Thursday, March 29, 2012

Beyond the Myth Toronto at Pawsway

We, the DLCC, are pleased to announce a repeat screening of Beyond The Myth in Toronto at Pawsway. April 22nd at 3pm, mark your calendar now! 





Where: Pawsway 245 Queens Quay West Toronto, ON M5J 2K9 

When: Sunday April 22, 2012 at 3:00pm

Tickets: $15 (limited tickets so get your tickets now!) 


Beyond the Myth is a film about 'pitbulls' and those who love and defend them. It explores the contributing factors behind the public's generalized fear of 'pitbulls' and examines the conflict existing between advocates and opponents of Breed Specific Legislation (BSL). It also investigates the myths associated with the breed and asks the question, what exactly is a 'pitbull'? 

Viewers are taken on a journey to four U.S. cities where Breed Specific Legislation focusing on "pit bulls" has profoundly impacted people and animals: Denver, Miami, Cincinnati, and San Francisco. 

The documentary intelligently explores the contributing factors behind the public's generalized fear of  "pit bulls", and examines the conflict existing between advocates and opponents of breed discriminatory laws, commonly referred to as breed bans. It investigates the myths associated with these breeds, challenges the idea that they are inherently vicious, presents eye-opening research regarding the media's role in influencing people's opinion on dog attacks.

There will be mingling, meet and greet plus merchandise sales and informational materials. 


For more information about the film
www.beyondthemythmovie.com



Thursday, March 8, 2012

2012 Pit Bull Model Search

Exciting news! 


Marcia Leeder, pet photographer extraordinaire,  just announced the details of the 2012 Pit Bull Model Search. Are you entering? I know I am! 


If you are interested and available to travel to Toronto (March/April - exact date TBA) for a photo shoot with Marcia Leeder Photography, check out the details at this link.

Last year Marcia was chosen as one of the professional photographers to submit images for The Unexpected Pit Bull 2012 Calendar. Check out October! I just got one at the Rally.. Love it! Thanks to Ciaron and The Unexpected Pitbull!. 


You can get yours here.



Monday, March 5, 2012

Unregistered dogs illegal to sell as purebred

Did you know it is a Federal Offence to sell any animal as a purebred if it is not registered with an association incorporated under the Animal Pedigree Act?


For many years I have noticed ads for dogs being advertised (and priced accordingly) as purebred dogs, but not registered or "papered". 


Ads such as this one;


Purebred American Staffordshire Terrier puppies for sale


We have 2 females left, the puppies are purebred (not registered/no papers) American Staffordshire Terriers. We have both parents (pictured) that can be viewed. The puppies have had thier first shots, been dewormed and have been vet checked. Puppies are ready to go to new homes. They have been raised in a home with children and other pets and will be great family dogs.


Or this one;


SEEKING an acreage or farm that may want a very loyal companion. At 8 mths old he is very obedient, comes from cougar/bear hunters bloodline. Purebreed (no papers) and his parents/breeder are located aprox 40km west of Edmonton, if wanting to view them. All shots are up to date (UTD) excellent around families/children & other dogs. He enjoys sitting outside in the sun for hours, he would much rather be outside. Reasoning behind getting rid of him is.. NOT a city dog; this breed has an issue with barriers and being in the house all the time when he enjoys just being outside. Hoping to find a good home and or family to take the time he actually needs which we haven't been able to provide.



Any quick search of the want ads will turn up multiple ads such as the examples above. 


The Animal Pedigree Act applies to all purebred animals. Animals must be registered with an association incorporated under the Act. 


The registration means a certificate issued under the authority of the Act for an animal of a distinct breed.


All animals must be tattooed or micro chipped for identification of the animal. 


All purebred animals have a pedigree which means a genealogical table showing the ancestral line of descent of a registered animal.


The purpose of the Act are to promote breed improvement and protect persons who raise and purchase animals.


The determination of what is a purebred of a distinct breed is in accordance with the by-laws of the association incorporated in respect of that distinct breed.


No association may, by its by-laws, determine that an animal is a purebred of a distinct breed if the animal has less than seven-eighths of its inheritance from the foundation stock of the animal's breed or from animals previously registered as purebreds by the association.


The certificate of registration issued must contain the following information;
-The name of the association.
-The animal's mane and particulars of the animals's individual identification.
-The animals' date of birth, sex and identification number.
-The names and identification numbers of the animal's parents.
-The name of the animal's owner.


To read a copy of the by-laws set out by the CKC (Canadian Kennel Club) use this link.


