* Organize your thoughts ahead of time and make notes to help you stay on track.
*
Prepare a one-page fact sheet concerning the issues you want to
discuss.
* Whether you call or write, ALWAYS BE POLITE AND RESPECTFUL.
TALKING POINTS (breed bans and MSN)
*Any law enacted should be both reasonable and enforceable.
*Any law enacted should protect the health and welfare of dogs without restricting the rights of owners
and breeders who take their responsibilities seriously.
*In many communities in Tennessee
- including the most rural areas - the cost to spay or neuter a dog is well over $100. Communities at local and
state levels should encourage and offer affordable opportunities, programs and incentives to dog owners to spay
or neuter their dogs, not laws mandating surgical procedures that their constituents STILL cannot afford.
*The state leash law is not enforced in many rural areas in Tennessee. As a result, dogs typically run loose. Educating
the citizens with respect to responsible dog ownership practices will have more far-reaching positive effects than passing
of adverse pet legislation.
*A strong leash law that is actively enforced is an effective means of birth control for dogs and an excellent
tool for community safety.
*Breed specific ordinances are difficult, if not impossible, to enforce. Enacting a spay/neuter ordinance specific
to pit bulls would require additional funding and personnel, both of which are either greatly lacking or completely
absent across the State
of Tennessee.
*A mandatory spay and neuter law against "pit bulls" cannot be adequately enforced as "pit bull" is not a breed
of dog. Animal control officers would be charged with making subjective determinations as to a dog's breed thus opening
Knox County to liability
in the event of false identification.
*The citizens are burdened with higher taxes in an effort to pay for a law that is, in essence, unenforceable
as animal control officers would be expected to go house to house to personally examine each and every dog
that falls under the description of "pit bull."
*Because animal control officers are tied up with "pit bull inspections," they are unavailable to enforce the
law against the true irresponsible owners and dogs that are a true danger in their community thus leaving the citizens
vulnerable.
*Breed specific legislation is ineffective as it does not focus on the root of the problem - irresponsible dog owners. Rather,
owners will simply choose another breed to continue their cycle of irresponsibility.
