I just wanted to share an experience. Disregard my bad grammar I'm just typing as I would talk. I woke up this morning and had a feeling that the fence blew over again, and I was right. Luckily my dogs were sleeping safe beside me, It brought me back to what happend to our Buffy almost 6 years ago...There was a bad wind storm and one part of our fence blew over. My dog Buffy got out and she wandered into someone's backyard. When I realized she was missing I had the sickest feeling in my stomach and immediately started running around asking people if they've seen her. I was unsure what would happen if animal control picked her up, after all she is a "PITBULL". She didn't have her dog tag on because I had given her a bath the day before and I took all her tags off! It was just bad luck! The people who found her said she was really sweet and didn't do anything wrong, they even thought about keeping her but she had a collar on so they called the SPCA. I called animal control hoping to find her explaining what happened and what breed she was, surprisingly they treated me like a criminal, had no sympathy or understanding just flat out told me that her roaming free without a muzzle and a leash I can get charged and her euthanized. "well you can come down and look for her if you want, but you better bring evidence and proof that she is registered in Ontario before the ban".We rescued her from Mississauga which is a ways away from where we live so she wasn't in their system. We grabbed all her papers and our muzzle and leash and flew down there. We waited in line for a long time and witnessed that another lady had lost her dog. It seemed there was no problem, they just gave her dog back no questions asked, and she walked out with a smile. However our experience was much different. Before we could even look for Buffy they demanded they see evidence that our dog was legal in Ontario and told us we'll have to pay a fine before we can take her. Kennel staff escorted me to the kennel wards to look for her and told us "it's not often pit bull owners come back for their dogs". We finally found her after looking through rows and rows of dogs and It was one of the happiest moments of my life. I thought I'd be able to just take her home, but instead they took me back to the front desk and THREATENED ME. "If this happens again You will NOT get your dog back and she will be euthanized. They also demanded we have a longer leash, so we had to drive all the way home and get the bigger one. By the time we got back they were closing and said she'd have to spend the night in the pound and we could pick her up when her papers are confirmed by so and so officer and the Mississauga SPCA . Now if this was any other breed of dog, there would be no problem, however because my dog has a boxy head, almond shaped eyes, and is a bit muscular she is an illegal breed. So my life since has been full of worry for my dogs, especially Buffy. I dont go on long vacations, I don't like to go anywhere because I fear that one day one of my dogs will get out again. It's a constant sick worry feeling. Thats why BSL has to change. Its NOT FAIR to dog owners and it's NOT fair to dogs. We were guilty until proven innocent. THIS NEEDS TO CHANGE.
