but another victim of the owner's irresponsible acts.
To read the full text of SB 861, the Dangerous Dog Breed law, click here.
The proponents of SB 861 will tell you that this is not "Dangerous Dog Breed" legislation. They attempt to get around that by including in the law language which prohibits a town from calling a breed "dangerous" or "vicious" under the town's breed specific local ordinance. That's like suggesting that it's ok to discriminate on the basis of sex and only hire men so long as you don't call it a "men-only job". We all know what they really mean. And so will insurance companies, who will then be able to discriminate against homeowners who own "dogs that are not labelled dangerous but that had to be neutured under that breed-specific law for dogs that we aren't allowed to call 'dangerous'".
Above all, realize that this law allows a town to target any dog breed they choose. And it won't just be those breeds which may immediately come to your mind. We're aware of people labelling german shephards, labradors, and even corgis "dangerous". All it takes in a given town is one incident with a breed, and the town council can force every single person who owns a dog of that breed to immediately spay or neuter their dog. Which also begs the questions: By what method will a town determine who owns what breed of dog? And by what method will they determine whether you have complied with the forced breed-specific sterilization? Will it be by registration? Will they have your own veterinarian keeping tabs on you and your dog? Is this the world in which we want to live? In which we want our dogs to live?
In order to defeat SB 861, a referendum to overturn the Dangerous Dog Breed law needs to be put before the voters of California. In order to do that, a petition must be circulated, signed, and returned to Sacramento. In all, nearly 374,000 signatures must be gathered in order to have the matter put before the California voters.
Does that seem like a lot? It's not really. It's only about 100 signatures collected by each of 3740 people, and when you think about how many dog lovers - how many responsible dog owners - there are in California, it's definitely doable. Especially if you'll help.
Will you help? All you have to do is download the petition, and gather one hundred signatures from adults in your county. If you can gather more, all the better, but one hundred will go a long way! Oh, and they have to be turned in to Sacramento by January 5th. So please, start today!