'It's time to address irresponsible dog ownership'

SooToday.com received the following letter from faithful reader and dog lover, Amy Maltman.

************************ Don’t care about the Ontario Liberals’ pit bull ban because it doesn’t affect you? 

Think again. 

BSL (breed specific legislation, aka the pit bull ban) began in 2005. 

The Liberals under Dalton McGuinty whipped this bill into effect against the advice of their own experts. 

There were 43 experts against the ban, including The Animal Alliance of Canada, Canadian Association of Professional Dog Trainers, OSPCA, Ontario Veterinary Association, and so on. 

There was only one so-called expert in favour of the ban - a dog-walking service in a Liberal riding - yet McGuinty has stated to the press that “we got the best advice we could and put in place legislation which we think upholds public safety.”

They got the advice, that is true - but they chose to ignore it and to mislead a public whose safety they have not upheld. 

Dog bites have not gone down in Ontario since the ban came into effect, yet the Liberals continue to spend your tax dollars on enforcing a law that does not work. 

And they stand by it. 

They have communicated to me personally that as long as they are in power, they will never reverse the law.   

BSL has resulted in the deaths of countless innocent dogs and family pets whose only crime is how they look. 

Many of these dogs have not a drop of pit bull blood in them but are crosses of other breeds. 

Animal control officers have even tried seizing (with the intent to destroy) purebred labradors because their physical appearance meets the description of pit bull type. 

The law defines this as: (a) a pit bull terrier (b) a Staffordshire bull terrier (c) an American Staffordshire terrier (d) an American pit bull terrier or (e) a dog that has an appearance and physical characteristics that are substantially similar to those of dogs referred to in any of clauses (a) to (d); (“pit-bull”). 

If your dog is of medium size, stocky/ muscular build, with a short coat and square head, it could be next. 

If it also has a brindle coat, your chances are even greater. 

And under the reverse onus of this law, it is up to you to prove that it is not a banned breed rather than on the enforcing agents to prove that it is. 

If you can’t, and regardless of if your dog has ever done a thing wrong, it can be killed or sent to an animal research facility. 

Amazingly, peace officers (defined as including OSPCA agents, therefore not necessarily an actual police officer) may enter one's home without a warrant to seize a dog and they are authorized to use as much force as they deem necessary. 

Dogs that fall under the ban are required to be muzzled whenever in public. 

Because of the scope of the law, there have been dogs seized and destroyed when their owner removed the muzzle just long enough for the dog to have a drink of water on a hot summer day. 


There are countless stories of heroic pit bulls in the media if you search for them. 

They are prime examples of the injustice, ignorance and bigotry that defines and permeates BSL. 

You have to search hard to find the positive stories, but the negative ones are splashed in blood across countless headlines when they occur. 

Pit bull advocacy groups in the US have done anecdotal experiments of sorts to test the media bias in reporting pit bull attacks. 

They would call a media outlet to "report" a dog attack and would inevitably be asked if the dog involved was a pit bull. 

When they would respond in the negative, the media outlet would say they weren't interested in the story and hang up.

Some BSL supporters could not pick out the one true pit bull from an arranged line-up of dogs that fit the type. 

It is therefore not surprising that media reports of attacks often erroneously report a pit bull as the culprit.

But, when corrected, there is rarely a retraction or clarification. 

This practice leads to skewed and misleading statistics that do nothing more than fuel the fire of public hysteria and the politicians' misguided motives. 

I've read testimonies of ER nurses, for example, who treat far more bites from small dogs and from breeds such as cocker spaniels than pit bulls. 

Unfortunately, because small dogs don't do as much damage and reports of their attacks aren't as "sexy", these bites and attacks go unreported. 

The same goes for attacks by breeds other than the pit bull. 

A recent study released by the National Canine Research Council reveals that a dog's size is inversely related to its aggression level. 

In other words, the smaller the dog, the more aggressive the nature (in general). 

This same study discusses that research reveals banned breeds aren’t more aggressive than other breeds.  http://www.nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/blog/new-study-finds-banned-breeds-no-more-aggressive-than-any-others/   

Now a confession:  back in 2005 I bought into the hype and I believed the pit bull ban was a good thing. 

I used to think: “Why would anyone want to own one of those dogs?” 

Then I started watching the Dog Whisperer and realized that it’s not the dog at the end of the leash, it’s the person holding it. 

I started reading and researching. 

I found pro-pit bull/ anti-BSL pages and groups on Facebook. 

And I learned the truth about the breed, not what McGuinty’s Liberals want us to believe.  
Pit bulls are loving, loyal, goofy dogs with a very forgiving nature. 

They used to be called “nanny dogs” for their gentle nature around children. 

Yes, children. 

Take, for example, many of the dogs rescued from Michael Vick. 

They endured unimaginable cruelty at his hands, yet many are now therapy dogs with Canine Good Citizen certification. 

BSL-targeted breeds consistently achieve higher scores in temperament testing than even the family favourite golden retriever. 

Unfortunately, because of their status as a "tough guy" dog and because of their incredible strength, they are the favourite breed of those who would misuse their loyalty and strength. 

These traits are taken advantage of to create "attack dogs". 

Therein lies the reason why BSL doesn’t work: the true source of the problem, the irresponsible owner, has not been addressed. 

Dog bites haven’t gone down because the problem owners have just moved on to other powerful breeds. 

Will the Liberals target those breeds next? 

Currently the law only includes pit bulls and pit bull-type dogs, but there is no guarantee that its scope will never expand to include other breeds. 

Dog owners cannot afford to sit back and say "Oh well, it doesn't affect me" because one day it may, especially if you are the owner of another powerful breed such as a rottweiler or a German shepherd. 

Or, sadly, if you are the owner of a boxer/ lab cross who is medium-sized with short hair, a brindled coat, powerful build and a large head. 

It is time to get rid of BSL. 

It is time to “punish the deed, not the breed.”

And it is time to address the real source of this and many other problems: irresponsible dog ownership.

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