Fort Bliss Ban On Bully Dog Breeds Ruffles Feathers

ABC-7 received an email from a viewer who was concerned about the increase in the number of aggressive dog breeds at a local animal shelter due to a ban on certain breeds on Fort Bliss.

“Fort Bliss has banned pit bull terriers so any military families who own this special breed of dogs is being forced to put them up for adoption or for sale. This is creating an overflow of pit bulls in the El Paso area,” said ABC-7 viewer Elizabeth A.

Fort Bliss spokesman Major Myles Caggins said this ban is nothing new, and has been in effect since 2004.

The ban includes breeds like Akita, Chow, Doberman, pit bull, Rottweiler, American Staffordshire Terriers, English Staffordshire Bull Terriers, wolf hybrids or any other breed with dominant traits geared toward aggression.

ABC-7 visited a local shelter to see if there was a surplus of these so-called ”bully breeds” and found more than a few pit bulls and a few other aggressive dogs.

But Animal Services spokeswoman Tammy Ponce Olivas said there hasn’t been much of a change in the number of animals belonging to these breeds since the ban was put into place.

As for soldiers being forced to put their pets up for adoption, Caggins said that’s simply not the case.

“The small amount of people who might want to have dogs outside of the acceptable breeds have the option of living off post. They’ll get the same housing allowance that everybody else gets. In fact, 70 percent of people at Fort Bliss live in the El Paso community. And there are plenty of places, plenty of neighborhoods for them to have whatever breed of dog that they want,” said Caggins.

Fort Bliss pet owner Maykayla Oberlin said she agrees with the ban since it makes her feel safer when she is outside with her young son.

“I think with every aggressive breed that’s my biggest concern as a parent is always protecting your children. They have tons of parks in the housing areas for kids to go play at and they’re open. If you see a dog randomly come running down, there really isn’t too much you can do if your son is more than 10 feet away from you,” said Oberlin.

But not everyone thinks judging all dogs who are the same breed is fair, especially when it comes to pit bulls.

“They are loving, wonderful dogs. They are not bad dogs, it’s the owners that train them wrong. Fort Bliss is being as ignorant as the ones who train them to fight,” said dog owner Elizabeth G. on our ABC-7 Facebook page.

Fort Bliss officials said that ultimately the ban is to keep people on post safe.

“At Fort Bliss and across the army, our first priority is to ensure we have good safety in our housing areas. One of the things that has been determined is that some of the larger more aggressive breeds just are not as conducive to community living,” said Caggins.

Many viewers also wanted to know if dogs could be given exceptions made on a case-by-case analysis. Officials said at this time, there would be no exceptions made.