Mavricksteve

In short unfortunately ontario has fell by making decision based on fiction an not fact pit bulls are dangerous dogs when being breed to be so staffi's are different dog in full and like any dog can bite that's why they all have teeth it's their only source of defence. It is fact more kids are hurt per year playing baseball than being attacked by any dog! FACT.

el_richo

Interesting ish read on the impact of Ontario since the ban

http://www.globalnews.ca/Pages/Story.aspx?id=6442521422

Looks like the bite rate of a pit bull was quite high

Howefamily

Are they banning certain types of dogs due to the natural disposition of a high percentage of them??
Everyone is going to have an opinion on this subject.
I am nervous of them around my children and whilst that may be through my own ignorance I feel that fear.

beautiful050278

That is an eye opener for me

snowcandy

Don't get me started...I was riding my bike last week and came across a woman with a pit bull type dog off leash in a clearly stated "on leash "area. I politely requested that she put it on it's leash, it then went for me. All I can say is thank God I did not have my two wee ones with me as my youngest daughter is nervous enough around dogs and would have totally freaked.

I can't understand why the hell someone would want one of those type of dogs as a family pet anyway, but please at least keep the bloody things on a leash.

Howefamily

This is exactly how I feel.
I was trying to be considerate earlier to the staffi/pitbull fan club but I feel the same about them. I hate the way if you child runs from them alot of them chase them and it seems its not a game. As a mother its scary

feelbritish

Just a chip in here, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier (English breed) is a much smaller and a different breed to the Pit Bull and Bull Terrier, they are descended from an "old type" bulldog from 1800, and an early English terrier which also was a mix of terriers used to go down holes after mammals. They are good with people but were bred to fight dogs. Because they brought in a lot of money to poor families especially in the "Potteries" areas of Britain they were usually kept indoors and with the family, hence their nickname of a "nanny dog to babies". The Pit Bull and Bull terrier is no relation to the original Staff from England. It is the Americans who changed the breed in 1977 to make their own version and the American Staffordshire Terrier is a much bigger dog. I have owned 3 English Staffords in my life the last one being imported to Vancouver Island. They are small dogs with the height being between 14 to 16 inches. (should come up to your knees) I know this breed well, one of my dogs being a show dog. They are like a barrel on legs. They are exhuberent dogs and because of their strengh can knock a small child over usually not intentially and frighten people.
Unfortunately over the years the wrong type of people have got hold of them and given them a bad name.
More dogs of the spanial breed and nervous dogs have bitten people. Again it is us humans who have spoilt the dogs image.
They are known however to be very protective of their home & family. In some places you have to muzzle them in public. Shame.

feelbritish

My dog was also always on a leash when we went out and it was amazing that so many people never kept their dogs on leashes especially the smaller breeds and their dogs would often bound over to my dog, who at the time was just an old lady and she hated these dogs sniffing her arse, but amazingly tolerated it while I had to tell the owners to call their dogs back, only once did she growl to a neighbours "cocapoodleoodle" to warn it to back off!
She was then attacked when she was really old, while running in the sea on the beach by a dog who came out of the blue (unfortunately I did not see it and she had tunnel vision then) and she then decided she was not leaving her garden even for the 30sec walk to beach!

People still walk their dogs past my house to the beach here off lead and they crap on my lawn or run over my garden because the owners think they should be "free"

dont get me started on dog ownership in Canada! It is one of the things that winds us up!

shrek1991

The breed specific dog law in ontario is vague and pretty much once a dog is accused of being a Pit bull or staffy then it is up to the owner to prove otherwise. Good old politics and hysteria played into the writing of that law. One thing I do find ironic is that the attorney general that pushed this law into being, was later involved in a serious accident in which a cyclist was killed.

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/loc...01?hub=Toronto

Geordie Lass

I agree with you both. I love dogs - I have a black lab. We have a big field near us a guy lets his pit bull of minus the leash. Whilst it appears friendly (he says it is) its terrifying in it's size and pure muscle. My dog would stand *no* chance if it had a go at her and she's big but she's daft and skips away when dogs have a go at her (not very often). Dogs like that should in my opinion never be allowed off leash if they can't be controlled. He is often running after it and shouting it back. It completely ignores him!

I think the problem with dogs like this is once they attack their jaws are so powerful and they hang on and that's when you're in trouble.

Saying that back in the UK a weimaraner had a real go at me just before I left. Here I was just happily walking my dog and up it comes, jumps right up and snaps at my face. Luckily I was on my own. I do think a lot of it is to do with the owner too.

The4BellsLondon

oh yay its lets bash the Staffies and Pitbulls . . .

Having had numerous dogs in my life, the one that was the most affectionate, docile, dopey . . . . . The Staffy! The ones I wouldnt have again - collies, doxies and Jrs!

dbd33

Collies seem unstable to me, I don't trust them. And they look prissy, the owners' aren't likely to be gainfully employed and do all that brushing. Dogs for layabouts.

The pit bull we see around here is no match for t'whippet. Bobby seems him off without even losing his flat cap.

Dave n Ailsa

My dog got his ass kicked by a big Staffy once, lol.

But to be fair, my dog started it. Luckily he's a husky/retriever cross and has really thick skin, otherwise he'd have been shredded.

Any Staffy I've known has been freindly and non aggressive, but then all dogs are great till they eat a small child.

The main point with the terriers is, they are too strong in the jaw department for the average owner to do anything about. Whacking them just makes them more determined to hang on.

Hope the OP finds a solution

el_richo

My pug bit a german shepherd once, after the latter tried to bugger him a multitude of times

dollface

They can turn on a dime - not my cuppa tea.....................