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DISCRIMINATE MUCH?
by Publisher on Tue 29 Jan 2008 10:01 AM EST | Permanent Link | Cosmos
An acquaintance called the other night to tell me a story.
He'd been at the dog park, per usual, playing fetch with his totally ball-obsessed Lab/Boxer mix. This dog doesn't care what's going on around her as long as somebody is throwing the ball. She ignores dogs, people, food - everything but her owner and that ball. He goes through quite a few of them.
Anyway, apparently a little Sheltie was behaving aggressively towards other dogs in the park and went for Dave's dog. She responded by putting the Sheltie on his back and resumed playing ball. Nobody was hurt.
Saturday night at 11:00 pm, there was a knock on the door. He answered and was greeted by two uniformed police officers, following up on the dog park incident. You see, all the dog experts out there - and I doubt there's another subject where the people with the most opinions know the least about it - think his dog is a 'pit bull'.
We know there's no such thing but I guess that hasn't trickled down to the hoi-polloi yet.
Anyway, the police left, I didn't get all the details since it was the visit itself that interested me.
A day or so later, when coming back from the dog park (where his dog is one of the most popular visitors) Dave was pulled over by not one, but two police cruisers.
Dave is middle-aged, well spoken, owns his own very successful business, and is your typical Canadian boomer. I'm telling you this in case you thought he was a young punk with a sheet or something.
Two police cruisers - the nice woman officer grilled him a bit, asked him if his dog was aggressive, etc and he truthfully answered no to all of her questions.
He doesn't know who phoned the police but he suspects it was the wife of the Sheltie owner - some people really have too little on their minds these days.
So, we've involved six police officers at a cost of about $50 per hour each to the taxpayer. While those officers are on a wild goose chase, they are not attending to more important matters.
Where is animal services in Toronto these days? Trying to figure out how to waste more money and get further into debt?
Why didn't the owner talk to Dave right at the dog park, sort it out with him?
Would this waste of resources have occurred if Dave's dog didn't look as though she might be Bryant's elusive bogeyman?
We must get this law struck down. Dog owners are at the mercy of their neighbours and other know-nothings across Ontario.
Oh, and this is one of the more benign stories I've heard this week. Yes, this week.
DISCRIMINATE MUCH?
by Publisher on Tue 29 Jan 2008 10:01 AM EST | Permanent Link | Cosmos
An acquaintance called the other night to tell me a story.
He'd been at the dog park, per usual, playing fetch with his totally ball-obsessed Lab/Boxer mix. This dog doesn't care what's going on around her as long as somebody is throwing the ball. She ignores dogs, people, food - everything but her owner and that ball. He goes through quite a few of them.
Anyway, apparently a little Sheltie was behaving aggressively towards other dogs in the park and went for Dave's dog. She responded by putting the Sheltie on his back and resumed playing ball. Nobody was hurt.
Saturday night at 11:00 pm, there was a knock on the door. He answered and was greeted by two uniformed police officers, following up on the dog park incident. You see, all the dog experts out there - and I doubt there's another subject where the people with the most opinions know the least about it - think his dog is a 'pit bull'.
We know there's no such thing but I guess that hasn't trickled down to the hoi-polloi yet.
Anyway, the police left, I didn't get all the details since it was the visit itself that interested me.
A day or so later, when coming back from the dog park (where his dog is one of the most popular visitors) Dave was pulled over by not one, but two police cruisers.
Dave is middle-aged, well spoken, owns his own very successful business, and is your typical Canadian boomer. I'm telling you this in case you thought he was a young punk with a sheet or something.
Two police cruisers - the nice woman officer grilled him a bit, asked him if his dog was aggressive, etc and he truthfully answered no to all of her questions.
He doesn't know who phoned the police but he suspects it was the wife of the Sheltie owner - some people really have too little on their minds these days.
So, we've involved six police officers at a cost of about $50 per hour each to the taxpayer. While those officers are on a wild goose chase, they are not attending to more important matters.
Where is animal services in Toronto these days? Trying to figure out how to waste more money and get further into debt?
Why didn't the owner talk to Dave right at the dog park, sort it out with him?
Would this waste of resources have occurred if Dave's dog didn't look as though she might be Bryant's elusive bogeyman?
We must get this law struck down. Dog owners are at the mercy of their neighbours and other know-nothings across Ontario.
Oh, and this is one of the more benign stories I've heard this week. Yes, this week.