Pit Bull Ban in Ontario

[db7]

Just thought I'd throw this out to see waht people's opinions are on this.
I am of mixed opinion on the issue myself.

On the one hand, I hate to see nanny state legislation. And the legislation doesn't deal with bad owners, regardless of breed.

On the other hand, will I feel a little more comfortable at the park with my dog? yes.

There is no budget to police the new law anyway.

The ban grandfathers all currently owned Pits, they must be fixed and muzzled while out in public.

It is now illegal to breed them or import them. So in theory, in 10 or 15 yrs, they'll be all gone from here.

[york_rotch]

Winnipeg passed a city bylaw years ago banning pitbulls from the city, altho Manitoba hasn't followed suit...yet. The only pitbull I ever met was a fantastic dog. It was still intimidating tho. That sounds like a tough ban, if they enforce it.

Mitch

[Bigshrimp]

I personally am sickened by this new law

Let me start by saying that I do not own a pit bull and never have/never will desire to own one.

There is no doubt that most pitbulls still have a very strong fighting instinct. There is no arguing that they account for the most attacks on other dogs, and from what I understand the most fatalities to humans than any other breed.

But c'mon....there are much better ways to handle this problem than a breed ban! This is not an out-of-control problem, with only a small minority of "black sheep" dogs (mistake: owners!) who promote this fighting instinct within their dogs. Sure, it might be a little more effort in thinking of the type of restrictions, licenses, mandatory ownership courses (paid by the owner), etc. but at least you're not restricting the 95% of honest pit bull owners from enjoying their breed.

We should do much better than this, it is definitely NOT the Canadian way!

It will not solve the problem of dog fighting or attacks on humans. These "black sheep" owners will either just go to another breed or disregard the law (which as db7 stated is not even being enforced). It is the honest owners who find whatever it is that any of us find in our breeds that we love who will suffer.

It really says something when the S.P.C.A. (http://www.ospca.on.ca/libr_pr_2005_Mar02.html) and Humane Society (http://www.torontohumanesociety.com/in_news.html) are against this legislation.

Why is the public letting these politicians take the easy way out, and when will it end?!?

[db7]

Just heard today that the Humane Societies with no-kill policies are being forced to turn over the pitties to the Animal Control department to be euthanised..

[Bigshrimp]

Ontario elections are coming pretty soon ...anybody know if this ban can be overturned by a new party?? ....or is it law and can only get changed through the courts??

[KYgsp]

I find the issue just a misguided as gun control. Instead of addressing the real problem ( a small group of irresponsible idiots) they issue a blanket ban.

The real problem with the pitbull is that to many of the wrong people were drawn to the animal. It appears to me that there are two distinct splits in the bred, the dog fighting group and the sporting dog owners. The fighters either want an actual dog to fight or just want to look like a bad @#$. The sporting pit group uses their dogs to hunt game and won't stand a dog that has the instinct to fight other dogs or bit people and are quick to cull that type.

[L7]

Ontario elections are coming pretty soon ...anybody know if this ban can be overturned by a new party?? ....or is it law and can only get changed through the courts??

Anything can be overturned but there has to be a public will. Wasn't it less than a year ago that 2 pitbulls ripped up some 4 or 6 year old in a school yard in Toronto? 2 days later they tracked down the owners and they actually thought the dogs were still tied to a tree in the yard. They'd been gone for 2 days!!

I was out with my pup and a friend with her 2 adult dogs. We were approached by a guy with a pitbull which I recognized that it used to live behind me. Nice dog, I always pet it in it's yard and no probs.

Buddy lets the pitbull off leash to play with the other dogs and they chase the lab's ball. Lab gets the ball, brings it back and drops it then goes to pick it up again. Somewhere there the pitbull decided it owned the ball and attacked. It had a death grip on the lab's neck in about 3 seconds and would not let go. Lab was yelping and trying to pull away and 3 of us were trying to get the pit's jaws open. My pup was hiding behind trees.

It was always a nice dog but the 'switch' went and it became a killing machine. Lab survived but had a vet bill to deal with.

That convinced me their instincts are strong and they don't belong in any old idiots hands. Too many newspaper stories have convinced people of the same. Not necessarily the dog's fault but I really worry about a lot of the people attracted to the breed and why.

I certainly won't mind if I never see another pitbull. They do nothing for me and probably the wrong thing for most of who own them.

