We now have a way to send an additional 100 postcards to Denver!
Emmett and Lucas are so lucky to have wonderful ladies who take them on a walk during the day when I’m working at a client site. Please check out their site, linked above, so you can see ADORABLE pictures of my boys right on their front page! 🙂
Ann from Bloomington Pet Pals has so generously offered to order and stamp an additional 100 postcards!
But they’re all blank!
Her brilliant idea is to allow everyone one more chance to have their voices heard. Simply leave a comment on this post or on their Facebook page with your message to Denver’s mayor. We’ll transpose them onto the postcards and send them off!
So let’s get started!!
Leave your message to Denver’s Mayor Hickenlooper in the comments below or on Facebook!
Thanks, Ann, for contributing 100 postcards and coming up with this fabulous idea!
What words could I write? The picture on the postcard should speak for itself. Lets end BSL.
For Bailey – I love you!
END BSL NOW.
Oh, how exciting! I’ll post this on my bloggie tomorrow! Please tell Ann thank you, thank you very much!
Wiggles & Wags,
mayzie
Let’s work together on solutions that work!
Let’s make this the year we end BSL!
Great dogs are the product of great owners, and some truly great dogs have also been the product of some pretty bad owners. Killing all pit-bulls to remove a few bad eggs is genocide. Stop the killing madness and hold those people who create the problems accountable!!
What needs to be defeated is dog fighting and irresponsible dog ownership. Dogs that are on any Breed Specific Legislation list would quickly be replaced by others if they disappeared today. Those same breeds can be, and often are, the best family dogs in the world. Address the bad behavior and don’t employ sweeping legislation that does more to punish the innocent than prevent real problems.
Pat Salzer
Good morning…Mom and I came over to make statement about BSL…I, Madi, am a cat at this time there are no dogs in our house; however, my mom was raised with the sweetest Boxer Bull dog named Duke.
He was mom’s best friend and companion. Many humans buy a dog as a status symbol with no clue how to raise them to be as sweet and loving as Duke. A dog is only as good as its owner.
Madi the Cat and Mom
Yes, I think BSL is wrong, please send a postcard for me, and thanks so much for doing this!
Melissa
3 Barks for Ann! We need to end BSL. Thanks!
I’m sure there’s a lot of emotion on both sides of this issue. So here’s some fact backed up by scientific research. This is a pdf from the National Canine Research Council:
f e a r vs. fa c t
FEAR:
Pit Bulls have “locking jaws.”
FACT:
“We found that the American Pit Bull Terriers did not have any unique mechanism that would allow these dogs to lock their jaws.
There were no mechanical or morphological differences . . .” Dr. I. Lehr Brisbin, University of Georgia
FEAR:
Pit Bulls have massive biting power
measuring in 1,000s of pounds of pressure
per square inch. (PSI)
FACT:
On average, dogs bite with 320 lbs of pressure per square inch.
The bite pressure of a German Shepherd, an American Pit Bull Terrier
and a Rottweiler were tested. The American Pit Bull Terrier had
the least amount of bite pressure of the three dogs tested.
Dr. Brady Barr, National Geographic
FEAR:
Pit Bulls attack without warning.
FACT:
“Pit Bulls signal like other dogs.”
The Institute of Animal Welfare and Behavior of
the University of Veterinary Medicine, Hannover, Germany temperament tested over 1,000 dogs.
FEAR:
Pit Bulls are “ticking time bombs” that turn
on their owners.
FACT:
“Attacks by family dogs of any breed or type are extremely rare,
and should not to be confused with incidents involving resident
dogs. Resident dogs are maintained outside the home (on chains,
in kennels, or in yards) and/or are obtained for negative functions
(guarding, fighting, protection, indiscriminant/irresponsible
breeding). Resident dogs cannot be expected to exhibit the same
behaviors as family dogs which have been afforded the opportunity
to interact with humans on a daily basis and in positive and humane ways.”
“There is no documented case that a single, spayed/neutered American Pit Bull Terrier, maintained exclusively as a household pet,
has been involved in a fatality in the United States.”
Karen Delise, NCRC Founder and Director
of Research, Author
FEAR:
While there are some pit bulls with good
temperaments, they are the exception not
the rule.
FACT:
The American Temperament Test shows pit bulls
consistently score above the average for all breeds tested, year in
and year out!
