BSL - BULL SH*T LEGISLATION
(aka - breed specific legislation)
A week or so ago, there was an article in the newspaper about the ban of pitbulls in Denver, CO and in Ontario, Canada. This type of article infuriates me. Denver has not only banned all pitbulls from living there, but any dog that looks like a pitbull. Now tell me, how ridiculous is that?!?! The animal control is going to all the houses and collecting these poor peoples pits. I couldn't imagine what I'd do if someone came to take Storm, I'd have to move to somewhere else. I would NOT give my dog up, she is like my baby. Over 300 pits have been collected and over 200 have been "destroyed". Destroyed is a harsh word, but the truth of the matter is that they have been killed, all because of ignorance!
Just because a dog is labeled pitbull means they are not allowed to live there because pits have previously attacked people at one time or another. So if this is the case, then we shouldn't have humans living around here either. Right? Here is an analogy of how this BSL works; to make it a little easier to understand.
A good friend of mine had her youngest son senselessly murdered by a teenage black guy.
I had seen in the news where an older white man killed a young boy and kidnapped his sister.
In my uncle's neighborhood, a family was killed by a Mexican.
According to Breed Specific Laws, with the way these situations are, then all blacks, whites, Mexicans, ALL HUMANS, should all be banned too, because they have killed, murdered, mauled, & destroyed others. Yes, I know that is a stupid thought, but so is BSL!! Don't you think that only the people that were doing these bad things should be held accountable??? Well, I definitely do... just like dangerous dogs & irresponsible owners should be held accountable... not the whole breed!
I know this is a grim analogy, but I'm trying to get my point across.
11 comments:
In Ontario, Canada our Ontario Health Minister formed a bill to pass a Pit bull Ban. His discription is; if it looks like a pit bull, barks like a pit bull, wags it's tail like a pit bull, then it's probably a Pit bull. He failed twice at picking out a picture of a Pit bull. The worst part is that if they deside to come for your dog, you have to prove it's not a pit bull... meaning, if you had a boxer with no papers, it can be taken from you and murdered or sent to a lab for experiments. He did grant us the Grandfathering Clause, but say you have a neighbour issue, that neighbour could say your dog has shown aggression and without any given notice they can come in and take your dog even if the information is false.
Basically, we have to try to hold our tempers as we are at other peoples mercy or your dog is dead and you are fined and/or jailed.
We really don't know our rights as nothing has been made known.
We don't know what will happen as of August 29th. I tried to get some info as to our rights, but even the authorities haven't a clue as it's so unclear to all of us.
Guess we will soon find out.
geeesh... I had no Idea. I had APT's for 10yrs and recently my female died. Here in Richmond VA, we just went thru 3 pits mauling an 80yr old lady that was trying to save her little dog from being killed by the pits... The woman shoulda gone in the house and left it alone. They put all three dogs down and did nothing to the owner. Now we are having the 'ban' discussions here too...
It came out later that this woman had been sited num ourd times for allowing her 'dogs' to roam the neighborhood and create havok. She was an irresponsible owner. Everyone knows that pits do very porely w/ IRRESPONSIBLE OWNERS. I am all for potential owners having to go through an expensive/lengthy training course in order to own these animals. Its not that I am being discriminatory, its just the degree of responsiblity that must be assumed.
People that can drive little cars are not allowed to jump in a semi truck and go crusing down the highway. There is tooo much potential for danger... I have a great love and respect for the breed, its the people and their personal motives and baggage that I have serious issues with. I say: prosicute the irresponsible owners... Out...
Let me reiterate... the 80yr old lady was killed when she tried to save her dog.
