Deed Not Breed - candle group

Hi everyone,

Firstly I'd like to send my best wishes to everyone here, especially those who are dealing with their own heartaches.

I hope I won't offend anyone by talking about a candle group I have set up, as it's not for people this time, but for dogs.

After a recent tragic event, the death of little Ellie, Merseyside Police have started (this morning) a "dangerous" dog amnesty. Much as I am in favour of anything that tackles truly dangerous dogs, and much as my heart breaks for Ellie and her family, this amnesty is a knee jerk reaction that will only punish innocent animals and families. Those with true fighting dogs will not hand in their dogs to be destroyed, nor will they invite the police into their homes to take them off their hands.

Unfortunately, Merseyside Police has only 2 officers trained to a bare minimum in identifying "dangerous" dogs, and already dogs have been seized that were not "pit bulls", but innocent family pets. Most of these dogs are now dead, for no reason other than how they look. When you think that a pedigree labrador fits the DEFRA checklist for a "pit bull" by up to 90% (a dog doesn't have to fit the checklist by 100% to be seized and destroyed), it's frightening how many family pets will be categorised as "dangerous".

The true victims of the amnesty will be innocent dogs who are handed in through fear and misinformation. An amnesty tackles the wrong end of the lead - punishing dogs for the actions of irresponsible owners.

Please visit the link in my signature/profile if you would like to learn how dangerous this amnesty is, and how you can help.

Thanks

Kathy
 
http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/candles.cfm?l=eng&gi=DNB

Dear Kathy, welcome to the forum. You talk about a concern that comes up not only in Great Britain. Whenever there is a tragedy with a child injured or killed there will be talk about dangerous breeds. The underlying problem is not breed but how animals are trained, handled or rather mishandled and kept. Banning certain breeds is always a controverial issue. Reactions to tragedies are often not well reasoned. So I support your concern. A candle group for dogs is fine; they are a gift of creation and wonderful companions. I have just lit a candle there.
Edda 

Peace and joy!

It always amazes me that we focus on the weapon and not on who pulls the trigger.  When a dog acts the way it has been cruelly trained to, we blame the dog.  When a gun is fired, we blame the gun.  Why do we not have breed specific legislation outlawing the humans behind these acts?

Peace to you

Welcome, Abbi! You are right! The problem is usually with the human being not appropriately handling the dog. Our local animal adoption agencies put those who seek to adopt through a rather rigorous scrutiny before letting them adopt an animal. Unfortunately, this does not apply, to my knowledge, to those who acquire animals in other ways. Of course, there are people who are well-iintentioned but don't act prudently in failing to supervise children and leaving them alone with a pet.
 
Edda

Peace and joy!