[KYgsp]

I don't like the breed at all. I will grab my children and dogs and leave the dog park if anyone brings a pit there. I will not risk my children's or dog's safety at all. Those dogs are vicious and you cannot ever be 100% certain what will set them off! I want my children and dogs to have a good time but I will never risk their safety!

I cannot ever see owning a dog with such a vicious temperament. I know that I will get grief over this statement but this is my own opinion and I will never ever change it! How many deaths or attacks do you hear about from pitts on the news? 9 out of 10??? They are a vicious breed that should never be trusted!

I know that in the right hands the pit could be a good family dog but I personally would never want to take a chance like that! Knowing in the back of my head that my dog has the ability to turn on me for any reason it sees fit.

What good is a pit anyways? It could be a good family pet for years until one day it turns on you or your children.

I think that law in Canada should be passed in the United States also!

To be truthful you really can't trust any dog around kids, any breed, any individual can be set off given the right circumstances.

The problem with these type of bans and many other government programs is that they take the responsibility from where it should rest and transfers it to the animal. Just another example of nanny state politics gone array.

[KYgsp]

People actually use pit bulls to hunt ?

Yes, they are used as catch dogs for hog hunting. After the bay dogs have the hog stopped they release one or two pits to catch and hold the hog. They they can tie and take the hog out alive or dispatch it.

I would wager that there are very few if any cases of true hunting bred pits attacking people. Hog hunters just aren't going to tolerate a dog that is mean toward other dogs or people and they certainly wouldn't bred them. That is the reason I feel that a ban would be unfair, you punish everyone yet all the problems are coming out of the ghettos and trailer parks instead of the back woods and swamps of the South.

[Bigshrimp]

Completely agree with KYgsp!

There is no despute that this breed can be lethal...but to all out ban it bc the politicians feel that EVERYONE is too stupid to train/handle them properly is insane!

What about Dobermans, GSDs, Rotts, Mals, Airdales (that was for hicntry!)? Where do you think the police get their dogs from?!?

Guns kill people too don't they? Would you trust a gun around your kids? I certainly would if I taght them the correct way to handle one, and I was there to supervise. Are there restrictions on guns bc they can be lethal? OF COURSE....but should we ban them?

There are many alternatives to a ban that would greatly reduce/eliminate the problems that I know ALL responsible pitbull owners would abide by to enjoy their breed.

I don't know about you but I wouldn't want to spend my life in a bubble "protected" from everything.

[snicklefritz]

Take any dog you choose. Stick it in a 50x100 ft fenced in lot that also contains a a house trailer, an old car up on cynder blocks. Chain it to the trailer, never take it out for exercise. For that matter, take it to the local convenience store in the back of a pick-up truck, but nowhere else. Teach it to play rough when it's a puppy, then whack it with a 2x4 when it disobeys as an adult. Keep doing that until the dog is totally schizophrenic and dying of boredom and you will have a dangerous dog.

Sorry for the stereotype, but I"m from the south, and a former deputy sheriff, and that is what I saw far too often. Having to do your job in the presence of pit bulls that have been raised as I described above can be dangerous.

The problem is as much the owners as it is the breed. When raised in this kind of environment pit bulls are particularly dangerous because they are so tenacious when they attack. They never, ever give up. You can't beat them off, you can't mace them, you can't yell at them. Sometimes, you just have to shoot them.

Nevertheless, I would still be more in favor of some kind of licensing than a complete ban. The problem with licensing is that, in the south at least, there are million pit bull mixes. How do you determine which mix is a pit bull and subject to licensing? The mixes can be worse than the pure breds because they are a dime a dozen and anybody can afford one - they're free in the Sunday paper. Sorry, but my bias is showing big time.

Oh, well. Nobody is completely free of some sort of bias. My bias is against your average, run-of-the-mill, pit bull owner.

[Joe C.]

We all know instincts are in the breeding. A bird dog hunts birds by instinct. A Pit Bull fights by instinct. The traits are then brought out and refined by training or not. There will always be both good and bad dog owners. That being said, I see something wrong with breeding dogs for their instinct to fight to the death. I am against all fighting breeds and will support any legislation against them, however political and misguided it may be. I am for the extinction of the fighting breeds. They serve no legal purpose in the modern world. The bad dog owners out there will have to get their dogs from other breeds.