I Met a Stranger's Pittie Today

[Copper'sMom]

At Tim Hortons this morning, there was a young guy standing outside with a beautiful brindle Pit Bull - no muzzle! So I stopped to talk to him and asked about why he wasn't wearing a muzzle. He said "It's not my dog, the owner is inside." So I chatted with him about why it is important he wears a muzzle. At first, I just ignored the dog because I didn't know what he was like. He sniffed me and I put my hand down and patted him on the head. I saw he was friendly so I knelt down and he began to lick my face. The guy told him to stop, but I said "it was ok, that's what they like to do." I started to fall in love.:love:
The owner came out, so I proceeded to talk to her about the muzzle. She said "he's such a good dog, I don't want to feel as though he is being punished for no reason." I told her I couldn't agree more, but for the safety of her dog, he should wear one. I told her about Missie and 16's incident, how it was nothing more than an accident but yet resulted in the dog being pts.

I hope she ponders what I told her. Now, I will always think of Zeus(dog) and pray nothing happens to him. He is such a handsome boy - I think my little Zoe will look just like him but a different colour!

Oh and then Copper(he was in the car) saw me petting Zeus and started barking like a jealous idiot. LOL Zeus never even looked his way! What a sweet boy!!

[gdamadg]

It is a sad thing that some owners and well most of the general public don't know the full extent of this law. And the extreme possible outcomes. It is the provinces law, they should have did some sort of educational advertisement. Maybe a little more than a 2 min spot on the local news the day it came into effect.

I hope that wonderful dog's owner does take your advice to heart and protects him.

[doggy lover]

I've seen dogs here with no muzzle too, I personally wouldn't take the chance especially here in the city. This could mean the death of their pet, never mind screw the government, this is your pets life. People say oh I didn't know, come on how many times has this been in the news over the past months, I don't believe they are ignorant, just stupid.

[PetFriendly]

There is also a mis-conception that if you had the dog before the legislation took effect, then its 'grandfathered' and doesn't need the muzzle...

Charley and I met a young man walking an akita/pit cross. The dog was extremely friendly and calm. I asked the owner how come the dog wasn't muzzled and he said that the 'by-law guy' had told him the dog was granfathered and since they aren't animal experts and the dog was obviously a mix of some sort, they weren't even going to push the issue even if complaints are received as they couldn't prove the dog was a pit mix anyway.

All in all, the by-law people, or maybe the population in general don't care much for the law because there are a number of dogs subject to BSL around here, all which are friendly and we stop to visit with, none of which have ever been seen muzzled.

[Melinda]

I have not seen one pit or pitX with a muzzle on yet in Cornwall, even at the Santa parade two weekends ago, there were two involved in the parade, walking on leashes, no muzzles, one across from us watching the parade with it's owner, no muzzle, the cops were walking the stretch, nothing was done, we meet up with our regular three at the unofficial dog park, and they aren't muzzled and are still running loose with the rest of our dogs, one belongs to a volunteer police and one to a paramedic....it's not being enforced here at all, nothing in the papers either.

[babyrocky1]

Well Coppers Mom, you did your best, Good for you for trying, Im getting tired of people thinking Im paranoid when I warn them, but I keep doing it anyways. Thing is this law is so ridiculous that people that havent been paying attention throughout it all just think its too far out there to be real! One of my neghbours has her vet papers calling the dog something else, her dog is a cross and small but still... I tried to tell her but she hasn't been hasselled so far so thinks she is fine.