The American Temperament Test Society,
http://www.atts.org
http://www.nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com
We’re not supposed to judge people based on their skin color, gender, religion, etc. Why should we base dogs on their breed — or the fact that they resemble a certain breed. End BSL!
And, Thank you, Lisa for the Fear vs. Fact. Very informative.
Here is our letter for a postcard…please feel free to change the last sentence if you like, it may be a bit controversial. 😉
Mr. Hickenlooper, please end your Breed Specific Legislation right now.
When I was 7 years old, my sister and I were chased across a field and attacked by 2 German Shepherd dogs, completely without provocation. My sister was attacked by our next-door neighbors’ Black Lab/St. Bernard mix, who had interacted with all of us kids before with no warning of aggression toward humans. This dog also attacked other neighbor dogs (including ours) and killed one of them. My friend and I were told by a person we were visiting that if we gave their St. Bernards a cookie they would “love us forever”. When we went out to give the dogs cookies, they barked and snarled and tried to get to us through their fence. If it hadn’t been a 10 foot fence between us and those dogs, we would have been killed. My stepdaughter was attacked by a Cocker Spaniel, and still has a scar on her face. I pulled my toddler son away just in time to keep him from being bitten by a friend’s Shih Tzu, and this dog had toddlers of his own in the house. I have been threatened and almost attacked by a Golden Retriever in the street. My son’s friend has owned 2 German Shepherd dogs that have bitten children. Should we ban all breeds of dog that have ever attacked a person or another animal?
Every pit bull and pit bull-type dog I have ever met has been friendly, loving, and a wonderful family dog, even those who were rescued from abuse. The media has made a villain of this animal for no reason. In the 1970s it was the German Shepherd dog that was maligned. In the 1980s, it was the Doberman Pinscher. In the 1990s, it was the Rottweiler. Now in the 21st century, the media has chosen the pit bull as a scapegoat. All of these dogs are wonderful, loyal, intelligent family dogs if they are cared for and treated as part of the family.
Banning any particular breed is horribly cruel to the dogs and their families. Ripping these dogs from their homes and families and euthanizing them just because they are pit bulls is inhuman. The money spent on this unnecessary law would be better spent in severely prosecuting people who are responsible for abuse and neglect of an animal. “Humans” who abuse animals almost always are abusive to other humans as well, and should be considered dangerous to society. Therefore, being convicted of abuse of an animal should include solid prison time. Instead of banning and killing innocent animals, ban and kill…er…prosecute abusers!
Noelle Marier and Family
Keizer, Oregon
We would like to send a postcard too and we certainly do appreciate you doing all this. That BSL is totally wrong. All breeds of dogs fight or do other bad things and they don’t get banned. I know plenty of breeds that have bad traits and they are not banned. A Lab will kill a duck or fight. It is very unfair to judge the whole breed from the actions of a few. Thanks again.
Hi,
We learned about you from our bloggie friend Mayzie at http://mayziegal.wordpress.com.
We live in India and we really appreciate your taking all the trouble to send postcards on everyone’s behalf, especially because if we send one from India now, it may not reach on time.We so want to help everydoggie,wherever on earth they live, in whatever small way we can.
Please add us in your campaign to end BSL immediately.
wags,
ginger n Buddy
Can’t we focus on responsible pet ownership (the real issue)? And whatever happened to “with liberty and justice for all”?
End canine apartheid.
Any dog can bite. BSL is simply another form of discrimination. It’s time to end BSL and take each case as it comes.
Outlawing certain dogs only makes those dogs more appealing to outlaw people! Please end BSL now.
For Stella with love.