OFFENCES (link incl. in title)

Marginal note:No person shall keep records
  •  (1) Except as authorized by this Act, where an association is authorized by this Act to register or identify animals of a distinct breed or evolving breed, no person shall keep pedigrees in respect of animals of that distinct breed or evolving breed or issue any document purporting to evidence that a particular animal is of that distinct breed or evolving breed or so closely resembling a certificate of registration, or certificate of identification, as the case may be, that it would likely be mistaken for such a certificate.
  • Marginal note:No person shall issue document
    (2) No person shall issue in respect of any animal any document of any kind likely to deceive the public into believing that the document is a certificate of registration or certificate of identification in respect of the animal or that the animal is registered or identified under the authority of this Act.


In simple terms it is an offence to issue a certificate the may be mistaken for a registration paper. I have come across some pet stores issuing certificates saying they are "registration papers" but they are not issued by any association. The ones I saw were printed up, likely on the store printer, on a template certificate stating the dog was "x" breed or a health certificate. 



Prohibitions (link incl. in title)
 No person shall
  • (a) knowingly sign or present, or cause or procure to be signed or presented, to a recording officer of any association or of the Corporation any declaration or application in relation to the registration, identification or transfer of ownership of any animal, semen or embryo that contains any material false statement or representation;
  • (b) knowingly represent that a certificate of registration or certificate of identification applies to an animal other than the one in respect of which it was issued;
  • (c) knowingly represent that a semen certificate or embryo certificate applies to any semen or embryo other than the semen or embryo in respect of which it was issued;
  • (d) falsify or alter any certificate of registration, certificate of identification, semen certificate or embryo certificate;
  • (e) without an express statement that the animal’s registration or identification is from a jurisdiction other than Canada, offer to sell, contract to sell or sell, as registered or identified, or as eligible to be registered or identified, within or outside the meaning of this Act, any animal that is not registered or identified, or eligible to be registered or identified;
  • (f) offer to sell, contract to sell or sell, as recorded, or as eligible to be recorded, in the books of any association, or of the Corporation, any semen or embryo that is not recorded or eligible to be recorded in those books;
  • (g) knowingly offer to sell, contract to sell or sell any animal in a manner that is likely to create an erroneous impression that the animal is registered or eligible to be registered;
  • (h) offer to sell, contract to sell or sell, as a purebred of a breed, any animal that is not registered or eligible to be registered as a purebred by the association authorized to register animals of that breed or by the Corporation;
  • (i) without an express statement that the animal’s registration, identification or status as a purebred is from a jurisdiction other than Canada, offer to sell, contract to sell or sell, as registered or identified, or as a purebred, any animal for which there is no individual identification in accordance with the by-laws of the association that has registered or identified the animal; and
  • (j) without an express statement that the animal’s registration, identification or status as a purebred is from a jurisdiction other than Canada and that the animal will not be registered or identified in Canada by the person, sell, as registered or identified, or as eligible to be registered or identified, or as a purebred, any animal without providing to the buyer thereof within six months after the sale the animal’s duly transferred certificate of registration or certificate of identification.
Show Table of Contents
 


In a nutshell, it is prohibited to sell an animal as a purebred unless the animal is registered with an association incorporated in the Act. 


It is important to know your rights as a consumer of an animal. 


Let it be known, it is perfectly legal to sell dogs and puppies as cross bred dogs or mongrels as long as they are not sold under the guise as a purebred breed if not registered. The main point to remember is, no registration with an association incorporated by the Act, no purebred. Doesn't matter what the dog looks like. If both parents of a dog are registered purebreds, the pup is then eligible to be registered. Don't let people lead you to believe it is a huge expense or the animal is going to be more expensive because of the registration. It costs less than $25. to register a puppy if done within 120 days. 



Offence and punishment (link incl. in title)
  •  (1) Any person who contravenes any provision of this Act or the regulations
    • (a) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to a fine not exceeding twenty-five thousand dollars; or
    • (b) is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to a fine not exceeding fifty thousand dollars.



Fairly hefty fine... 


For a complete list of Breed Associations Incorporated under the Animal Pedigree Act see this link.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Second Reading Passed!

I'm back in the saddle.. 


I took a little better than a week's break. I was tired right out and didn't get blogging.


February 23rd was an amazing day in the fight to repeal the breed ban in Ontario.


Photography by Beth Mischitelle


We started the day with a Rally on the front lawn of Queen's Park. We had an amazing turn out! Some people who work at the legislature said we had a HUGE turn out for a week day! 


