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Living with Breed Specific Legislation

I can't go home.  Well, I can go home but I have to leave two members of my family behind if I do because of bsl.  I certainly can’t consider ever moving back to Ontario, but even to visit is complicated.  I would like to take a road trip there with the dogs, but that's impossible.  In order to go back and visit my Dad's grave for the first time I had to leave my husband at home to care for our elderly, special needs dog who is not allowed inside Ontario's borders. Competition obedience is my hobby of choice.  I can't consider going to obedience trials with my young dog in Ontario – even if there were an exemption, why would I want to take her somewhere where she would be sneered at even more and have to wear a muzzle all of the time? 

 

I don't trust the media.  When I first started fighting against bsl well over a decade ago, I began to realize that the media wasn't getting the truth out there.  They seemed more preoccupied with selling sensationalism than facts.  I have to wonder, if the media does this with a relatively small issue (not small to me of course but in the grand scheme of things) what on earth is the truth beneath some of the larger issues?  This issue opened my eyes to the extent at which the media is willing to misinform the public.

 

My view of politicians has changed for the worse, which is saying something because my Father was a politician and in fact suffered a fatal brain aneurysm during a council meeting.  I feel now as though politicians would rather look good than do good, at any cost.  I feel betrayed, not only by those politicians, but by a system that would allow my rights as a Canadian to be taken away so quickly with the stroke of a pen, defying expert opinion, logic, facts and data. Why on earth would any government that wanted to serve its constituents enact legislation that doesn’t work when there is such a good example of what does work right here in our own country in Calgary?

 

Even as far away from Ontario as Vancouver Island, I hear from people that my breed is vicious.  That “they're banned in Ontario you know”.  Bsl has created prejudice and fed false stereotypes.  It is no more than government sanctioned prejudiced based on physical appearance. 

 

I feel as though I am lumped in with dogfighters and drug dealers at times, and yet I am a responsible, law abiding, business owning, community club volunteer with absolutely no criminal record.  I rarely even have a glass of wine with dinner.  I am pretty much as straight arrow living as one can get.  My dogs are competition obedience dogs, well socialized, well behaved, stable, balanced animals.

 

I have an obedience trainer friend who used to have AmStaffs, who loves mine, and would like to have one again but just got so tired of the politics and being treated badly by people.

 

I live in fear that the ban will not be overturned even though it is clearly wrong and is not even remotely effective.  I fear that politicians in other municpalities and provinces are watching and waiting, the threat of a costly legal challenge being one of the hurdles that has thus far prevented bsl in some areas.  I feel as though at any moment, I could be dealing with a breed ban in my area.

 

I feel guilty that I can't afford to fight bsl full time.  I am constantly asking people to support the fight against it, asking for donations, raising awareness.  Sometimes I feel like I don't just own dogs, I own a mission.  My dogs don't get to just be dogs, they have to be ambassadors all of the time, and behave better than any other dog in the room, which is easy for them because they are good, but that's not the point.  It’s not fair to put higher expectations on them than on every other dog.

 

That is a little of how bsl has had an effect on my life.

 

 

7 Comments

  1. Anonymous says:

    I feel like a mirror image,I have been fighting this Heinous and Evil law also for many years.
    While I lived in Portugal around 3 years ago I actually phoned an opposition party in Onscario
    to make a suggestion that they go after the animal-lovers vote I never got that far could not get passed
    the half-witted secretary ,after about 3 calls I gave up.At the time their was much on the web from Onscarians
    that those 2 GENOCIDAL MANIACS were going to be voted out,to my HORROR they got back in.
    HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

  2. Anonymous says:

    People like MÇguinty and Bryant,Kory Nelson and Doug Kelley of Denver,Sean Gallagher of Dade County.These areas
    are undoubtably the worst affected.These 3 poor excuses for Humans have afew common points.
    1)They are all EGOTISTICAL.
    2)They all enjoy NOTORIETY.
    3)They are all DYSFUNCTIONAL and COWARDS
    And I do beleive that until SCUM like these are removed from any form of POWER the position will
    worsen.
    So for G-D's sake VOTE them OUT and stop them playing G-D.

  3. Anonymous says:

    I don't know! Sometimes I think voters in Canada feel like they have no good choice. Voter turnout is generally pathetic. Like I said, our politicians are so much more concerned with looking good than doing good. Whatever they think will “sell”.
    While I sit here and wait to see what the court decision in the Ontario Court of Appeal is, I find myself very anxious.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Not an excuse,animal-lovers have to rally round,find a candidate that is not completeley useless
    but is not a GENOCIDAL MANIAC and CANVASS for him,do whatever it takes but get rid of MÇguinty and Bryant
    and probably the rest of the Labour party.
    Regarding the case I am not as confident as you,as I see no reason that the Judges needed to reserve judgement,to me it was a stall,
    also they should have stopped the MURDERING of animals in the meantime.
    VOTE THEM OUT,that what you have to do to save the lives of innocent animals.

  5. Anonymous says:

    I guess you had to be there. The case is very complex, we have provided a mountain of evidence, they have to look through it. When the case involves overturning a law, they always reserve judgement. The last thing I would have wanted was for them to spit it out right after the arguments, especially since the government's case is based on nothing but lies and cherry-picking.
    I'm confident, but we'll have to wait and see.

  6. Anonymous says:

    I do not disagree with all that you say.Merely this is an ILLEGAL law,the very principle of law is it must be FAIR and REASONABLE,if not
    the DECENT HUMANS ,MUST DESIST. If tomorrow if lets say Bryant got a law through that all children with blonde hair and blue eyes
    must be “euthanised”,there would be a public outcry and the law would be blown away in 5 minutes,the Judges in a case like that would not reserve judgement,and would rule immediately,BSL is equally as ridiculous if I looked a bit like Osama bin Laden I could be arrested charged,convicted and
    “Euthanised” ABSOLUTE RUBBISH.
    I just hope and pray that in time to come the perpetrators of this Evil are criminally charged.
    In the meantime SAVE THE ANIMALS VOTE VOTE VOTE them out.

  7. Anonymous says:

    Um, we kind of get it. We've been fighting this for four years straight now.
    Parts of the law were found unconsitutional at the Superior Court of Justice. We want the whole thing tossed out, hence the Appeal.
    Whether it is illegal or not is up to the Bench to decide. Whether it is immoral or not is already decided – it is.
    We obviously didn't vote for the McGuinty 'Liberals' (hah!) but due to a bad campaign, the opposition didn't get the votes needed to give them the boot. We tried, trust me.
    We need money to keep up this fight, so given your strong feelings, may I suggest you visit the 'Donate to the Legal Fund' link on our left sidebar?
    Thanks in advance for your support.

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