Hello Celebritys

...you can’t always be certain of what breed of dog you’re looking at. There are a myriad of reasons for not supporting any sort of Breed Specific Legislation (BSL) and just one of them is breed misidentification. Because of my hectic life, I start early in the day and jog with my Pit bull on the waterfront every morning before the sun even thinks of coming up. I have for years.
I heard a particularly disturbing story this past weekend. Rumor had it that three Pit bulls “attacked” one of my fellow joggers at 5:30am last week in the very same park that I jog though. The local media wanted the story and was calling around for information. Instead of making assumptions and jumping to conclusions (like the media did), I started asking questions. Seems one dog was large. “How large” I asked. It was 100 pounds. “Well, it probably wasn't a Pit bull” I said. But there were two other smaller dogs, both brown. And when I heard a description of the owner, it clicked. I knew the dogs. I knew the owner. The owner and her Boxers live nearby and she’s also silly enough to start her day in the park at 5:15am.

Nobody but me knew who these dogs were and who they belonged to. This wasn’t a Pit bull attack. Do I defend the breed so dear to my heart? To do that I had to rat out my neighbor. She and her dogs were going to be in a lot of trouble. Of course, without hesitation, I made the right decision. Careless owners with dangerous dogs have to be held accountable for their dog’s actions.

I’ll bet no mention is ever made of this bite incident in the local paper. In these times of Pit bull paranoia, non-pit bulls bites are barely media worthy. What’s important is that dogs are individuals and one particular breed isn’t responsible for all bites. It’s just not about the breed, and BSL is just not going to stop dog bites. But if it’s up to the jogger that got bit last week, all smooth, short coated, muscular dogs are going to be misidentified as Pit bulls and this incident in my own neighborhood highlights but one problem with BSL.

I wonder if even the most Pit bull savvy among us can find the Pit bull on first try in this popular online game from Pit bulls on the Web. For more info regarding BSL, bookmark Understand-a-Bull's great website.