Pit bull look-alike spared the noose
N.S. rescue group saves dog from being put down under Ontario’s breed ban
By PAT LEE Staff Reporter
Given up by her owners because they were going on vacation, little Fenway was tagged to be put down at an Ontario shelter because someone deemed her to be a pit bull, a banned dog in that province.
[...] Ms. Tibbo, who also runs Boxer Rescue, said she doubts the brindle-coloured dog has any pit bull in her given her small size and pointy snout. Instead, she thinks the young dog may be a whippet mix.
But she said the breed ban in Ontario is so vague that almost any dog can meet the criteria.
“They’re basically classified as a short-haired dog with a square head. But really, that’s it,” she said Tuesday.[...]
Full article retrieved 9/10/09 from http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1141619.html
stopbslcom
weigoba
I am a American Pit bull and an American Staffy owner in Ontario. They are 6 and 12 yrs old respectively. I would never consider getting any other breed other than these. It is such a shame that such ignorant people (politicians and uninformed/hippocritic citizens who back BSL) are able to influence how we and our animals live. I do have a question regarding the above case though. What do you mean when you say that you will have the dogs DNA tested to determine the breed? There is no disticnt “BREED” of pitbull. It is not reconized by the CKC either. Which is why the law is so vague in that it says any dog with “characteristics pertaining to a pitbull” is subject to BSL and the ownus is on the owner to prove otherwise. You can’t prove that a dog is or is not a pit based on a blood sample. It will meerly determine that it is a canine or if you have the two parents samples you can prove that it is their pup. etc. The test will not come back saying “Oh, that’s a pitbull!” Could you please eloborate on this? as I’m guessing that based on said “DNA testing” results more animals will be subject to euthinization if someone decides the tests say they are a pitbull. Kindest Regards ~Kim~
Kim,
In Ontario, the following breeds are considered “pit bulls” (in addition to mixes of these breeds, or anything that looks like one of these): American Pit Bull Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier. There are a number of DNA tests out there now that claim to be able to identify a dog’s breed or mix using blood or tissue samples of a particular dog. Many of these tests include AmStaffs and SBTs in their list of recognized breeds (and I believe APBTs usually come back identified as AmStaffs, though I can’t confirm that). Although there was a lot of fear when these tests were introduced that they would be use to condemn dogs with little more than a drop of “pit bull” blood in them, I have so far only heard of cases where the tests exonerated dogs by proving that they did not have any “pit bull” blood in them. This may be due in part because government organizations aren’t required to prove that a dog is a “pit bull,” so they are not the ones having these tests done on every “pit bull” they pick up; owners are having these tests done in an effort to save their dogs. It’s not clear what the future will hold as these DNA tests improve and become less expensive.