diablorouge

Hi my name is Midge, my wife Val and I currently live in England. Val is a serving officer in the British Army and has recently learned of a possible posting opportunity to Ontario so I joined the forum to get some idea of what to expect and have been reading the threads with interest.
However as we have a 3 year old rescue dog I thought I had better make some enquiries with regard to her. Gypsy is a Staffordshire Bull Terrier and is very much part of our family (we have no kids) and of course we would wish to take her with us to Canada, but I have been alarmed to read of Breed Specific Legislation banning "Pit Bull Types" in Ontario. That is to say restricting them in maintaining that they must be speyed or neutered, wearing of muzzles etc. It also states that no new "stock" may be imported?
Gypsy was already speyed when we adopted her from the rescue society, we never had any intention to breed her, she is just a much loved family pet.
It would be devastating to find that we could not continue our dream to live, work and eventually settle in Canada because we are dog lovers.
Am I reading this correctly? Does new stock mean new breeding stock
or does it apply to any living, breathing Staffordshire Bull Terrier, regardless of it's ability to breed? If so are there any other provinces which do not have such a blinkered view of this breed? any advice or information gratefully received

Brownstar

A lot of the provinces are getting wise to vicious breeds of dog..........big issue with dog attacks in Calgary at present.

dbd33

BC is lax on animal regulation, lots of pit bulls from Ontario were shipped there.

The4BellsLondon

Pit Bulls are allowed in BC - there are some links -will have a look . . . .
http://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.o...la-pubsfty.asp

fledermaus

Perhaps these people could help with info
http://www.staffordcanada.com/bsl.html

The4BellsLondon

Fked - amazing the info we can drag up innit??

I used to have a staff uy -was a lovely dog!!

diablorouge

Thanks all for the info so far, except the vicious dog comment, let me tell you my friend our girl has never bitten anyone and for your information Labradors bite far more people than do Staffordshire Bull Terriers.
I have had word from a very kind lady at the Canada Staffordshire Bull Terrier Club who has given me the unfortunate news that there is no chance of importing our dog into that province, devastating as this was just the place we had hoped to move to as my wife had the chance of two jobs there. It was also ideal for its proximity to the US of A as we have some close friends who live down there. I will take a deep breath before giving this news to my good lady as she will be as upset as me. WIll have to look at BC and see what property prices etc are like down there?
Keep the info coming folks mustnt let this get me down too much.

Midge

Brownstar

Just pointing out the situation here............your opinion/my opinion, never said your dog had bitten anyone but dogs bite and can kill. Your response was typical of a blinkered dog lover.

christmasoompa

BC is generally said to stand for Bring Cash! But it does depend on where you live there - Vancouver for example is v expensive but there are other cheaper areas which are apparently lovely.

But would you definitely get a visa for BC? If your wife had a job offer for Ontario, that may have got her a visa (assuming the job offer was approved by HRSDC), but will she definitely get one for BC? Worth looking at before you start worrying about areas anyway - most people these days need a job offer to get a visa, obviously tricky given the recession over there, and depending on what her job is she may just have to go wherever she can find work. So don't get too fixated on researching provinces until you know where her skills are in demand.

And labs do bite more people - but there are far more of them so that's why. If you compare stats for similar numbers, staffs bite more than labs. Nothing against staffs, I certainly don't have anything against them and know that they are known as 'nanny dogs' for being good with kids, but just had to say that that argument is flawed!!

Good luck with it all.

Butch Cassidy

On those whole which breed bites most argument, can I throw this one in. Compare the number of dogs that bite with the number of dogs that are starved, beaten and/or abandoned. OOPS looks like the numbers are skewed in favour of dogs being LESS dangerous and 'abusive' to humans than humans are to dogs.

OK I'll get off my soap box again.

Brownstar

Very true............perhaps they should all be put down to put them out of their misery and us out of danger?

Almost Canadian

I love the reference to ""vicious breeds of dog" - which ones are they then?

I don't know of any breed of dog that has a greater propensity to bite, although I fully accept that there are lots of people that think there are.

How a dog behaves depends to a very large extent upon how its owners want it to.

Almost Canadian

I don't think all humans should be put down - I need a few to perform odd jobs around my house

Brownstar

Unfortunatey that is the case.........same with their kids too

diablorouge

Okay, wish I hadn't bothered asking now It was obviously asking too much to get any really sensible replies. For those of you that were constructive thanks for trying to advise me.