I hope this comment gets to the mayor of Denver. My daughter and I are traveling to Colorado next week. We are spending very little time or money in Denver, mainly because of their BSL law. I do not have a pit bull type dog, I have little dogs, but they are terriers and they can bite and are aggressive towards other dogs. You cannot judge a dog based upon what it looks like or what breed it is or is supposed to be. It is exactly the same as judging a person’s personality based on their skin color or racial group. It’s simply racial profiling applied to dogs and it’s wrong in either case. Do some historical research. During WWI, pit bulls were the all-American breed of choice and they were family dogs that represented our country on war posters. We were so proud, as a country, of our pit bulls that we chose them to represent us? You have to ask why that would be. No country would choose a monster to represent them. These were wonderful dogs 75 years ago and are wonderful dogs still. The only major difference is that they had good press back then and have bad press now. If a dog is truly vicious it should be put down and the owners should be strongly punished. No matter what it looks like or what breed it is. Nothing else makes sense. It truly doesn’t. People that say that it is in a pit bull’s blood to kill and that it has been bred in are wrong. They will have a terrier’s prey drive because they are terriers, but I have rat terriers and not a one of them has ever caught a mouse–and I do have mice at my house. They may have originally been bred to hunt mice and rats but my dogs are not “working” dogs and they just don’t have the skills or the inclination to work for something. Being bred to do something is only part of the equation, you need to judge each dog as an individual because they are just as individual as each of us are. Please get to know pit bulls and do some research and most of all–give them a chance. They deserve it.
It is not the Breed, it IS the owner. Any dog raised with intelligent, loving, caring owners will be a good dog. Any dog that is abused, tortured, neglected or hurt over and over again can be a dangerous aggressive dog. Please, don’t doom a dog just because of their DNA. It is not about nature, it is about nurture! Stop BLS!
BSL lets irresponsible dog owners off the hook. Let’s focus on education rather than stereotypes.
I am a full-time RVer. I travel all around the country. I will NEVER see the fair city of Denver. Because I own a pit bull. An amazing loving wonderful dog who dresses in outlandish costumes, participates in fundraisers, kisses ice-cream off little child faces, and works as a therapy dog in a nursing home. But despite all that, if I were to ever enter Denver, even just to pass through and spend my tourist dollars there, my family member would be ripped from me and put to death, just because of how she looks. For Shame.
Stop wasting Denver taxpayer’s money. Look at the facts: Denver’s Breed Ban has not worked. Put the same amount of money to good use. Go after the real problem: Irresponsible Dog Owners.
I’m caught up to this point! Keep the comments coming; there are still more postcards waiting for your message!
Thank you so much for doing this! I would love a post card to be sent from me. I am a firm believer in “punish the deed not the breed”. Anyone who owns ANY type of dog needs to be a responsible and loving owner, period, end of story. Any breed can become vicious if not handled properly. BSLs are a waste of time and resources, do not solve any dog related problems, and encourage vicious people to look for these “outlaw” dogs. Use some common sense PLEASE and repeal BSLs.
I am a disabled person with a pit bull service dog. My doctors are in Denver, so I must try to find people to take off work to escort me to my many appointments without her, due to the irrational and ineffective breed ban in Denver. If I can’t find anyone to do so, I must remain at home and reschedule my necessary appointments. I also can’t enjoy concerts, plays, the opera, or the ballet, nor can I avail myself of any alumni activities at either of my alma maters. I can’t visit my sister or my brother, nor can I even visit my son and grandchildren in other municipalities, because of the risk of the driver I’m with being stopped on the road while driving on the Interstate through Denver, which would result in my dog’s being confiscated and destroyed. Both my dog and myself are being discriminated against by this law, which is contrary to the ADA, and the spirit of our country’s ideals. I am being forced to live in isolation in order to protect my helper and companion’s very life. My biggest fear is: if Mayor Hickenlooper does win the governorship of Colorado, will he decide to expand this discriminatory ban to the entire state? Then what will people like me do? Get rid of our closest companions and helpers? Go back to living alone and unable to function and take care of my most basic needs? I am unable to live without my service dog. And what of the thousands of other families who own these loyal, funny, gentle, loving dogs as members of their families? Will they also be forced to see their beloved pets ripped away from them and executed just for having square heads? Drug dealers decided to get these dogs in the 80s just because the poor little guys looked tough. They abused and neglected them to make them aggressive, and now you blame the dogs? Where are those drug dealers now? Abusing and neglecting other breeds, most likely. The Vick dogs are living proof that pit bulls are not vicious by nature, but by being trained and tortured into fighting. Only 4 of Vick’s 51 dogs are not living in adoptive homes; one of those because she died of injuries inflicted on her by Vick and his crew of thugs, and the others are at a dog sanctuary because they are just too timid and scared to be around many people after what they endured. Several are therapy dogs. All of them, like all pit bulls, are just DOGS, like any other dog. They are not badgers, nor alligators, nor wild boars. They are dogs, man’s best friend. Lift this ill-thought-out and irrational ban NOW. Please.