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10.13.2005 :: Letters from the dog
Letters from Rosie. So cute.
And since we're on the subject of dogs...
My good friend's dog, Woody.
Woody is an excellent agility dog - he's about four years old and is a gorgeous canine specimen! His owner and I like to attend training camps up near Toronto, but now that there is a bully-breed ban in effect in Ontario, Woody may no longer attend.
I happen to think that breed specific legislation is truly unfair to responsible owners and their dogs because the logic behind the ban is that the dog is guilty simply because they are alive and are of a particular breed (*or simply look like the selected breed).
The bully breed bans are a superficial attempt to prevent illegal dog fighting. Although there may be expensive fines for owning a bully breed, most dog fighting goes on "underground". The result is that the bans punish the caring people who own innocent dogs and many of the dangerous dogs (and their dangerous owners) will still exist behind the scenes.
Of course, if bully-breeds are out-lawed, then the same cruel people will just find another breed to abuse. Because the people who breed and train the fighting dogs will still be around long after all of the pit bulls are euthanized.
I have two pit bull rescues in my current "Family Dog" class and they are two of the sweetest and most beautiful dogs I've ever met. It's a shame that dogs like these could be destroyed simply because of their breed.
(*Under the Ontario ban, the dog only has to look like a bully breed. It's the owner's responsibility to provide documentation that the dog isn't a bully breed. People with superficial breed knowledge have asked me at one time or another if Ellie or Spencer were pit-bulls - I wouldn't have been able to prove otherwise, since they were both adopted from shelters.)
Play this game! Find the Pit Bull...
Posted by Mary on 10.13.2005 AT 11:01 PM
Comments
Dog fighting. It's amazing that people still subject animals to that horrible practice. There was an "incident" around here last year where a pitbull was discovered in a ditch. It had been horribly mangled in a dog fight, and the people had just thrown it out to die when it lost the fight. I believe he's doing very well now~ although he lost a leg. Just horrifying.
Posted by: Annie on 10.14.2005 AT 08:27 AM
Harriet - LOL! It's sad that these dogs have their fate resting in the hands of stupid humans half the time.
Posted by: Mary Beth on 10.14.2005 AT 09:27 AM
BSL is a big issue in Flyball. My favorite height dog on my team is a StaffyBull but we don't feel like we can go to Ontario to play anymore. :(
A lot of flyballers support this group:
http://www.bannedaid.com/
Posted by: Beth on 10.14.2005 AT 09:45 AM
You amaze me -- I never would have guessed Woody would fall under the "bully breed" ban. He looks to me just like a good solid All-American (All-Canadian?) dog. People are idiots, and breed-specific bans are just stupid.
Posted by: Janice in GA on 10.14.2005 AT 09:46 AM
i've known 2 pitbulls in my life, and they were the sweetest dogs. most pitbull attacks i've heard of around here were not purebred, but mixed breeds that had "suspicious" backgrounds, and uncertain training
Posted by: minnie on 10.14.2005 AT 09:39 PM
I know what you mean- I owned a pit bull and most people look at me with such fear when I say that. If they had only known how sweet she was. Our next door neighbors also owned a pit bull, and she withstood some horrible treatment (she was fenced in during the day, next to a playground, and the children would throw rocks at her till someone stopped them), yet, she was still incredibly gentle with her owner's child.
Posted by: Jenn on 10.20.2005 AT 10:32 PM
Pippin looks like a whippet.
Breed-specific bans are patently useless for curbing "dog attacks" and are only a politician's way of pandering to hysteria and ignorance, for all the reasons you stated. Humans have been killed by Westies, by Cockers, even by the incredibly popular family dog, the Labrador Retriever. It's just silly (and when innocent dogs are being put down because they look like pits, evil) to single out a breed when the problem is caused by people.
Punish the breeders, the trainers, the dog fighters, who foster the characteristics, punish the thugglyf culture that celebrates an animal's pain. (It's easier to euthanise the dogs than do the right thing I guess.)
Posted by: spaazlicious on 10.22.2005 AT 10:23 PM
I agree with you one hundred percent. It's the people, not the dogs (purebred or mixed) that have the problem. As long as there are abusive, cruel people around there will be some sort of animal fighting going on. (Let's not forget Cock fighting is still alive and well, unfortunately).
Posted by: Becky on 10.23.2005 AT 02:42 PM
If only we could use the "ban the bully breed" for politicians ... sigh.
I never noticed Ellie's artful use of eyeliner! Ellie Harriet, has a nice ring to it. :)
Posted by: Kerstin on 10.14.2005 AT 07:09 AM