I came across this quote while going through some old papers at home and realized how suiting it was for the situation relating to mutts in Ontario and all over the world.
There was a time when a dog that was not of pure breed was simply called a mutt or a mongrel and folks seemed to be okay with that. Those dogs did their job on farms, around the house and with their family despite their lack of pedigree. Over time however, more and more emphasis has been placed on "guessing" a dog's breed because of his/her appearance. We see this in shelters and rescues all the time and many other advertisements when people are looking to find homes for dogs, even when that dog's lineage is unknown. When was the last time you saw a listing for a well trained "mutt" or a hard working "mongrel"?
So why does it matter?
Well, speaking from a personal point of view, I have been living with dogs labelled as "pit bulls" here in Ontario, since 2003. The problem is, there is no such breed as a "pit bull". It is simply a term that defines a group of dogs sharing a similar appearance. In Ontario that is pretty much anything with a short coat, a square shaped head and a muscular build.
The term "pit bull" has been used as a short form for the pure bred American Pit Bull Terrier, just as Staffordshire Bull Terriers are also known as "Staffies" and American Staffordshire Terriers are known as "AmStaffs". But that does not mean any dog with a similar appearance to an American Pit Bull Terrier, is in fact a "pit bull" and I am sure the owners of pure bred American Pit Bull Terriers want nothing to do with the label at this point. The truth of the matter is, there are only a handful of any of the three pure breeds, which are usually related to "pit bulls", in the entire Country of Canada, let alone the Province of Ontario. In fact most people have never even really seen any of the pure breeds associated to so called "pit bulls".
There seems to be an obsession in certain people who want to either own or save the lives of so called "pit bulls". There seems to be little regard for the incredible damage and heartbreak this label has caused so many dogs and their people, all over the world.
If everyone who owns a muscular, short haired dog with a square shaped head calls their dog a "pit bull" because they want to be a part of the movement to save such a maligned breed, or because they want to be seen as "cool" for owning what the world views as "the most dangerous dog", where does that leave the dogs? In Ontario and many other places in the world, it leaves those dogs in a pretty horrible place and their owners with quite the predicament. It also means news reports and bite statistics will be forever skewed. Not to mention the damage this whole "pit bull" issue has done to the actual pure breeds involved.
What does it mean to own a "pit bull" in Ontario? Well first of all, it's illegal unless your dog is eight years old or more. You are not allowed to import or breed dogs labelled as "pit bulls" and watch out if your dog gets away from you, even if he or she has done nothing wrong, it could mean a death sentence or that your dog will have to be moved out of the province and uprooted from his/her family. If your "pit bull" gets attacked by another dog, even if he/she does not fight back, well that means your dog will probably get locked up in a shelter and you will be taken to court and in the end it's likely, regardless of the situation, your dog will be blamed based solely on it's "breed".
I am just speaking about Ontario in this post, but there are so many other places, some of them even worse, where dogs are labelled and killed based solely on the labels assigned to them. The owners of dogs labelled as "pit bulls" live every day looking over their shoulder because they know the smallest incident, a wrong neighbour, an officer having a bad day, can all lead to the destruction of their dogs.
The whole "pit bull" issue aside, there are all sorts of problems arising from breed labelling and really, what does it matter? Would you love your dog any less if you found out tomorrow he/she was not what you originally thought as far as breed?
One thing is for certain, there is nothing "cool" or noble about owning a "pit bull", "pit bull mix", "pitty" etc. or fighting for them with those labels. It is detrimental to say the least, to everyone involved.
A "pit bull" (or any other mutt) by any other name will be just as sweet.
There was a great post over at Beyond Breed the other day, well worth the read! Check it out @ http://beyondbreed.com/separate-is-not-equal/
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