Could All Well-Behaved Dogs Soon Be Welcome in Aurora?

The U.S. Justice Department's ruling that cities can't discriminate against service dogs simply because of their breed is having a welcome ripple effect: It is rightly forcing cities that have enacted breed-discriminatory laws to rethink and rewrite them.

In the past, Aurora, Colorado has spent a lot of tax dollars defending its breed-discriminatory law. Now, with the U.S. Dept. of Justice's ruling in hand, the Animal Law Center in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, is defending the disabled and their dogs.

Allan Grider, a Vietnam veteran, lives in Aurora. He has a pit-bull-type service dog appropriately named Precious. She's certainly precious to Grider, because she helps him with post-traumatic stress disorder by allaying his fears and helping keep him calm.

Aurora Animal Control eyeballed the dog, determined that she was a banned breed, and incarcerated Precious for 10 days, leaving Grider alone to confront the demons brought on by military service, along with new worries about his beloved companion.

Aurora Animal Control eventually relented and released the dog, but Grider was told to take the dog out of the city or she would be killed. For 5 long months, he visited Precious while she was exiled outside Aurora. Grider, along with two Denver residents, are represented by the Animal Law Center in a class action lawsuit against the two cities for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act with their breed bans.

After the Justice Department's ruling, a temporary restraining order was issued and Precious is back at home where she belongs, helping and comforting Grider. Grider recently told KDVR, "[Precious] don't bark at nobody, she don't bite nobody, she is a great dog, and she keeps me sane, that's for sure."

While the dog and Grider are sane, canine-profiling and breed-discriminatory laws are not. Studies from the United Kingdom, Spain, and the Netherlands show that breed-discriminatory laws don't reduce dog bites. Additionally, they are a waste of tax dollars because they're extremely expensive to enforce. According to Best Friends Animal Society's fiscal-impact calculator, it costs Aurora $389, 970 a year to enforce its law. That's a huge chunk of taxpayer money just to pick up and destroy dogs, including service dogs, because of their appearance.

Aurora City Council is now taking a look at their breed ban to come into compliance with the new service dog ruling. Hopefully they'll act quickly, without the stalling we've seen in Denver, because once the Justice Department's March 15, 2011 deadline rolls around, pit bull advocates, and allies like the Animal Law Center, will be standing by to make sure these cities have come into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and stopped discriminating against service dogs.

Many civic-minded city councils — such as the one in Topeka, Kansas — have repealed their breed restrictions altogether. It's time for Aurora, Colorado (not to mention Denver) to follow suit.

Topeka's leaders, in part because of the economic downturn, embarked on a lengthy study of what was working for animal control and what wasn't. They found that their "pit bull" ordinance was extremely expensive to enforce and failed to protect the public, so they canned it. Instead of breed-specific legislation, they enacted a comprehensive breed-neutral ordinance aimed at protecting the public from any dangerous dog.

Let's hope Aurora follows Topeka's lead and repeals their "pit bull" ordinance for the disabled, all dogs, the public, and — last but not least — Precious. Please sign the petition and politely ask Aurora to repeal its breed-discriminatory law.

Photo Credit: Melissi Lipani, Best Friends Animal Society