As I wrote last week I sent a letter to the editor of the Chronicle Herald correcting Peter Duffy AGAIN about his awful attitude about dogs and the letter was in today's paper! It's at http://www.herald.ns.ca/stories/2004/09/12/fLetters108.raw.html and I've also made a pdf file of the page so that anyone who wants can look at it in perpetuity at: http://users.eastlink.ca/~joansinden/CH_September12_2004.PDF
There's a Peter Duffy knock-off up in London Ontario who wrote a whole column stating why he thinks all dogs should wear muzzles when they're off their owners properties. It was absolutely abysmal and soul-crushing. But entirely fightable - everything he said can be disputed point by point, so when I have enough brain power - which is definitely not right now, I'm going to post his piece here and give a refuation. If only for my piece of mind. Having a dog that could potentially be made to wear a muzzle simply because of the way she looks and because of some of her mannerisms that other dog owners (and joggers and bicyclists) may not understand makes this a topic that is near and dear to my heart. I know that putting a muzzle on Daisy would be a signal to her that I have completely failed in keeping her safe. And I do not want to see that day come.
Wanna know the truth?
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Hey Jane - I didn't know you read the dog posts too! I went and read this and I'm pretty sure this is a different incident from the one Peter Duffy was referring too simply because that attack wasn't well publicised whereas the one in Toronto was - he didn't mention which city he was talking about - only about a pit bull attack in Ontario. This one sounds totally tragic for the dogs - it was posted August 18th and there's no follow-up - I wonder if the dogs area dead or not... - do you know?
ReplyDeleteI only came across that because of a rat board. I don't know what's gone on.
ReplyDeleteFWIW I am pretty good about reading doggy body language so I won't overreact and grab my dog away simply because another dog wants to meet her - but I have always found pit bulls, esp. boys, to be unpredictable and if one ever again (as has happened) gets my dog around the throat, I would kick it like that guy did. But I find it really stupid that shrill anti-dog types get paid any attention in the media. Same thing happened a few years ago in Massachusetts and I wrote a ticked-off letter to the Fox station and to the Dept. of Child Services about how they were being irresponsible in the dog story and that now more than ever kids need to be placed in homes where there are pets. The DCS sent me an application to be on the volunteer case review committee.