Freedom!

My Mommy is FREE! Hee!
That said, on the whole we’ve still lost. The dog is still labeled “vicious” and the city still wants the dog destroyed. If the dog ever resurfaces, it’ll be killed.
She was given 100 hours community service at the Humane Society (an excellent punishment, actually, she’s deathly allergic to cats) and has been banned from ever owning another dog unless Chief is presented to the court and executed.
She doesn’t think its worth appealing the original hearing (there are legal reasons for this) but we’ll see. At least Chief wasn’t executed for just being a dog (and a pitbull).

Liquid Gold

If you don’t buy into global warming, don’t talk to me because I might just smack you upside the head. Today I experienced one of the results of global warming – we ran out of water.
Seriously, our well is currently dry. I trust that its not bone dry, just that the source that normally keeps it reasonably full has slowed to a mere trickle and we have been using the water faster than the water can be replenished in the well. At least, this is what I prefer to believe.
Not having any water SUCKS. My neighbour, who is much more rational than I, ordered us a tank of water (did you know that you can do that? I didn’t). We’ve turned the pump off that pumps water into our holding tank so that the well can refill. We’ll be rationing water until further notice (like, say, it rains). I’m trying to think of ways to ration water and still be able to keep my garden from dying, so far I’ve come up with
- washing dishes in a bucket and using that water to water the garden
- putting a bucket in the shower to catch the water, and again using that water to water the garden
Plus some general rationing tips
- Steve can shower at work (ok, this isn’t really a rationing tip, its just rationing OUR water)
- the “if its yellow, let it mellow, if its brown flush it down” bit, although it’s HOT and that seems really unpleasant.
Any other ideas?
(and yes, being pregnant and suffering through a heatwave without water is not my idea of good times. Nope. Not at all.).

the blank page

but I don’t really feel like updating. It’s hot, I’m tired.
I’ll think of something blog-worthy to post tomorrow, I just wanted to get rid of the blank page.

Weekends of Fun

Steve and I have spent the last two weekends camping and houseboating, which has been a lot of fun. Unfortunately I’m not as young as I once was and all this partying is making me very sleepy. I actually had a nap Saturday afternoon to make up for the lack of sleep I got on Friday night. I never nap.
Being pregnant really puts a damper on summer fun activities, too. You can’t waterski, tube, knee-board or even sit in the hot tub (which didn’t really bother me because the hot tub was disgusting). Nothing. All you can do is ride around in the boat. I did go out for a swim, which was FREEZING, because I couldn’t get a wetsuit on over my belly. meh.
We’re still a long way from being ready for the spawn to arrive and I’m starting to feel the fire burning under my ass. We have so much to do its ridiculous. We have to prepare the baby’s room and the trickle-down effect of tasks that will happen as a result (the office has to move downstairs, but before that can happen, the new flooring downstairs has to be put in..etc, etc, etc). Plus I haven’t done anything to prepare for birth. Where did the time go?!
Vegas was in the kennel this past weekend and I was a little upset to find out that the kennel changed owners, but as it was, it turned out just peachy. The new owner was awesome and took my concerns regardning my dog seriously, spending extra time getting to know him and she knew how to respond to a shy and timid dog. Turns out she used to work for the old owners, so she was familiar with Vegas, but she spent extra time letting Vegas get used to her and didn’t put him in any situation where he might respond aggressively out of fear. Finding a good kennel was a task for me, so I was a little nervous about the change in ownership.
So, basically, the only thing new is that we’re busy, busy, busy with summer fun and thinking about maybe getting prepared for the spawn!