Yeah, 80 years old and trying to rescue a little dog from ANY large dogs may have resulted the same :( I tell my kids all the time... no matter WHO'S dog it is... if there is a fight... let them fight it out. Usually it ends relatively quick with little to no bloodshed, and in the case of a smaller dog being involved.. it is sad, but better than adding human injury and/or loss to it. :(
BSL is BS. They have already found in many other instances that it does nothing for the problem it is supposed solve :P It is just a way to make people think that they are accomplishing something, when it's not. After all, real solutions take dedication, hard work and intelligent folk.
A quote from a newsarticle from National Geographic article on the Denver ban....
Still, it hasn't stopped residents from owning the dogs. [Denver] City officials estimate 4,500 pit bulls are being kept illegally.
If that is the case...the only thing they have accomplished is to seize and destroy loved family dogs that never did a thing bad to anyone :( So sad.
Flexxn, I hear you and in some ways you do make a good point, but is it fair for someone who has been responsible their whole lives to have to take a course before owning a certain breed? If that were the case, I would proably fail and I'll tell you why.
My health is extremely poor and I have conditions that are extremely painful at times and weak.
With that in mind, the very first thing they would think, is that this woman would NOT be able to properly handle a pit bull if an extreme case happened.
Shasta only weighs a difference of 25 pounds then me, BUT I am also very bull headed and also from training her as a pup, I have a dog that does not over power me in ANY situation.
It's a terriblr thing that happened to the elderly woman. While you say, she allowed her dog loose on many occasions, you didn't say about the 3 pitties.
We have a case here that a bull mastiff attacked an 8 or 9 year old girl. He went straight for her throat and she died in the ambulance from afixiation and blood lose.
The girls were playing in the back yard, and the owner of the dog, opened the door to let him out t play with the girls. He knew one of the girls, but the one he went after had never met before.
This man is a lawyer in Toronto and it was found out that his dogs had other incidences of aggressiveness. Why would he allow his dog out to a strange child in the backyard.
This lawyer has never had to pay one cent and still in possession of his dog. Meaning, he got off scott free.
The Toronto police were too busy to look into this matter completely. A child dies and the police are too busy? Doesn't make sense to me neither. The parents of the girl have paid thousands of dollars trying to rectify their daughter death.
The point is, as the mother noted, even with the Pit bull ban in play, it still wouldn't have saved her child as it wasn't a pit bull that killed her daughter.
That's why Ontario is trying to remove the specific breed ban and incorporate a Dangerous Dog act that would include ALL dogs that have shown previous signs of aggression and that owners are able to properly contain, train and (the third one just left my head), but if anowner cannot abide by this and his/her dog injures and attacks a person or animal, thn the owner pays up to $10,000 fine and/or jailed for up to 6 months and not allowed another dog again. This would get the irresponsible owners off the street and away from the dogs they are training to be vicious.
I went to your site to see Boo, but couldn't find her. Sorry for your loss. You seem to really miss her a lot and I can understand why.
We live in a 'society'... some things we have to do even though we may rise above the qualifications.... Im sure there are slants of my idea that we could agree upon... like, no problems no need.
But, when there arises issues w/ your dog... the owner must comply w/ the training and/or classes to maintain ownership of the dog. Kinda like ASAP for drunk drivers... If you wanna continue to drive after you were caught drinking and driving, go through the course and pay a bunch of money. Something like that...
I empathise w/ your condition... but also believe that their should be standards that should be complied w/....(at some point)
...not to be insensitive as I too deal w/ a physical attack on my body.
back to guitarartists point... i agree other dogs are much much more inclined to maul people than Pits are.... Pits by nature are animal risks 'never' people risks.... The people risk comes into play when irresponsible owners redirect the dog's energy on humans...(train them or neglect them)
Rotti's, Shephards, Chow Chows, dobi's... even Afgans(my dad had an afgan that would bite the crap out of you...lol) These dogs are people eaters. They were and are bred to gaurd against people... Pits never were as the mere fact that handlers must be able to control the dog in the pit during testing. The inability for the dog to be handled would make it virutally usless to the 'testing' culture of this breed.
