Pit bull tale (or not)

One of the dogs groups that I'm on sent this article in for comments.

I didn't comment on that group since everything has been said already. But it hasn't been said here, and it's my blog so I figured...why not rant a bit. :)

But I read this article and the first thing that popped into my head was... WHAT were these people thinking?

News article shows pictures of the dogs. I have to admit, to my eye, they look like pits. In Ontario is this day and age, one doesn't breed pits. It's against the law. AND if one is smart, one gets documentation of some sort to PROVE that your dog is NOT a pit, in the event that someone says it is when it isn't. Kinda hard to prove after the fact once your dog has been seized. As the article states:

The problem is the law doesn't deem what constitutes a pit bull, he said. It also places the onus on the dog owner to prove otherwise, before the animal is euthanized. ...... City clerk Brian Knott said dog owners who have animals suspected of being pit bulls seized by animal control have but four working days to prove otherwise before the animal is killed.

Then I thought... they fight to keep their one dog, and yet they let the animal control folks just take the others... then complain about it. IF they are breaking the law to keep one dog, why not break the law to keep all of them? makes no sense to me.... unless of course the dogs were pits and they are just making a stink because they are getting press time OR it makes better press to say...they are going to kill defenseless puppies and their mommy too!!!!! I don't know. Feeling a bit jaded at this point.

This statement made me shake my head

"Both she and Edwards contend the dogs are not pure bred pit bull terriers. They have contacted lawyer David Stoesser, who successfully challenged the pit bull law last year."

Well ... um.... Pit bulls... generally aren't purebred... they tend to be mixes of pit types with generic other type... whether that generic other type of dog be golden retriever, other pit type or whatever... a pit is a dog that resembles what is called "the pit bull type". yes, they have the "american pit bull terrier" that is a breed. It's illegal here. But most "pits" aren't purebred, they are staffy mixes, pit mixes, bull terrier mixes and so forth. And pit mixes that are bred with other pit mixes.. just continuing the whole mixed breed pit thing down the line...

Folks like these make me shake my head. Where were they 3 years ago (I think it was three years ago) when the "pit bull law" came into effect? Did they fight it? Did they get concerned by it? or did they think... ah...that's for purebreds our dogs don't matter? Then they missed a lot of news coverage......

Their dogs fit right into the category of needing to be protected against this law. No breeding them, muzzle them in public and so forth. Follow the law, your dog will be fine. Don't follow it and THEN complain that it's not fair when you get caught out!!!! it's like THINK PEOPLE! You broke the law! Even if it is a bad law. Even if it's a nasty law that isn't fair or right or proper. It's still the law. And until it is overturned or dismissed or defeated completely, one needs to obey it in order to protect your dog(s) nothing less.

I feel for these folks. Their dogs have been targeted because of ill-conceived legislation. They don't have a lot of recourse. They will probably lose their dogs because they didn't stop and think that oh...this law affects us too. Perhaps we better protect our dogs against it.

There is a defense league for dogs. Called the Dog Legislative Council of Canada as well as Banned Aid. These fine folks (whom I do wish I could support more fully), are fighting this bad law. They are doing what they can to make dog legislation that is fair to ALL dogs in Ontario.

There was some success in fighting the law... the term pit bull was considered bad so the law has to be re-written to better define it (or something like that) and the ramifications of that have not been worked out yet. But the fight continues.