Photography by Beth Mischitelle


Selma did a great job emceeing the Rally and Fran and gang did a great job organizing and promoting it. There were great speakers including all three MPP's that signed on to the Bill, PC MPP Randy Hillier, 


PC MPP Randy Hillier




NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo and Liberal MPP Kim Craitor. 


Liberal MPP Kim Craitor


Our Cathy Prothro spoke on behalf of the DLCC and American Staffordshire Terrier Club of Canada. 


DLCC sec/treasurer, Pres. AST Club of Canada


She flew in for the occasion from Dartmouth NS. Squibs Mercier from the Staffordshire Bull Terrier Club of Canada flew in from Ottawa. Squibs is well into her 80's but she is a force to be reckoned with. 


Squibs Mercier SBT Club of Canada


Sonny Allinson spoke on behalf of the CKC, 


Sonny Allinson, Manager Communications Division CKC


many other MPP's who came out to greet us said a few words.. among others. I can't even list everyone who spoke. The tone was upbeat and positive. Randy Hillier bought yellow scarves for everyone to wear in support of Bill 16. Dogs and owners alike were wearing the scarves with pride.


At 1 pm we headed into the Legislature building to sit in the gallery. Petitions were read first. Several were presented including one Randy presented with over 4000 names. 


Several other Bills were debated and presented with Bill 16 debate being last for a Thursday afternoon. The House was closed on Friday so it appeared there were a lot of MPP's had left for the weekend. 


Bill 16 was read for second reading, then there was a heated debate. 


Here is a link to the Hansard for the debate.


Liberal MPP Willowdale David Zimmer's "speech" was particularly rousing. I am going to share that with you so you may read through it yourself. 


Make sure you remove any "bullshit protectors" from your eyes before reading this, otherwise you will not be able to view the following text.


Mr. David Zimmer: I think it’s important to look at some of the history leading up to this legislation.
Pre-2005—in the years leading up to 2005—members of this chamber will recall that there was a particularly nasty spate of pit bull attacks on children, on citizens walking in the park and on citizens walking in the street. These were vicious, vicious attacks: children killed, faces ripped off and the like. The member opposite talks about dog bites. In fact, they were vicious, life-threatening attacks.
There was a public outcry to do something about pit bulls. The legislation was brought in. It received second reading here, and it went off to committee.
The member opposite said there were a number of institutions that appeared at the committee hearings, which she attended, and they were opposed to the legislation. I, as the parliamentary assistant to the Attorney General, attended every one of those hearings. There were huge numbers of ordinary citizens coming in off the street in the various communities where the committee had hearings, and to a person, the ordinary, reasonable Ontario citizen said, “Protect us from these vicious pit bull attacks. Protect our children; protect our parents. Make the streets safe; make the parks safe.” So we introduced the legislation.
I can say that at the committee we saw medical reports of the results of these attacks. We saw the photographs of what happened to children and senior citizens and young adults who were attacked—horrific, horrific injuries.
Anyway, the legislation passed. And here’s how reasonable the legislation is: Really, what it says is, if you’ve got a pit bull, you’ve got to have it spayed, neutered, leashed and muzzled. That’s all; that’s what it says. In return for that, look at the protections that Ontario citizens on the street get. If somebody will merely spay, neuter, leash and muzzle their pit bull, we would be spared from these vicious, vicious life-threatening attacks. That’s why, across the board in Ontario, reasonable Ontarians said, “That’s a reasonable price to pay in exchange for protection from these kinds of attacks.” All we’re asking pit bull owners to do is to meet us a part of the way. If you’ve got a pit bull, spay it, neuter it, keep it on a leash and keep it muzzled. That’s a reasonable approach to this issue. For those four things—spay, neuter, leash, muzzle—we protect our families from these vicious pit bull attacks.
That’s why, when push came to shove, the average Ontarian out there on the street saw the reasonableness of the legislation, saw the inherent protections and realized that when the pit bull lobby was attacking the legislation—and the member opposite from Parkdale very subtly, in kind of a sly, sleight-of-hand way, referred to dog bites. There’s a big difference between a dog bite and having, as we saw in photographs—we read medical reports of children with their faces torn off; adults, men and women, with their genitalia chewed off. It was vicious—
Laughter.
Mr. David Zimmer: You laugh; you laugh. But if you go to the reports, the exhibits of the standing committee—
Interjections.
The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bas Balkissoon): Order. Order. I would ask the members on this side to keep order, please.
Mr. David Zimmer: That’s why, notwithstanding everything the pit bull lobby says, the average Ontarian in your ridings, in your communities, supported the legislation, and that’s why, when the pit bull lobby took the legislation to the courts to have it overturned—what did the courts say? The courts said that it was reasonable legislation for the harm that it protected from. It only asked for those four simple things: leash, muzzle, spay, neuter.
It’s a reasonable piece of legislation given the protections that it provides to the citizens of Ontario, and that’s why the ordinary, average citizen supported the legislation.
Yes, that's right! Genitalia! You are damn right there was laughter. I must say, even for Zimmer this was a bang your head off the furniture, bang up speech. 


