Exactly one week ago today, history was in the making in Cleveland, Ohio. For nearly 25 years, Pit Bull dogs were declared vicious in the the city's dog ordinance. The last quarter of a century, Pit Bull dogs were deemed too dangerous to live without special requirements, including liability insurance, to protect the public in the event one bit, or even worse, killed another person...But what if a dog other than a Pit Bull attacks...? What preemptive safety measure protects those people? After all, other types of dogs are innocent unless, or up until, that dog does bite. Pit Bulls are Guilty 'Til Proven Innocent the day they take their first breath at birth.
Each year, thousands of "Pit Bulls" are killed in shelters and pounds due to being...Pit Bull, or for just "looking" like one. Discrimination hasn't been socially acceptable for decades in respect to people. At some point the people spoke out against the injustice being handed to them. But these canine victims of suppression and cruelty remain voiceless, at the mercy and solely dependant upon the people to talk for them. What man doesn't understand he fears, and what man fears he kills, couldn't be more true. Meanwhile, laws that kill for looking a certain way continue to be carried out and hope seems trampled by the inevitable defeat.
But with change, a new page of the book turns to a another chapter. And on June 6, 2011, Cleveland City Council passed the removal of its Breed Specific Legislation (BSL), creating a breed neutral law that puts all dogs and dog owners on the same, level playing field, effectively ending the Pit Bull prejudice and calling it history.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Against All Odds
I have written about him several times previously in more structured articles, but with rules on length and choice of words. This is the first time I'm publicly able to tell his whole story as I know it to be. He remains my biggest inspiration to the message I try to relay.
What a shame...What a shame it would have been had they succeeded in killing him.
Although much of the details of his past remain unsolved, or at least untold, what we do know is Preston was saved from a house during a drug bust in the Akron, Ohio area, where they used him for fighting, baring fresh open wounds attributed to the crime upon entry into the shelter sometime mid-year in 2006. Not many dogs survive the type of background Preston came from. Once rescued, most dogs confiscated with dogfighting connections are liberated permanantly from existence. The very association of the blood "sport" deems them gulilty as an accessory to the vicious subculture. But, shelter workers quickly fell in love with the little black dog they named Eeyore, buying him time for a second chance at life as the court case trial against his previous owner concluded. Each day that passed, the prospect of survival grew less likely, and the other two dogs he came in with subsequently were euthanized due to the most restrictive state laws in the country regarding ownership of Pit Bull dogs.
In the final hours of his pending final day, a Cleveland Pit Bull rescue stepped up and pulled Preston, providing him the opportunity he needed to prove his worthiness. Over the next two years, Preston learned what it's like to live in a house as a family pet, setting him up for success once he reached his forever home. He completed basic obedience training and even earned his AKC's Canine Good Citizen (CGC) certification, but nobody came inquiring about him during adoption events, as certain variables seemed evident for the reasons, including the percieved challenges of his early life experiences...until the day I met him. I instantly fell in love and knew he belonged to me, like parents of a newborn child. I have always had a special place in my heart for the ones who physically looked abused, and was especially attracted to Preston's zest for life, even all that has gone wrong in his short time on Earth, putting in perspective just how valuable life really is.
These days, Preston is spoiled rotten, trying to make up for lost time we will never get back. His daily dinner includes rice, chicken and baby carrots, along with a Fresh Factors vitamin. I sometime look at his dinner and mine, and realize he is actually eating better than me. He gets daily walks in the park, plenty of playtime in the house, and car rides everywhere. Through the last few years together, I've seen the impact he has in my life and others who encounter him. His scars are all that remain of his former life, but they serve as daily reminders of how important it is to judge dogs on an individual basis, and not by looks or breed. And like underdogs that came before him, against all odds, Preston is the precious rose that grew from concrete.
What a shame...What a shame it would have been had they succeeded in killing him.
Although much of the details of his past remain unsolved, or at least untold, what we do know is Preston was saved from a house during a drug bust in the Akron, Ohio area, where they used him for fighting, baring fresh open wounds attributed to the crime upon entry into the shelter sometime mid-year in 2006. Not many dogs survive the type of background Preston came from. Once rescued, most dogs confiscated with dogfighting connections are liberated permanantly from existence. The very association of the blood "sport" deems them gulilty as an accessory to the vicious subculture. But, shelter workers quickly fell in love with the little black dog they named Eeyore, buying him time for a second chance at life as the court case trial against his previous owner concluded. Each day that passed, the prospect of survival grew less likely, and the other two dogs he came in with subsequently were euthanized due to the most restrictive state laws in the country regarding ownership of Pit Bull dogs.
In the final hours of his pending final day, a Cleveland Pit Bull rescue stepped up and pulled Preston, providing him the opportunity he needed to prove his worthiness. Over the next two years, Preston learned what it's like to live in a house as a family pet, setting him up for success once he reached his forever home. He completed basic obedience training and even earned his AKC's Canine Good Citizen (CGC) certification, but nobody came inquiring about him during adoption events, as certain variables seemed evident for the reasons, including the percieved challenges of his early life experiences...until the day I met him. I instantly fell in love and knew he belonged to me, like parents of a newborn child. I have always had a special place in my heart for the ones who physically looked abused, and was especially attracted to Preston's zest for life, even all that has gone wrong in his short time on Earth, putting in perspective just how valuable life really is.
These days, Preston is spoiled rotten, trying to make up for lost time we will never get back. His daily dinner includes rice, chicken and baby carrots, along with a Fresh Factors vitamin. I sometime look at his dinner and mine, and realize he is actually eating better than me. He gets daily walks in the park, plenty of playtime in the house, and car rides everywhere. Through the last few years together, I've seen the impact he has in my life and others who encounter him. His scars are all that remain of his former life, but they serve as daily reminders of how important it is to judge dogs on an individual basis, and not by looks or breed. And like underdogs that came before him, against all odds, Preston is the precious rose that grew from concrete.
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