The Reality of BSL

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BSL- breed specific legislation send ripples of fear and unrest through communities. The fear of cities having the ability to come into your home and confiscate your innocent family dog and euthanize it. It’s a well-founded fear considering this happened in 1987 in the town of Denver Colorado. “The Denver Pitt Bull Ban was enacted in 1987 after one particular dog attacked a man. The story erroneously reported that a “slew” of attacks was what led to the ban.”

What BSL is and always will be will be a knee jerk reaction based off fear and lack of education. What BSL does is denies the opportunity to educate the public about just how essential dog owner responsibility is. In fact, responsible dog ownership can be the key preventing a tragedy. Although, in my research, what I have found is: those pushing for BSL are the individuals who refuse to acknowledge their own responsibility in a dog attack.

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The Birth of Dogsbite.org

“Colleen Lynn was attacked by pit bull while jogging Sunday along 15th Avenue South in Seattle. Lynn was trying to pass a woman and her pit bull on the sidewalk when Lynn said the dog lunged at her. The pit bull inflicted seven deep punctures and broke Lynn’s forearm”  – However, Lynn’s accounts have been disputed and proven that her 5 second attack was 100% preventable by many sources, but the one that is my favorite is by Pit Bull Bulletin Legal News that breaks the event down.

Colleen Lynn never has denied how much she hates the pit bull type breeds. Even though- according to Lynn, her 5 second attack was so severe that she would be unable to work for months, “Lynn will recover but is unable to work as a freelance web designer. “For the next two months, and it will cause me great financial problems,” Lynn said”- she somehow worked through the pain and launched Dogsbite.org in 2007. She then went on to create “MaulTalk”– her personal blog filled with hate, stereotyping, racism and generally just insults directed at pit bull owners.

Learn more about the colorful Lynn through many media sources:

  1. SwayLove
  2. WICL
  3. Foolish Follies too

 

The Evolution of Jeff Borchardt

Borchardt, a 41 year old DJ from Wisconsin lost his only child due to a dog attack from his babysitter’s pit bull type dogs.  Although at first, his babysitter Susan Iwiki stated they were boxer mixes- it was reported that the parents had ordered the sitter to keep their child away from the dogs however she failed to follow the request.

No one can really say what really happened that tragic day since the only adult there somehow walked away from an alleged “ 15 minute sustained attack” unharmed yet the child was killed. But what we do know is how this tragic event created a man intent with the extermination of multiple breeds.

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 Since becoming a poster child for Dogsbite.org, he’s promoted violence towards pit bull type dogs and owners. Openly acknowledging his enjoyment of harassing and stalking pit bull owners, he has dedicated multiple Facebook pages and profiles to help him gather info such as images of children. During this time he created Daxton’s Friends, a non-profit under the guise of helping families decide on dog breeds. In reality, his new non-profit is just another vehicle to legitimize his stance on BSL/Bans.

 

Read more about Jeff Borchardt and his rise to infamy here:

  1. Foolish Follies too
  2. SwayLove
  3. Zombies and Dogs

 

The two public faces of BSL/Ban supporters suffered tragedies… wait, let me rephrase that, preventable tragedies. The concept of preventable tragedies is incredibly important because if we look at the small number of dog bite fatalities, we see a lack of responsible dog ownership. I’m not against throwing the book at irresponsible dog owners and I’m not against euthanizing dogs if they need be. I don’t support the nanny dog myth, I support mandatory s/n on all dogs but I refuse to support anything that punishes the mass for a handful of irresponsible owners.

This is why I feel that BSL is fueled by more than just a desire for a safe community- its fueled by hate, myths and fear. In fact- I have yet to read anything from the two main public BSL supporters that promotes safe communities. It’s no secret that BSL does not prevent dog attacks, because all dogs are capable of attacking. It’s very disconcerting when I read BSL advocates state “Oh sure, allll dogs bite, but those bites are not a big deal….because they are not done by pit bulls.” When has it ever been okay to excuse dog attacks based off the breed of dog not being a certain breed? Like never…. Unless you are a BSL advocate.

In the history of mankind, can you please point out where bans on anything have ever been successful and fail proof? Government’s and civilizations have attempted to ban Christianity, witchcraft, homosexuality, the basic fundamental civil rights of a human being, booze, drugs, women reading, women working… I mean, the list can on and on with the things that have been banned throughout centuries and each and every one of them have failed. Banning a breed of dog has failed also and will always fail. It’s a false sense of security that only damages the community because it pushes the issues that are needed to be fixed and addressed underground.

I get it, I don’t think every person should own a pit bull, but I also feel that many people don’t deserve to own any animal, but once a BSL/Ban is in place it doesn’t fix the core of the issue- irresponsible ownership. I don’t have an issue with legislation that forces all dog owners of all breeds to stand up and be responsible and neither should anti pit people. If anything, they should embrace the idea that all dog owners should be held responsible on all levels because that would include the pit bull type of dogs. If BSL advocates were smart and really focused on making a community safer than they would stop the hype, stop the hate, stop the harassment, bullying and lies.

It’s time to face reality, as humans- if you care about the human race you would do everything possible to promote the well-being of both man AND dog, but I have this feeling that BSL advocates are not about the majority of the population… just a small select few.

3 thoughts on “The Reality of BSL

  1. Bravo! An excellent summation.

    I only became aware of the DBO cult about about a year ago, because of listening to Pit Bulletin Legal News (and I only started listening to that because I like dogs in general; I’m not a bully breed owner). So, I sometimes feel like I came into a soap-opera half-way through and don’t know all the players. This really puts a lot of things into perspective.

    Everyone in the media should read this post, and all the links, before they make a decision as to whether DBO is a reputable source of public safety info.

    Liked by 3 people

  2. Very well said. Ms. Lynn caused the death of a perfectly happy pit bull named Bull. Her actions caused the fall and the bite. She’s built an empire that does nothing for the victims her organization says they support.

    Liked by 2 people

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