Blinded by the flashbulbs

It would appear that our mini media blitz has come to an end. We had an interview with the paper last Monday (published Tuesday), then interview with local CTV on Tuesday (aired Tuesday), then interview with paper on Tuesday (published Wednesday), then a radio interview on Sunday.

No calls today. Phewf.

Loads of free publicity, which is great, and the fact that we were the only dog-walking company interviewed tells me we are easy to find when people are looking for dog walkers, which is awesome. I also think it's really great that the issues are getting so much attention.

One of the proposed bylaws is to limit the number of dogs that are allowed to be walked outdoors in the downtown core to two dogs per person. There is talk that this will be waived for professionals with a permit, but we try not to walk in the downtown core anyway. People are annoying and there are a lot of people in the downtown core. We like to stay around dog people, and we walk in dog-friendly areas. So I doubt this will affect us.

The other proposed bylaw is to place an outright ban on all pit bull breeds and pit bull crosses. This infuriates me. Pit bulls are not the problem - people are the problem! People who get a pitty to show how macho they are and then train them to be aggressive or mean so that they can create this tough guy image. The dogs are always the losers in these situations - either they are mistreated and that is what has made them mean, or they end up being abandoned because the owners never really thought of them as anything more than an accessory, or they are destroyed because they do end up lashing out and hurting someone. But none of these problems are inherent in the breed. Some of the sweetest dogs we walk are pits or pit mixes. They just need proper training and socialization, like any other dog.

I am hoping that as people get more informed and the issue is discussed more that they will change their tune, but I'm not holding my breath since the Ontario government have successfully placed their own ban. Even though the UK did it 10 years ago and their incidents of dog bites and attacks didn't decrease at all. People with bad intentions, and people who don't know what they are doing and just ruin dogs will always be out there, they will just flock towards a different breed of dog.