Pittie Party Archives - Page 6 of 12

Montreal SPCA Takes a Stand Against Proposed Pit Bull Ban

Breed-specific legislation (BSL), which includes Pit Bull bans, is very expensive to enforce and has not proven to increase public safety anywhere it’s been enacted. Yet for some reason, Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre thinks it’s a great idea and wants to enforce it in the city, starting in January 2017.

Almost all major animal welfare organizations, including the RSPCA, SPCA, Humane Society of the United States and more, are opposed to BSL because it punishes dogs based on their looks instead of placing responsibility where it belongs: on the dog’s owner.

The Montreal SPCA, which is the leading organization for animal welfare in Canada, also opposes BSL — so much so that it announced it will no longer provide dog-control services to the city if officials vote this month to ban Pit Bulls.

“We hope that the proposed animal control bylaw will not be adopted on Sept. 26 and that we will not have to alter the contracts we currently have with boroughs,” Alanna Devine, the Montreal SPCA’s director of animal advocacy, said in a statement.

“We’ll be forced eventually to euthanize hundreds of dogs in good health,” said Benoit Tremblay, the SPCA’s executive director.

Despite the Montreal SPCA’s stance, and the fact that more than 1,500 people have shown up at protests and over 21,000 people have signed a petition opposing it, the ban will likely be passed.

“The Coderre administration is moving forward with its balanced bylaw on animal control,” Anie Samson, the vice-chair of Montreal’s executive committee, told CBC News. “The safety of all our citizens is a priority for our administration.”

There is nothing “balanced” about an unfair bylaw that only punishes dogs because of the breed they happen to be.

Better Alternatives to BSL

The Montreal SPCA has a very helpful infographic on its website that should be reviewed closely by city officials (and anyone who thinks Pit Bulls are inherently dangerous). Instead of a breed ban, offficials should consider more effectively preventing dog bites by using these suggested alternatives instead:

Enforce existing laws requiring dogs to be on leash in public places
Enforce existing laws relating to the mandatory licensing and identification of dogs
Adopt laws that prohibit aversive training methods
Adopt laws that prohibit the use of guard dogs
Adopt laws that prohibit the permanent chaining of dogs
Adopt laws to regulate the breeding and sale of dogs

“Our mission is to save animals, to care for them, protect them from cruelty, and find them homes for life,” the Montreal SPCA wrote on its Facebook page. “We will not, due to biased criteria, euthanize dogs in perfect health who present no danger to the community.”

Merci beaucoup, Montreal SPCA.

Photo via Facebook

Happy News: Pit Bull Stabbed Saving Woman’s Life Has a New Home

There’s a happy update to the story about Hero, a 7-year-old stray Pit Bull from Baldwin, Ga., who was stabbed five times on July 22 while saving the life of a woman he didn’t even know.

When Hero lunged at the man attacking the woman, the man started stabbing the dog.

Hero was lying in a pool of blood when police officers Timothy Clay and Daniel Seely arrived at the scene. They rushed him to the nearest animal hospital, where they gave him his appropriate name.

“I don’t think we could have let that dog suffer and die,” Sgt. Clay told WATE. “We felt like we needed to get that dog some help after what it had been through.”

Hero almost didn’t make it through surgery, but he managed to pull through.

Despite Hero’s ordeal, he recovered and is a very mellow and social dog, according to Carla Welch, founder and director of the Fighting for the Bullys rescue organization in Knoxville, Tenn.

“He has had a bum back leg and a bum front leg, but he gets around fine and he’s looking for a good friend,” she told WATE.

“He’s very laid back, very sweet,” she told WBIR. “He likes to talk to you. He’s going to make somebody a great companion. Hero will get his second chance. He will get a fantastic family, and he will finally get his happily ever after.”

They Were Looking out for a Hero

Welch was right. Two months later, Hero has been adopted by Sarah Simpson and her family, which includes two other dogs.

Simpson tried to apply to adopt Hero weeks ago, but had difficulty getting the online application to work. So she and her husband, David, went in person to meet the Hero they were looking for at a Petco adoption event last weekend.

“I’m really excited to give someone who’s never had a home, a home,” Simpson told WATE today. “And I say ‘someone’ because dogs to me are more than just dogs. They’re people. They’re your family.” Nice!

Welch said it’s bittersweet to say goodbye to Hero. “We’re bonded already, and I try not to, but with this boy you can’t help it. He’s very amazing,” she told WATE, wiping away what she said were tears of joy.

“He’s healthy and awesome now. He loves everybody. He’s just a great boy.”

Photo via Twitter

Hero Pit Bull Stabbed Saving Woman from Knife Attack Needs New Home

Stories of Pit Bulls saving their pet parents from attacks really aren’t that unusual, although you’d never know it from the news media, which generally prefers to report only negative stories about these misunderstood dogs.

Last week, a 7-year-old stray Pit Bull in Baldwin, Ga., saved a life — not of a family member, but of a total stranger when he got between a man and the woman he was attacking. The man stopped attacking the woman, but he stabbed the Pit Bull five times.

When police officers Timothy Clay and Daniel Seely arrived at the scene, the dog was lying in a pool of blood. They rushed him to the nearest animal hospital and gave him the appropriate name “Hero.”

“I don’t think we could have let that dog suffer and die,” Sgt. Clay told WATE. “We felt like we needed to get that dog some help after what it had been through.”

Hero almost didn’t make it through surgery, but he managed to pull through.

