The enforcement of BSL is wrong and egregious because a dog's breed does not determine its individual character. It is the responsibility of the owner to mold a dog's behavior, and this legislation ends up punishing responsible owners. Furthermore, breed identification is rather problematic because there are over twenty dog breeds erroneously identified as being pit bulls.
The majority of BSL laws banning pit bulls do not actually ban a specific breed. The majority lists the APBT, SBT, and AST; however, they also ban or restrict any dog possessing "pit bull characteristics" whether or not they are actually a true pit bull. Ohio, for example, has a statewide ban of pit bulls, and they classify any dog as being a pit bill if it has the following characteristics: a short, squatty body, a large, flat head, a muscular neck, and a protruding jawbone. The problem with this description is that could fit any dog. Using those characteristics, the Presa Canario, Dogo Argentine, American Bulldog, and Bull Mastiff are only some of the breeds that would be classified as a pit bull if judged by appearance, but they are not actually pit bulls.
