A city meeting on how to help police better identify pit bulls so they can enforce the city’s ban did anything but that Tuesday, as some City Council members said the ban needs to be addressed.

 

Eleven owners of pit bulls or pit bull-mix breeds armed themselves with photos of their beloved four-legged friends, certificates of good behavior, and a pit pull identification quiz for council members to work on in the hope of getting them to rethink the city’s ban.

One woman, from Amelia, even brought her pit bull, Buddy, to the meeting.

“I love this pit bull,” Deborah Weeks said. “If I didn’t have him, I don’t know what I’d be doing right now.”

 

Many council members seemed sold.

Councilman Cecil Thomas, an owner of Bo Jangles, a chow chow, and Chiquita, a Chihuahua, said the nearly 4-year-old ban on pit bulls in the city is not working.

Since 2003 the city has banned residents from owning or harboring pit bulls – American Staffordshire terriers and Staffordshire bull terriers – or any dog that is a mixture of the breeds. Dogs that were registered before November 2003 were “grandfathered” and are legal.

Thomas said he intends to convene a task force with representatives from the Society for the Preservation of Animals, the city prosecutor’s office, police, the dog warden and the public to examine the current law and come up with a measure that would prosecute bad deeds, and not specifically the breed.

“Even poodles,” Thomas said after the meeting.

Thomas said he is not committed to doing away completely with the ban on pit bulls. He said he wants to look at what other cities are doing and come up with a way that protects responsible owners and goes after those who aren’t.

“There are a lot of irresponsible kids out there with pit bulls,” he said.

Most of the 11 people who spoke before the Law and Public Safety Committee meeting had rescued their pit bulls.

“At least he (Thomas) is willing to look at the situation,” said Ben Herche. He and his pit bull, Riddick, moved out of downtown to Mariemont because of the current ban. “There are a lot of people that are hell bent on pit bulls being the worst dogs on earth …. and they really just don’t know anything about the breed.

“Dogs in general are just like children; I don’t care what breed it is. If you beat them and raise them to be mean they will be and it doesn’t matter what breed it is.”

Herche told council he favored a ban on people who don’t properly raise the animals, but not a ban on the breed as a whole.

“As for good people…I think it is unfair,” Herche said.

It was not decided today when the task force will begin meeting, or when it would make recommendations to council.