Dog Racism

There has been a high level of dog drama in my family lately. I’ve been hesitant to write about it here for a couple of reasons. Not all of my readers are dog lovers and will tune out almost immediately on me relaying this story. Not all understand the complexity of the dog relationship with other dogs or people and having that conversation with dog-ignorant folks and then being forced to listen to the same old myths being perpetrated is exceedingly frustrating for me and it takes all of my self-control to not get overly emotional. Lastly, the dog in question is a pitbull and the sheer mention of the word “pitbull” causes people to physically react, even self-proclaimed “dog lovers”.
It’s that instant reaction that I want to address because, honestly, its a byproduct of our fear-mongering, media-driven society and the breed is just a convenient target. This reaction has taken a life of its own in Canada, and I suspect North America, resulting in breed bans and legislation that seriously undermines the quality of life of these dogs. As a result of this ignorance in our society my parents are being forced to surrendor their dog for execution.
I’ll first have to bring you up to speed on the story. Let me introduce you to my parent’s dog, Chief.
Chief is an Staffordshire Bull Terrier, a type of “pitbull”. My parents bought him from a reputable breeder in the US, and had him flown to Calgary in May 2002. He was properly socialized with people and other dogs, and is a real joy to have around. He’s been around my neice and nephew from the time they were babies, and is excellent with the children in the neighbourhood, greets everyone at the door with a “grin” and is highly enthusiastic. Chief is a wonderful family dog and not a single person who has met this dog will disagree. That isn’t an exaggeration on my part either. He’s a well-trained and well-loved pet.
In the last two years, Chief has been in three doggie scuffles. In two of the situations he was off-leash in a ravine behind my parents house that is considered to be an on-leash area. In the last scuffle he was actually leashed and attempting to protect both my Mom and a puppy she was saving from a dog that was being too aggressive for Chief’s liking. The scuffles resulted in the dogs biting each other. However, as previously mentioned, Chief is a pitbull and I swear to God, people see a pitbull and immediately recognize that they can use this situation to their advantae. It’s like they see dollar signs stamped on the dog’s butt and as such purposely escalate the situation (ok, that’s just my own opinion but if he was a Retriever, I suspect the outcome would have been highly different).
In all three cases Animal Control was called and my parents were fined. In the first case, the fine was thrown out of court although the owners of that dog have taken the matter to civil court in an attempt to get money. In the second and third case, my parents paid the fines, and have taken full responsibility for their role in the dog scuffles. I should also mention one of the other dogs involved was a rottweiler.
Then my Mom was called in for some sort of hearing to determine if Chief was a vicious dog because he had biten “Three People”. THREE PEOPLE?! When did dogs suddenly start being referred to as people? This happened in what I believed to be traffic court (where animal control issues are dealt with). She went to the hearing thinking that obviously it would be thrown out because Chief has not ever biten a person or even made like he might bite a person. As previously mentioned, Chief is a well socialized dog who is very comfortable around people.
Five minutes prior to the hearing she was given a rather thick package and told that this is what would be discussed during the hearing. She was totally confused by this, and by the entire proceedings that followed. She didn’t show up to the hearing with a lawyer (why pay a lawyer when the charges are obviously wrong and it would be logical that it be thrown out of court?), she had attempted to call on several occassions to get details about the hearing and was treated with complete disrespect and no information was ever made available to her, and in the end she was completely bull-doozed by the Commissioner and the prosecuting party. All three owners were present (even the owner who’s fines were thrown out originally), she was not given any opportunity to defend herself, or the dog, and asked three times for an adjournment and was repeatedly denied. Basically, she was in Kangaroo Court. She cried through the entire hearing, was clearly overly emotional, and was never given an opportunity to create a true defense. She was basically told that she was white trash, a horrible, inconsiderate dog owner that is typical of anyone who would own a pitbull. Ok, those exact words were never spoken, but that was the underlying message she took away from it all.
The Commissioner declared Chief to be vicious, would very likely bite and possibly kill a child (!!) and the Commissioner ordered that my Mom hand Chief over to Animal Control immediately with his execution to take place within a month.
My Mom couldn’t hand over Chief. She couldn’t just let Animal Control and the City of Calgary kill him because of a few dog scuffles. She pleaded that rather than kill the dog that the city issue a leash and muzzle order against Chief. She accepted full responsibility for all three dog scuffles, promising that in public she would ensure that her dog was always muzzled and leashed. She even promised never to take him to another dog park again. (I’d also like to take this opportunity to say that Chief has been in off-leash dog parks since the time he arrived in Calgary, on an almost daily basis. Three incidences over the course of four years is pretty remarkable. I can’t even take Vegas to an off-leash dog park because Vegas is such an unpredictable dog).
My parents moved Chief from their home to a safe place and refused to give him up. This meant that my Mom was in contempt of court and she got herself a lawyer. Chief’s execution day came and went (it was June 3rd) and in the meantime the wheels of justice churned. On June 13th my Mom went to trail for her contempt of court hearing and the judge declared that she had to give up the dog by June 29th or face up to TWO YEARS in jail.
I’m not kidding. This is your tax dollars at work, Calgarians.
During this month of doggie drama a well-known fashion designer in Calgary had his dog tied up outside a restaurant. He left the dog (a short-haired German Pointer) momentarily to look around the corner and in that moment a little girl approached the dog, and the dog bit her. From what I read he was fined upwards of $700 and his dog? Still alive.
