I think they finally are trying to introduce a bill that addresses dog issues without trying to tie game fowl in the bill. They should do away with HB 656, HB1057, and SB592, now that they have introduced this bill. And it removes dog issues in 3.1-796.125 that should have not been added to a game fowl type law to begin with. I still question some of the verbiage of this bill.

Why in the first place are they putting the dogfighting and chicken fighting together anyways?

t.c. This is the question I have asked since the beginning. Most if not all game fowl enthusiasts would support this bill or any of the others as long as they would have left out cock fighting or game fowl period.

a few years back my wife had a dog grooming shop in our garage she groomed dogs for the local spca and several other groups so the dogs could be adopted easier we even fostered dog for them i had my gamefowl on the otherside of the grooming shop one day we were asked to foster a pitbull and its puppies i refused saying i was scared of them of hurting my sons i told the lady it was just to risky that one of them would bite my sons face off being mauled myself as a youngster by a saint bernard that was attacking a cat in our yard the lady replied that because we had fighting chickens we could care for these dogs i answered that none of my chickens had ever hurt me or my kids so all i can say being a person that has gamefowl that every where i go to take my kids these days be it a ball game or the park i see people letting these things run loose i fear for my kids and try and keep my kids weary of them apitbull we kill a kid in a heartbeat and a chicken will not so all i can say keep these dogs away dogfighting is wrong

Nothing wrong with pitbulls that have been raised in proper enviroment. I have had a male pitbull now since he was a pup, like my daughter he's now 8yrs old. He is a people dog, I have a buisness here on my property (paintball field),he has been around as many as 300 people at any given time without any problem what so ever. Well, unless you are cooking out, then he becomes the biggest bum you have ever seen. He was raised with chickens to protect them from varmits and has run of the yard, along with my daughters pet rabbits. They are the most loyal dogs you could ever have. Its not the dogs that needs to be punished, its the dogs owners that through inbreeding / abusing them, have made "monsters" out of the breed in the eyes of the public. I have had a couple of Blue Heelers that were as loyal, but would bite a stranger as soon as they turned there backs. I'll take the American Pitbull over them all.
I would support this bill, hope it passes.

CCGF: I agree that pitbulls are not inherently vicious dogs. Many of them are inherently *dominant* dogs, and do not get along well with other dominant dogs. For example, I've met some at the SPCA that were incredibly aggressive until they were on a leash and outdoors, away from the high-stress environment of the kennel -- and then they were big ol' lovemuffins. Many people do not know how to handle dominant breeds properly, and thus raise their pitbulls in a way that leads to trouble later.

So you're right: It's not the pitbulls that are the problem. But I'd add that "rais[ing them] in [a] proper environment" is harder than with many other breeds.