As though dog owners have not been put through enough hell in the last year with a brash new move towards ignorant, closed minded legislation, which detailed the complete prohibitation of owning, breeding, transferring, importing, fighting or abandoning pit bulls.The definition taken from the bill itself lists of what a pit bull is includes; "pit bull terrier, Staffordshire bull terrier, American Staffordshire terrier, American pit bull terrier or a dog that shares the physical characteristics with any of the above."
This was an outrage to all responsible dog owners as it is clearly the goverments way of escaping dealing with the real issue of dog attacks and through their unwillingness to recognize the real problem when the ban came into effect, thousands of families in the greater toronto area alone along with the many more across the provience were forced to muzzel their dogs in public merely because their dogs shared the same characteristics with a few bad seeds who were raised and socialized improperly by some very stupid owners.
Now we seem to be at risk again.
On New years eve day a terrible tradegy occured when a very irresponsible owner left his two rottiwielers unattended in his back yard and they escaped and attacked a young boy. The boy I can thankfully say survived and is recovering though obviously it will take a very long time for his and his family to recover through this nightmare.
Full story here
http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NA...2&call_pageid=1020420665036&col=1014656511815
It would be convient to say clearly this tradgedy occured because of someones two clearly "vicious" dogs. As dog people we know this is not the whole story and can recognize that two real failings occured here, one the goverments refusal to recognize and deal with the issue of irresponsible owners and put in place real legislation to protect it's citizens and instead simply banning dogs which look dangerous has occured yet another innocent life to be ruined.
The second failing clearly falls into the hands of the owner who moronically decided he did not need to have a secure fence while keeping two very large and powerful dogs.
Unfortunatly if both parties had lived up to their responsibilities I am very confident this tradgedy and all future dog attacks could and can be prevented.
As one would expect news like this, in a trigger happy provience on BSL is not good and I fear we are once again on the verge of seeing the dogs we love being stripped of their comforts and forced to be muzzled in public, taken out of therapy dog programs and be feared where ever they go.
The Hamiliton Spectator, the city in which the attack occured has already started rallying anger in the local community by pushing for another breed ban.
Here is a very sensational piece of writting on the follow up after the attack
http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NA...2&call_pageid=1020420665036&col=1014656511815
Now the scary part, since the story was published their have been rumors that some mp's are pushing for a new BSL list which would include Rotti's, German Shepherds, Dobbermans and Akita's. For those who may be closed minded towards Pittie's or any of the breeds listed above, please take a miniute to realise that BSL is contagious, in most states that banned Pitties, Rottie's, Shepherds, Chow Chow's, Dobbermans and Mastiffs were usually not far behind and if we allow this type of descrimination to continue it will only be a matter of time before your beloved breed shows up on the list. We need to take action now and stand up against parliment to make our opinons very clear, we did not agree with the first breed ban but despite almost 80% opposition to it from the public, they passed it.
Since the ban we have seen cases throughout Canada showing other breeds attacking, including a german Shepherd cross,rotti and 3 stray dogs who attacked and killed a young boy in Edmonton.
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=6ef0147d-be6a-46ad-a238-fa2f2db01ea0&k=81217
This should only further illustrate what responsible dog owners have said all along, that ANY breed can attack and I strongly believe that if we want to be able to walk our dogs freely outside without having them muzzled like convicts then it is time to voice our opinions.
Here are letters to the editor that were published a few days ago in the Hamilton Spectator, by angry citizens who are pushing for more breed bans.
http://thespec.typepad.com/specthread/2007/01/pets_and_public.html#comments
http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NA...6&call_pageid=1020420665036&col=1112876262536
Their was one letter from a concerned dog owner that was published as well
http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NA...7&call_pageid=1020420665036&col=1112188062581
With another election around the corner I am truely concerned for the future of Rotti's in our provience as well as Shepherds, Dob's, Akita's and eventually the future of everyones dog.
When you look in European countries who started traditionally by banning the easy scapegoats such as pitties, dobs and rotties have since in some cases added up to 93 breeds that are restircted and illegal to own.
Please do not take the threat of BSL lightly if you are blessed enough to own a less commonly discriminated against breed such as labs or goldens keep in mind that the more dogs we allow them to ban the closer we come to an eventual complete dog ban.