In case you have never seen this:
http://mytheo.com/wp/?p=30
... on a lighter side to take the heat of APT's for a millisecond :-)
and btw: I said that the pits were running loose, not the little dog.
Boo isnt on there... all pics were on another computer and hd crashed... my mom has some of her... after she died i really just kinda moved on... if i start digg'n around for pics, i'll get stirred up and go get another one. As of now... im not ready for it.
btw: i havent mentioned what happened to my male... u wouldnt believe it... the city of Richmond VA killed him... for NO reason... I almost snapped on the city pound when I found out... geeeesh... anyway
The shepherd, rotties, & dobies are normally trained as protection dogs, for the police, personal, or sport (called Shutzhund). I have taken Storm to a basic obedience class, not one by a local pet store chain, but from a recommended dog trainer that also trains shepherds for police protection. He has sold many shepherds to states south of us such as Florida and states north such as Virgina, in DC and VA Beach.
Now I take her to personal protection training. When we are out, this will help control her so-called "fight instinct". So unless I give her the command to protect me, she will not be in that mode. Many people take this type of training in an incorrect way. It's not teaching them to attack just for the fun of it, it is actually teaching them self-control.
But I agree, instead of banning the whole breed, when it comes to that point... they should have a dog registry & have training class that should be required to take.
the bad part about letting it get that far is if the owners dont comply which most wont, the dogs get taken away...
so, the problem then becomes... who wants a problem pit?!
Richmond VA wont even put pits up for adoption, they immediately terminate the dog after 2wks if the owner does not claim them...
That's why I initially advocate 'immediate' and 'manditory' education for potential owners... as once it has gotten outta hand, its tough to reverse... I dont know... thats just been what I have seen from the outside looking in.
I would like to say that I was a responsible apt owner for the most part. But I will also say that when I got Boo, my sophmore year in college... it was for the image, coolness and the idea that I would have a dog that could 'buck' on anything or anyone... on my behalf. Young guys usually think like that. Shortly afterward, the instilled responsibility kicked in and I realized that in her early years... she was gonna be high mantenance... I chose to accept the responsiblity. And sometimes I messed up but the Lord made sure that nothing happened that couldnt be repaired :-) Thank you Jesus...
Actually, as I am thinking, the Lord used that dog to fine tune some areas of my life that needed addressing during those years. Anyway, Im rambling now but to tie this together, Forcing education after the fact will help but promoting initial education may deter potential owners from purchasing the breed in the first place.
Face it, people who want to invest their lives in an awsome breed such as a staff or apt should be as informed as possible: on purpose, going into this investment.
In the business world we call this risk accessment and midigation. Best case scenerio, people should do this on their own accord but the reality is no one does. They get one because their neighbor has one or their cousin or buddy....
Just some thoughts... eat the fish spit out the bones. Out..
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Proper training and proper education is a MUST! I thought when you said requirements, you meant physical, etc. No! I totally agree. I was taking Shasta for training as we were applying for the St Johns Ambulance Dog Therapy Program. It's a tougher course as it has to be since sick semiors and children are involved. Both of us had to be trained together and simple tsts like dropping a metal tray should not alarm Shasta or make her jump. Different things like that. A wheel chair running into her tail. etc. At all time your dog maintains control and a happy attitude.
If you can pass that kind of testing, that definately proves there is no aggression and your dog knows none of these things are risks, but accidents.
Perhaps if like liceanses, You carry a card stating that you and your dog have passed a qualifying course that the government has set up. I'd be for that. Naturally, just as with this course, there is training courses available first. No fair tking an ub=ntrained animal for testing prior to training.
I'm sorry about your second dog. Well, Boo too. I really hope you do a page on them. I have a page on my website of my recent and past animals. I cried as I worked on it, but it gives me peace to go visit it now and relive the memories.
I dont know if i want to relive them, they are already a part of me and my journey :-) no regrets...
hope im not splitting hairs
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