“He has had a really rough life,” Carla Welch, founder and director of the Fighting for the Bullys rescue organization in Knoxville, Tenn., told WATE. Welch started an online fundraising page that raised the money for Hero’s veterinary care.

Despite Hero’s ordeal, Welch said he is very mellow and social. “He has had a bum back leg and a bum front leg, but he gets around fine and he’s looking for a good friend,” she told WATE.

“He’s very laid back, very sweet,” Welch told WBIR. “He likes to talk to you. He’s going to make somebody a great companion.”

Hero Needs a Forever Home

If you’ve been holding out for a Hero, this sweet dog is almost ready for a loving forever home. You can find more information about adopting this special guy on Petfinder.com.

“Hero will get his second chance,” Welch told WBIR. “He will get a fantastic family, and he will finally get his happily ever after.”

A big thank you not only to Hero, Clay, Seely and Welch, but also to WATE and WBIR for reporting this positive Pit Bull story. Here’s hoping more news outlets follow your awesome lead.

Photo via Twitter

Pit Bull Service Dog Dies While Saving Owner from Alligator Attack

Robert Lineburger is alive today thanks to his seizure-detection dog, a Pit Bull named Precious.

But it wasn’t her detection of a seizure that saved Lineburger.

Two months ago, as Lineburger and Precious were walking to a restroom at the Port LaBelle Marina in Florida, where they live on a boat, an alligator suddenly lunged out of the water and onto the dock.

Because there are no lights around the marina, Lineburger didn’t see the alligator until it was too late.

Precious “jumped in front of me,” Lineburger told WPTV. “She was roughly 2 to 3 feet away from me when the gator attacked.”

The alligator killed Precious, but Lineburger was unharmed. His hero dog would be alive today if the marina had proper lighting, Lineburger said.

“We have no lighting, which is mandatory code enforcement,” he told WPTV. “Fire extinguishers are mandated by the fire marshal, we have cluttered docks, and at night with no light, you can’t see the clutter. You trip over them, and now you put the alligator problem on top of it, it’s a place for a disaster to happen.”

A neighbor told WPTV he’s seen alligators all around the marina, and has no doubt they’ve been on the dock.

Lineburger wants Glades County code compliance officers to inspect the marina. Nothing will bring back Precious, but Lineburger hopes the tragedy will help others be safe.

“I do not want her death to be in vain,” he told WPTV. “At least let it accomplish something and get some of these violations taken care of.”

Photo via Twitter

Hero Pit Bull Mix Honored for Saving Family from Home Intruders

When Theresa Lero went outside to feed her horses one morning two weeks ago, two armed and masked young men entered her Gulfport, Miss. house.

“The dog came trotting down the hall, growling at the door, and I said, ‘What is it, Leon?'” Lero told the Sun Herald. “I went over to the window to look at the door and facing me in my pass-through window was a man in a ski mask with a gun. I said, ‘What?’ Then I said, ‘Out!'”

Lero ran to her bedroom to wake her husband, Brickford, who was still sleeping.

“She woke me up basically screaming, ‘Get the gun, get the gun,’ and they took off,” Brickford Lero told WDAM.

She grabbed a gun and told Leon, their 2-year-old Pit Bull mix, to “Get ’em.” The two chased after the intruders.

Lero tried to fire her gun at the two men, but there wasn’t a bullet in a chamber. “They shot at me and I just went clickety, clickety, click,” she told the Sun Herald.

The intruders began shooting. Lero said one bullet whizzed by her on the right, one on the left — and a third struck Leon in the head.

“Even after he was wounded, he was after them,” Lero told WDAM.

“You shot my dog. I’ll kill you myself,” Lero yelled at the intruders. Her neighbors heard her threat and called 911.

The intruders were chased away, and the Leros rushed Leon to a vet. Miraculously, the bullet had skidded along the top of the dog’s skull and exited out his ear, narrowly missing his brain.

“He actually walked into the ER,” Lero told the Sun Herald. “I said, ‘How many gunshot-wound-to-the-head victims walk in to the ER? Leon says, ‘I do.'”

Lero and her husband rescued Leon from a shelter. Thinking he was a Redbone Coonhound, they named him after the singer Leon Redbone. But it turns out that Leon really may be a red-nose Pit Bull (but they probably won’t change his name to Rudolph).

The intruders, Adam Lee Kennedy and Jonathan Hunter Wesley, were later arrested by police. They had intended to steal drugs and money from another house, but the door was locked, so they went next door to the Leros’ house. Cocaine and $5,000 in drug money were seized from the house they originally targeted.

For his heroic deed, Leon received a framed certificate of bravery Thursday from Harrison County Sheriff Troy Peterson.

The certificate honors Leon “for his courage, bravery and self-sacrifice on March 21, when he protected his family during a home invasion without regard for his own safety. Even after receiving serious wounds during the attack, Leon continued to pursue the criminals, exhibiting a deep love and devotion for his family.”

Peterson told the Sun Herald that Leon is “undoubtedly a hero.”

There are three words this hero will never hear again, Lero told the Sun Herald: “Go get ’em.”

“It nearly got my dog killed,” she said. Although she used to consider Leon just a pet and not a “real dog,” she said she’s changed her mind, now that the rescue dog returned the favor by rescuing his family.

“I guess he showed me,” Lero told the Sun Herald. “He’s my pet and my real dog.”

Photo via Facebook