I am here to express my deep concern for an impending Rotti ban which I fear is just around the corner and am asking ALL Ontario citizens to please write your mps, phone your mps, write in to your local newspapers and express your position on how this terrible tradgedy of the almost death of a young boy could of been prevented if the goverment would start taking irresponsible owners more seriously.
5 things which I would like us to propse and push for in the wake of BSL are as followed..
-The denocuation of Bill C-32 which was enacted on Augest 25th, 2006 which effectively made it illegal to own, breed or import pitbulls and pitbull like dogs ( such as mastiffs), as it is unconstituional and ineffective at protecting society from poorly trained and aggressive dogs.
- A mandatory Spay/ Neuter Law which can greatly reduce levels of aggression in both female and male dogs, avoiding unwanted litters and bad breeding which can create aggressive dogs. For registered kennels they should be allowed to continue opperations but buy some type of liscence which needs to be reunewed yearly. Again this would effectively cut down on the amount of BYB's and should effectively end puppy mills as to meet the lisence requirments you should need to prove a standard of care for your animals.
- Harder penalities for irresponsible dog owners and a zero tolerance policy. For examply if your dog escapes from your yard their should be heavy fines and if it happens again their should be the option of your dogs being confienscated and placed in rescue groups and your privillage to own dogs stripped for a period of time. Also if your dog bites someone YOU should be held accountable and be tried for assault in addition their should be the option for the judge to strip your right own dogs depending on the circumstances of the bite and so on.
-Stiffer penalties for anyone caught walking their dog offlesh in an urban zone
-Making obidence classes mandatory for all first time dog owners
I would appricate any other suggestions or changes made to those above propsals but If we could all come togther as a community, decide a way to make some realistic legislation that would work to make our communities safer from irresponsible owners and then start flooding media outlets and mps with our suggestions I think changes can occur.
Below I will list information about how to contact different newspapers, tv stations, radio stations and how to find and contact your local mp for your area.
Please if you are going to write or call any of the above try and be respectful, calm and know your facts. A good guide of things to discuss or write about would be
1) Discuss your disapproval of Bill 132 and how it has been ineffective
2) Discuss possible remedies such as the few I brainstormed alone and any other members may add
3) Your concern about a possible Rotti, GSD, Akita and Dob ban and why it is not effective
I'd like to use this thread as a sort of base where we can exhange ideas, post about what everyone is doing, post possible ralley's or protest down the road if we decide to go in that option and so we can stay informed and updated on the situation.
This was an outrage to all responsible dog owners as it is clearly the goverments way of escaping dealing with the real issue of dog attacks and through their unwillingness to recognize the real problem when the ban came into effect, thousands of families in the greater toronto area alone along with the many more across the provience were forced to muzzel their dogs in public merely because their dogs shared the same characteristics with a few bad seeds who were raised and socialized improperly by some very stupid owners.
Now we seem to be at risk again.
On New years eve day a terrible tradegy occured when a very irresponsible owner left his two rottiwielers unattended in his back yard and they escaped and attacked a young boy. The boy I can thankfully say survived and is recovering though obviously it will take a very long time for his and his family to recover through this nightmare.
Full story here
http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NA...2&call_pageid=1020420665036&col=1014656511815
It would be convient to say clearly this tradgedy occured because of someones two clearly "vicious" dogs. As dog people we know this is not the whole story and can recognize that two real failings occured here, one the goverments refusal to recognize and deal with the issue of irresponsible owners and put in place real legislation to protect it's citizens and instead simply banning dogs which look dangerous has occured yet another innocent life to be ruined.
The second failing clearly falls into the hands of the owner who moronically decided he did not need to have a secure fence while keeping two very large and powerful dogs.
Unfortunatly if both parties had lived up to their responsibilities I am very confident this tradgedy and all future dog attacks could and can be prevented.
As one would expect news like this, in a trigger happy provience on BSL is not good and I fear we are once again on the verge of seeing the dogs we love being stripped of their comforts and forced to be muzzled in public, taken out of therapy dog programs and be feared where ever they go.
The Hamiliton Spectator, the city in which the attack occured has already started rallying anger in the local community by pushing for another breed ban.