We’ve lost the fight for two reasons. One, my parents didn’t immediately get a lawyer for the first hearing and two, Chief is a pitbull. If this was a retriever, or a german short-haired pointer for instance, it wouldn’t have escalated to this level.
Dealing with dog altercations on a breed basis is a very bad idea. First of all, it does not educated people about the nature of dogs (and that education needs to extend to those who don’t own dogs and those that do). A dog is not a child, and to expect it to behave even better than we expect our own children to behave is naive. Once we start on this breed specific legislation and ban pitbulls, then what? Pitbulls are not more likely than any other dog to bite. I have never seen a statistic in any city or province where a Pitbull is even the top of the list. Fatal dog attacks have involved 40+ different breeds including every imaginable terrior, pomeranians, and retrievers and there has not been a single, unprovoked dog-related human fatality associated to a pitbull breed in Canadian history. NOT ONE.
A dog will bite, unprovoked, if it has not been properly socialized. Chief does not bite (people OR dogs) unprovoked. He is not an unpredictable dog, he’s simply a dog and in these three instances he was a dog displaying normal dog behaviour. The altercations, if you’re looking for somewhere to place blame, can be blamed on my parents for having their dog off-leash, and the other owners for not behaving properly when a dog is in a scuffle. For instance, screaming at the top of your lungs only escalates the situation, it doesn’t help. Just keep walking, your dog will follow you (your his pack afterall) while the other dog will follow his own owner. Think it won’t work? I can testify that it does work. Vegas was attacked by two of my neighbours dogs while we walked past their yard. Vegas yelped, I kept walking, the dogs backed off in a nano-second. Vegas was completely fine, but then again, I didn’t shave him and analyse him for possible puncture wounds all the while declaring emotional damage and demanding money.
The entire situation bothers me on so many levels. First there is the obvious grief and guilt about a wonderful dog being sentenced to death because of breed bias. Then, as an owner of an ill-socialized dog who can be unpredictable, I can’t help but wonder if this sentence would have happened to us. Chief was deemed likely to “bite a child” by some stranger and he is a dog that is so unlikely to ever bite a child, even provoked, that it is a laughable label. Yet my own labrador retriever, who has snapped at numerous children, would probably never be labeled as such because he’s considered to be the most friendly breed. Even when I point it out to people they’re instant reaction is “but your dog is a lab, not a pitbull, pitbulls bite to kill and Vegas wouldn’t do as much damage”. Are you’re really that naive? Retrievers have killed humans and other pets unprovoked, there are documented cases.
If Chief was intent on killing those dogs, they’d be dead and not frolicking in the dog park unscathed.
Breed specific legislation is a simpleton attempt to the typical problem of dogs and humans attempting to live together peacefully. The real problem isn’t the existance of certain dog breeds, but of dog owners who are not properly educated and who are not taking the appropriate steps to socialize and train their own dogs. And also of non-dog owners who are not educating themselves on how to behave in the presence of a strange dog. Banning all pitbulls, german shephards or rottweilers will NOT protect your children from dog bites, the only thing that will is education and appropriate legislation against bad dog OWNERS.
It also isn’t a “big dog” problem. Owners of small dogs should be just as pro-active in training and knowing their own dogs. Often a small dog is more likely to be aggressive because they are the alpha dog in the family (the dog sleeps on the bed, sits on your lap, protects the home – all qualities of an alpha dog, and an alpha is his job is to do – protect his family). I’m no saint here, either. My own dog is allowed to lounge about on the furniture and feels that his job is to warn me of all approaching persons, deer, birds, snakes and rabbits. If someone, or something enters his domain without the proper greeting (which is quite the production at my house, let me tell you) Vegas WILL snap out a warning to stay away.
I don’t know that we can save Chief, but that doesn’t mean we can’t annoy the hell out of the City of Calgary, and Animal Control. If you’re outraged by this ruling, or even just outraged by how the proceedings took place, let them know – ccweb@calgary.ca.
If you’re interested in the fight to protect breeds from breed specific legislation in Canada you can get information here:
Advocates for the Underdog
Banned Aid Coalition
Dog Legislation Council of Canada
GoodPooch.com has an excellent review on the pitfalls of breed specific legislation and dog racism.
The Straffordshire Terrior Clubs of Canada also talk about breed specific legislation
Staffordshire Bull Terrier Club of Canada
American Staffordshire Terrier Club of Canada

Pitbull Myths
Some myths about pitbulls that started this fear of the breed that are simply NOT TRUE.
Pitbulls have locking jaws
Ha! What? And No. The jaw of the pitbull functins the same as the jaw of any other dog. I can take a bone away from Chief as easily as I can take a bone from Vegas.
Pitbulls have more bite pressure per square inch than any other breed
Again, who makes this stuff up? There has never been a study that confirms this, and how the hell do you measure it anyway? The pressure of a dog bite, any dog bite, is going to depend on the situation at hand, too.
Pitbulls attack more people than any other breed
The statistics of dog bites is hard to weed through, but one thing is clear, the number of bites of a specific breed is in direct relation to the number of dogs in existance. As more and more people adopt retrievers as the ultimate family dog, instead of the many dogs under the “pitbull” heading (which historically were a family dog), the number of bites attributed to retrievers is increasing.
Dogs that are aggressive towards dogs are aggressive towards people
No, the two types of behaviour are very different. Inter-dog aggression is a normal behaviour trait of any terrior breed. Human agression is often a sign of an ill-socialized, scared or tormented dog.