The last week has been interesting mostly because I fell into the eye of the storm around Breed Specific Legislation and found myself in the crosshairs of an extremely powerful, determined and smart special interest group. And all of you out there who think that my rantings about dog issues don't concern you - read on - you might be surprised. Let's be clear - I am not in favour of banning breeds of dog. But dogs loosely called Pitbulls and Pit mixes are being killed in droves every day in animal shelters across this fruited plain - the USA.
Those who have attacked me have claimed that is a myth. They are smart, no question about that. Because, as they say, few if any, registered purebred Pitbulls are actually being killed - the ones we're talking about are the hundreds of thousands of mongrels (I prefer the word 'mutt' but lets stick with their language). So, they can sit back in their easy chairs not worrying, because after all - we're not killing Pitbulls, just those pretend ones.
'Education' to teach dog owners the benefits of spay & neuter is all well and good, and low cost and free 'fix' programs are better - but - those are not keeping pace with production, to put it in pure numbers. Incentives, including legislating how and where dogs may be bred isn't an attack on someone's civil liberties which is what my detractors are accusing me of. It's an act of humanity towards man's best friend.
In a flurry of e mail exchanges which became more rabid by the day, I was told in no uncertain terms by members of the American Staffordshire Terrier and Pitbull community that they would fight me all the way 'to the Supreme Court' and in one e mail my status as an immigrant was raised. Erm, if I'm not mistaken this little dog called a Staffordshire and the game called dogfighting was introduced by immigrants, no? Probably from the same part of the world I come from. Or maybe it was Native Americans who bred Pitbulls for dog fighting. I didn't think so.
But read on - because one of the ironies in the debate about Pitbulls is that these days the media coverage has tended to focus on 'thugs' who own pitbulls (for 'thug' read ethnic minority), but historically a bunch of white folk were the first breeders of the dogs used in fighting, and some of those men are eulogised on the website of the American Dog Breeders Association (one of the the primary Purebreed Registries of Pitbulls). Check out sites about Don Mayfield and Bert Sorrells, read about a major Pitbull breeder Norman Hooten, who, while a Sherriff in Kinney Texas, was one of 23 men arrested at a dogfight in Bastrop.
One of the favorite tactics of those who despise the animal rights movement is to circulate quotes from animal rights radicals like Peter Singer - these tend to be panic inducing quotes that hint at a dark future where no-one will be able to own a pet of any kind. If anyone tells me I can't own a pet, watch out, I'll get my squirt bottle out right now.
But let me return the favour - I've read the graphic and glorifying descriptions of dogfights, and the ability of these dogs to rip into one another, I've looked at the photos of these upstanding guys with their dogs - with ears cropped so close to their heads they aren't even recognisable as ears. Today, when one of those mutilated dogs comes into a shelter we all gasp in horror. There are videos of dog fighting on websites that are pretty disturbing and I've read the descriptions of a man who used to send his wife out of the room while he 'got real friendly' with his fighting dog and fondled the dog's testicles - apparently to stop the dog jumping on him while driving.
You know what? I didn't care about all this stuff that much. I wanted to see fewer Pitbulls and Pit mixes born so that fewer of them would die in shelters. It was that simple. But when you venture into the land of the attack breeder, you feel the teeth in your neck. I am not an animal rights activist. I'm one of those ho hum animal welfare advocates. Wanna see Police Departments out of Animal Shelters, wanna make sure there are no heart injection euthanasias done, wanna create foster programs for kittens, and don't want to watch as breeds are banned across America as a knee jerk reaction to fatal or serious maulings. I have a friend who has been harrassed badly by her landlord for owning a gorgeous Pit/American Bulldog mix. It shocks and outrages my sense of personal freedom. And finding myself on the receiving end of the hostility outrages my sense of personal safety also.
Spaying and neutering animals - even with the weight of legislation behind it - is not an attack on your personal reproductive systems people. The same woman who threatened me with the Supreme Court spoke up at a Humane Commission meeting and made the demand that the Police - the Police, not just Animal Control Officers, go to parks and give citations to those people who have their dogs off leash. Trying to give your dog a bit of running around time at the end of your busy work day isn't something that should be criminalised. Yet she said, with some fervour that Berkeley PD should be doing just that. But fix a dog to prevent a litter being born in a backyard and then dumped at 6 weeks when they start pooping too much? Oh no, can't do that.
When I mentioned in one of the e mail exchanges that I owned a Papillon MIX, back came, from two people simultaneously an official breed description of the Papillon saying how they might be a bit dog aggressive if not socialised early and that their high strung nature and possible timidity should caution you against leaving them alone with kids. First off, if you don' t know what a Papillon looks like, think 15 pound fur covered Butterfly, and do a quick visual comparison between the jaws of a Pitbull and a butterfly and secondly....perhaps this is the reason some purebred dogs have a wee image problem in the public consciousness....
Let's not fight. I'm not in the mood. I wasn't looking for a fight, and I'm not gonna have one. I've removed the item about mandatory spay and neuter for Pitbulls from the Commission agenda and I'm going to retire to the country and breed earthworms.
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