Here is a very sensational piece of writting on the follow up after the attack
http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NA...2&call_pageid=1020420665036&col=1014656511815
Now the scary part, since the story was published their have been rumors that some mp's are pushing for a new BSL list which would include Rotti's, German Shepherds, Dobbermans and Akita's. For those who may be closed minded towards Pittie's or any of the breeds listed above, please take a miniute to realise that BSL is contagious, in most states that banned Pitties, Rottie's, Shepherds, Chow Chow's, Dobbermans and Mastiffs were usually not far behind and if we allow this type of descrimination to continue it will only be a matter of time before your beloved breed shows up on the list. We need to take action now and stand up against parliment to make our opinons very clear, we did not agree with the first breed ban but despite almost 80% opposition to it from the public, they passed it.
Since the ban we have seen cases throughout Canada showing other breeds attacking, including a german Shepherd cross,rotti and 3 stray dogs who attacked and killed a young boy in Edmonton.
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=6ef0147d-be6a-46ad-a238-fa2f2db01ea0&k=81217
This should only further illustrate what responsible dog owners have said all along, that ANY breed can attack and I strongly believe that if we want to be able to walk our dogs freely outside without having them muzzled like convicts then it is time to voice our opinions.
Here are letters to the editor that were published a few days ago in the Hamilton Spectator, by angry citizens who are pushing for more breed bans.
http://thespec.typepad.com/specthread/2007/01/pets_and_public.html#comments
http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NA...6&call_pageid=1020420665036&col=1112876262536
Their was one letter from a concerned dog owner that was published as well
http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NA...7&call_pageid=1020420665036&col=1112188062581
With another election around the corner I am truely concerned for the future of Rotti's in our provience as well as Shepherds, Dob's, Akita's and eventually the future of everyones dog.
When you look in European countries who started traditionally by banning the easy scapegoats such as pitties, dobs and rotties have since in some cases added up to 93 breeds that are restircted and illegal to own.
Please do not take the threat of BSL lightly if you are blessed enough to own a less commonly discriminated against breed such as labs or goldens keep in mind that the more dogs we allow them to ban the closer we come to an eventual complete dog ban.
I am here to express my deep concern for an impending Rotti ban which I fear is just around the corner and am asking ALL Ontario citizens to please write your mps, phone your mps, write in to your local newspapers and express your position on how this terrible tradgedy of the almost death of a young boy could of been prevented if the goverment would start taking irresponsible owners more seriously.
5 things which I would like us to propse and push for in the wake of BSL are as followed..
-The denocuation of Bill C-32 which was enacted on Augest 25th, 2006 which effectively made it illegal to own, breed or import pitbulls and pitbull like dogs ( such as mastiffs), as it is unconstituional and ineffective at protecting society from poorly trained and aggressive dogs.
- A mandatory Spay/ Neuter Law which can greatly reduce levels of aggression in both female and male dogs, avoiding unwanted litters and bad breeding which can create aggressive dogs. For registered kennels they should be allowed to continue opperations but buy some type of liscence which needs to be reunewed yearly. Again this would effectively cut down on the amount of BYB's and should effectively end puppy mills as to meet the lisence requirments you should need to prove a standard of care for your animals.
- Harder penalities for irresponsible dog owners and a zero tolerance policy. For examply if your dog escapes from your yard their should be heavy fines and if it happens again their should be the option of your dogs being confienscated and placed in rescue groups and your privillage to own dogs stripped for a period of time. Also if your dog bites someone YOU should be held accountable and be tried for assault in addition their should be the option for the judge to strip your right own dogs depending on the circumstances of the bite and so on.
-Stiffer penalties for anyone caught walking their dog offlesh in an urban zone
-Making obidence classes mandatory for all first time dog owners
I would appricate any other suggestions or changes made to those above propsals but If we could all come togther as a community, decide a way to make some realistic legislation that would work to make our communities safer from irresponsible owners and then start flooding media outlets and mps with our suggestions I think changes can occur.
Below I will list information about how to contact different newspapers, tv stations, radio stations and how to find and contact your local mp for your area.
Please if you are going to write or call any of the above try and be respectful, calm and know your facts. A good guide of things to discuss or write about would be
1) Discuss your disapproval of Bill 132 and how it has been ineffective
2) Discuss possible remedies such as the few I brainstormed alone and any other members may add
3) Your concern about a possible Rotti, GSD, Akita and Dob ban and why it is not effective
I'd like to use this thread as a sort of base where we can exhange ideas, post about what everyone is doing, post possible ralley's or protest down the road if we decide to go in that option and so we can stay informed and updated on the situation.
