There are two breeds that of their own volition would pose a threat of overbreeding animal shelters: the poodle and the pit bull. Let’s face it poodles are likely to breed with anything. Fortunately they mostly choose to mate with a pants leg; that generally does not spawn offspring.
Pit bulls, on the other hand seems to be attracted to anything on four legs. Animal shelter employees do not wish to call an animal a pit bull mix because that term diminished the chances of the animal getting adopted, but the phenotypic broad forehead of the breed seems to identify itself within the genetic make of most dogs entering an animal shelter.
Since poodles present little risk of overpopulation in an animal shelter, pit bulls do present a risk. I have always been in favor of creating an ordinance that demands the sterilization (spaying or neutering) of any breed that causes the greatest risk of overwhelming an animal shelter. In today’s age, that would be the pit bull. The pit bull is the hardest breed to place and for that reason they take up the largest portion of our shelters. One of the biggest complaints that we hear at the animal shelter is that there is no selection to choose from, “All the have are pit bulls!”
Pit bulls originally became a problem because they attracted the worst kind of pet owner. The fact that pit bulls remain a problem is that the breed is still attracting owners who refuse to take actions to stop the reproductive potential of their pet, whether by sterilization or by isolation.
It is easy to point out ignorant people at the intake side of an animal shelter, these are the folks that think they are giving you a gift when they are dumping their litter of puppies (or kittens) on you. Every shelter experiences a group of their citizens that like clockwork deliver their litters to them. All of the explaining in the world cannot breach that thick layer of ignorance that surrounds these people.