Caveat

COULD THE CKC PUSH FOR ACCURACY IN DOG LICENSING?

A Montreal 'pit bull'

 

The Canadian Kennel Club (CKC) is a federally accredited registry, whose job it is to protect pedigrees, keep breed standards, name breeds and ensure that purebred dogs are individually identified,  among other things.  They operate under the Pedigree Act.  It occurs to me that they might help with a dog licensing problem whereby so many  dogs are supposedly a particular breed they barely resemble.

What if the CKC, using its federal status, could insist that a dog licensed as, say, a Beagle, could only be listed that way if the owner presented a Registration Certificate from the CKC (or others with status in Canada, such as the AKC, UKC or ADBA)?

All other dogs would be simply mixed breeds.

Which is what they are.

Municipalities are touchy and like to protect their turf, so how about if they decided that this was how their system should work on their own?  Got a German Shepherd Dog?  Prove it, otherwise he's just a mutt.

That would certainly add to overall accuracy, which lately seems to be a bit of a problem.

In my experience,  the absolute worst people at identifying what breed type a dog might be are people at pounds, shelters and in police departments.  I suspect this is because they so rarely see purebred dogs.  If you adopt a dog from a shelter he'll likely come with a breed designation of some sort, for reasons that are unclear.  I see no reason for breed to be on a dog licence at all, but if it's deemed necessary, at least get it right.

Check out this article for a good laugh and then realize it's not so funny.  If this dog bit somebody, it would be recorded as a 'pit bull' bite.

http://montreal.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20111109/mtl_pitbull_111109/20111109/?hub=MontrealHome

So, how about it Toronto?  Are you ready to get real with your 'breed' designations in the licensing database?

Or better yet, why don't you just scrap the whole silly guess-the-breed policy?  If my dog is licensed and microchipped, you don't need to know what 'breed' he is if you find him.  His dog tag has my contact info attached to it.  If it's lost, you can scan his chip.

I'll bet your licensing compliance would increase markedly if you did this.

Just sayin'.

 

 Thanks to Brent for the link to CTV.

DOG CONTROL BILL TO REPLACE BRITAIN'S DDA PASSES HOUSE OF LORDS

DOG CONTROL BILL TO CONTINUE TO COMMONS

As Bill successfully passes through the House of Lords

 

The House of Lords gave its full backing to a long awaited overhaul of the Dangerous Dogs Act today (Wednesday 26 October) as the Dog Control Bill successfully passed through all stages in the Lords.

 

Lord Redesdale’s Bill, which proposes to replace failed dangerous dog legislation with effective preventative regulation, including Dog Control Notices, and extending legislation to cover both public and private places, was supported by the Dangerous Dogs Act Study Group (DDASG).

 

DDASG represents animal welfare groups, local authorities and veterinary professional organisations which include Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, The Blue Cross, British Veterinary Association, Dogs Trust, the Kennel Club, Mayhew Animal Home, Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, Wandsworth Borough Council and Wood Green Animal Shelters.

 

Wandsworth Dog Control Service Manager and DDASG Chairman, Mark Callis said: “Our members all know from personal experience that the aggressive, problematic dogs are always the ones which have been treated badly, neglected, or, in some of the worst cases, deliberately trained to intimidate others. This Bill would give us the powers we need to tackle the root cause of the country's dangerous dog issues - bad owners.”

 

The Commons will now continue the debate as the Bill moves on in its passage through the parliamentary process. 

 

Following the success of the Third Reading of the Bill, Lord Redesdale commented: “I am delighted to have been part of this movement to push for the revision of existing dangerous dogs legislation. By introducing preventative measures, such as dog control orders, problem behaviour can be addressed before more serious incidents take place. This will go a long way towards protecting the public and ensuring responsible dog ownership for the benefit of all.“  

 

In support of the Bill, DDASG launched a petition which has now received over 10,000 signatures. The petition can be found at http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/repeal-and-replace-the-dangerous-dogs-act.html. The Bill forms part of a call by all leading animal welfare organisations, trade unions, and enforcement bodies to urgently review failed dog control legislation and find solutions to irresponsible dog ownership.

 

For more information on DDASG, Lord Redesdale’s Dog Control Bill and current legislation visit http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/item/928.

 

ENDS

 

26^th October 2011

[---.11]

 

 

 

WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH POLITICIANS AND DOG OWNERS?

I don't get it.

Whenever I'm at a political function, I always bring up the fact that there are an estimated three million dogs  in Ontario - and somebody owns them.

My old buddy Goodpooch, who dismantled her excellent website a couple of years ago, used to say that she used people's opinions on "pit bulls" to gauge their overall intelligence and level of education.  I have to agree it's one of the best barometers around.  