The debates finished and the speaker announced the "aye's" had it. Hillier had called for a formal vote so a 5 minute bell was announced. This is a period of 5 minutes that any MPP's in the building had to get their butts in for a formal vote. It was a tense few minutes but what happened next brought all of us in the gallery to tears. The MPP's for the opposition poured in. There were only 2 empty seats. I didn't notice any additional Liberal MPP's coming in. The vote was called and ALL the opposition voted in favour of Bill 16 along with 3 Liberal MPP's. Kim Craitor, Grant Crack and Mike Colle. 


The final vote tally;

Ayes

  • Armstrong, Teresa J.
  • Arnott, Ted
  • Bailey, Robert
  • Barrett, Toby
  • Bisson, Gilles
  • Campbell, Sarah
  • Chudleigh, Ted
  • Clark, Steve
  • Colle, Mike
  • Crack, Grant
  • Craitor, Kim
  • DiNovo, Cheri
  • Dunlop, Garfield
  • Elliott, Christine
  • Fedeli, Victor
  • Forster, Cindy
  • Hardeman, Ernie
  • Harris, Michael
  • Hillier, Randy
  • Horwath, Andrea
  • Hudak, Tim
  • Jackson, Rod
  • Jones, Sylvia
  • Klees, Frank
  • Leone, Rob
  • MacLaren, Jack
  • Mantha, Michael
  • Marchese, Rosario
  • McDonell, Jim
  • McKenna, Jane
  • McNaughton, Monte
  • Miller, Paul
  • Milligan, Rob E.
  • Munro, Julia
  • Natyshak, Taras
  • Nicholls, Rick
  • O’Toole, John
  • Ouellette, Jerry J.
  • Prue, Michael
  • Schein, Jonah
  • Scott, Laurie
  • Shurman, Peter
  • Singh, Jagmeet
  • Smith, Todd
  • Tabuns, Peter
  • Taylor, Monique
  • Thompson, Lisa M.
  • Vanthof, John
  • Walker, Bill
  • Wilson, Jim
  • Yurek, Jeff

Nays

  • Berardinetti, Lorenzo
  • Bradley, James J.
  • Coteau, Michael
  • Damerla, Dipika
  • Delaney, Bob
  • Dhillon, Vic
  • Dickson, Joe
  • Duguid, Brad
  • Flynn, Kevin Daniel
  • Jaczek, Helena
  • Jeffrey, Linda
  • Kwinter, Monte
  • Leal, Jeff
  • MacCharles, Tracy
  • Mangat, Amrit
  • McMeekin, Ted
  • Moridi, Reza
  • Murray, Glen R.
  • Naqvi, Yasir
  • Piruzza, Teresa
  • Qaadri, Shafiq
  • Sergio, Mario
  • Sousa, Charles
  • Wong, Soo
  • Wynne, Kathleen O.
  • Zimmer, David

51 to 26 in favour of Bill 16 (insert happy dance)

The gallery erupted into applause and tears! It was a great GREAT moment! It felt like the candle of hope that this nightmare will end in Ontario, just turned into a bush fire.  

The day ended and we left feeling as though we were walking on a cloud. 

The next step is the Bill (16) will be sent to committee hearing. This is a process where citizens from across Ontario have the opportunity to comment on, or provide evidence relating to the matter under review. 

Here is a link to the lineup of committee members. (who will sit on the committee). 

Here is a link to the committee hearings from 2004/2005 when the Dog Owners Liability Act was amended to add the ban in Ontario.

Anyone who wants to apply to present an oral presentation may do so. Oral presentations are in Hansard but written presentations are not. Anyone may also send in a written presentation. 

The information will be made available likely within the next month or so. Based on the applications, which will have a time limit put on by when one must apply, dates will follow. 

McGuinty does have the power to veto a private members Bill from returning to 3rd reading. 

We are hopeful that Dalton McGuinty has come to his senses and will allow 3rd reading following committee hearings. 

Stay tuned everyone. Hopefully we are on the road to having the breed specific language repealed from the Dog Owners Liability Act in Ontario so that we as dog owners may be treated FAIRLY AND EQUALLY UNDER THE LAW!