In case you were wondering how anybody could persuade 70+ intelligent, rational, elected government representatives to define a dog as dangerous based only on they way it looks, here’s a Toronto Star article explaining how.
Great news! Portions of Toledo Ohio’s pit bull restrictions have been struck down by a judge.
I saw a discussion about pit bull myths on Facebook and it reminded me of some documents I have from government meetings regarding the city of Kitchener, Ontario. Here are some of the crazier things that were said by authorities at those meetings.
Here is a great article by LeeAnn O’Reilly, president of the Dog Legislation Council of Canada, with whom I have worked for six years.
Some good news out of Ontario for two condemned young dogs. They’ve been shipped to the SPCA in Fredericton, New Brunswick. It’s a shame that Shawn Berry from the Daily Gleaner felt it necessary to end the story by quoting from the decision of the Ontario Court of Appeals judges. In my opinion, it is probably one of the most inaccurate and inflammatory statements ever put into print by a judge about “pit bulls”.
Carstairs, Alberta, has a dog bylaw that restricts three “breeds”. One isn’t a breed at all and the other two are misspelled!
Somehow, Ozzy Osbourne has morphed from bat-eating heavy metal rock star (who I thought was great) to reality TV family man to now self-appointed expert on dog breed identification and dog behaviour.
I was in a bookstore yesterday browsing the pet section and came across Ingrid Newkirk’s book “The PETA Practical Guide to Animal Rights”. I didn’t buy it, although I still may. What I did do, however, was collect all my earlier articles on animal rights organizations. Here is what I’ve collected to-date.
An emaciated pit bull and her eight neglected puppies, whose teenage owners advertised them for sale on craigslist.org, are recovering at the Nanaimo SPCA. No charges are expected to be filed.
A puppy Monday escaped an almost certain death at the Lucas County Dog Warden’s Office and is now in the care of an animal rescue group after a rare transfer of a “pit bull”-type dog out of the county’s pound. Under traditional circumstances, the puppy could have soon faced euthanasia under Dog Warden Tom Skeldon’s longstanding policy against adopting or transferring out any “pit bulls” from the pound. Once a “pit bull” dog reaches 3 months of age, there are no restrictions against Mr. Skeldon’s practice of killing all adult “pit bulls” regardless of behavior.
Any time someone makes the “gods” of breed identification look like idiots, I’m all for it!
WARNING! The following links contain pictures of dead dogs, dogs that have died as a direct result of Denver’s ban on “pit bulls”.
Neguac, New Brunswick (Canada), has passed a bylaw banning “pit bulls”. The town has NOT included a grandfather clause, which means that all existing dogs that fall under their definition must leave the town immediately or be confiscated.
The former mayor of Paradise Newfoundland found out the hard way yesterday that not only do dog owners vote, they don’t forget.
This video is one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a while (well, at least the first four minutes).
Yesterday, I went to Nanaimo BC to attend a seminar by Bill Bruce, manager of Bylaw Services for Calgary Alberta. Putting it bluntly, Calgary has the best run Animal Services department in North America. Here’s a quick overview.
The city of Sarnia has issued a press release saying that the three dogs from my earlier story are going to be released to their owners. Great news!
UPDATE Sept 21 2009: All three dogs have been determined to not be “pit bulls” and have been released to their owners.
ORIGINAL STORY September 19 2009: The Dog Legislation Council has been dealing with an issue that, up until yesterday, was kept under the radar in the hopes that things could be worked out amicably between the dogs’ owners and Sarnia Animal Control. Since the story hit the local newspaper yesterday, September 18, I feel it’s necessary to let everyone know what’s going on.
Congratulations to Nackawic town council for listening to your dog owners! There are plenty of other places in this country that could learn a thing or two from you.
One of Nackawic’s local doctors, Dr. Maryann Bramstrup, is standing up for her dog and her rights as a responsible dog owner. Facebook users, click “View Original Post” after opening the note.
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