According to residents in the Greater Toronto area, Government should focus more on the dog owners than on the pet in dealing with the safety concerns over pit-bulls and other dangerous dogs. Respondents overwhelmingly favour holding pet owners as responsible for the crimes of their pets as if they had done these crimes themselves. Both of the Ontario Government’s proposed pit-bull strategies, banning pit-bulls and other dangerous dogs and increasing punishments for pet-owners whose pets have broken, receive moderate support.

One of the most interesting findings from the study is that attitudes toward pit-bull regulations do not appear to vary across party lines. NDP, Liberal and Conservative voters are nearly identical in their opinions on the subject.

These are the key findings from a survey of 500 residents of the Greater Toronto area (GTA) conducted between October 22, 2004 and November 1, 2004. The margin of error for a study of the size is considered accurate to within 4.5 percentage points 19 times out of 20.

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