News media types don't count because they get such a thrill out of watching their web hits increase every time they run a puerile editorial or dog bite story about "pit bulls".   Ethics and news reporting part ways when "pit bulls" come to town.  It's all about the money, honey - increased hits equal higher ad rates.  That's why I ignore all but informed, intelligent news commentary about dogs in general and "pit bulls" in particular.

But I digress.

Back to the matter at hand.

Whenever I mention the dog owner demographic and point out that people think of their dogs as family members, that they spend huge amounts of money on equipment, food, training, medical care, travel, etc to keep their dogs happy and that there are nearly three million of them, give or take, I invariably get the same reaction:  "Yeah, right, now as I was saying, these 'Working Families' could present a problem...."

Huh?  How many of them are there?  A hundred thousand, maybe?  Dude, I'm talking about three million dedicated people who love their dogs and are opposed to McGuinty's breed ban and by extension, McGuinty himself.  We can dust all the 'Working Families' types combined.

Why is this constituency ignored?  A few souls such as Cheri Di Novo (NDP MPP Parkdale-High Park) and Julia Munro (PC MPP York North) and a couple of others have kept the issue alive but overall, unless it's hot, it seems that politicians just don't care about us.

If it's because they think "pit bull" bans are 'old news' or wildly popular, they're wrong.  They matter to those of us who a) know something about dogs and b) believe that laws should govern behaviour, not appearance.  Laws like the Ontario "breed" ban (and others passed by McGuinty) are un-Canadian.

I have read all the emails that were sent to City TV back when the ban was initially being debated.  The stack is about 8 inches high.  In it are just a handful of notes supporting the ban.  And I mean three or four.

Remember the AG's comments about how he had heard from people?  Depending on the day, he claimed to have received 4,000 or 5,000 emails.  Funny that he never read any of them out during the House debates, eh wot?  Gee, do you suppose that 99.9% of them could have been - gasp! - against the ban?

At Committee, as we all know, every expert organization and individual who appeared opposed the ban.  The only people who were in favour were  a sad and sorry few who had weak complaints about appearance, dogs chewing tree branches, dogs chasing cats, attending festivals, etc.  Two were actual victims of attacks by who-knows-what kind of dogs and for them I was sorry but banning a breed or, more accurately in Ontario, a shape of dog won't prevent that from happening.  Duh.

I have read all the written presentations that were submitted to Committee - you know, the ones that don't hit Hansard.  There were a couple of hen-scratched one-pagers supporting the ban and the rest of them were opposed.  It is a big, heavy carton.

While people like former Attorney General Bryant liked to give a platform to chronic whiners and know-nothings to the exclusion of the well-informed in order to create the illusion of support, most people were neutral and dog owners were opposed.

Let's face it - people don't send hundreds of emails to TV stations, show up at Committee hearings, write letters to newspapers and politicians, start blogs, etc because they are in favour of some hare-brained political scheme.  The do it because they are opposed to it.

So, come on, Ontario politicians!  Stand up for the dog owners of Ontario and - trust me on this - they'll stand up for you on October 6.

The "pit bull" ban really is a no-brainer.

 

 Crossposted at the exciting new blog, Blowharder

WE'VE COME FULL CIRCLE - IT'S PETITION TIME AGAIN

Our first batch of the current petition was presented in the Ontario Legislature two weeks ago by MPP Julia Munro.

We plan to send petitions along as they are signed to keep the issue on the floor until the next election, when McGuinty will hopefully be ousted. 

If you LIVE IN ONTARIO, please print out the petition and try to get it signed. Each page holds 10 signatures, so it's easy to count how many you have collected.

Be careful when getting signatures. Smudges, crossouts, etc, can invalidate an entire page of petitions. 

All RESIDENTS OF ONTARIO may sign, including those who have not reached the age of majority.

I will be taking these to dog shows on a clipboard and asking people to sign. There are many opportunities to get signatures - at the dog park, the pet food shop, the groomers, among family and friends, etc.

Once you have some signatures - you don't need a full sheet - please snail mail them to:

Julia Munro, MPP

P O Box 1129

18977 Leslie Street

Sharon ON L0G 1V0

OR:

Room 204

North Wing Legislative Building

Queen's Park

Toronto, ON M7A 1A8 

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION.

TOGETHER, WE CAN END BSL IN ONTARIO!

*

The petition reads as follows:

TO: The Legislative Assembly of Ontario

WHEREAS: Aggressive dogs are found among all breeds and mixed breeds; and

WHEREAS breed-specific legislation has been shown to be an expensive and ineffective approach to dog bite prevention; and

WHEREAS problem dog owners are best dealt with through education, training and legislation encouraging responsible behaviour;

WE the undersigned petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

To repeal the breed-specific sections of the Dog Owners' Liability Act (2005) and to implement legislation that encourages responsible ownership of all dog breeds and types.