melzawelza

Absolutely fascinating. Thanks for posting, Sandgrubber!

Hi Horse, do you mean who judges the dogs to be restricted or not or who judges which dogs are invited to the rally? If its the latter I can't speak for certain for the states other than Sydney (not sure where you are) but there won't be any judging of attendees dogs. We are volunteers doing this in between our full time jobs so if we were to individually assess the dogs of everyone wanting to come the rally simply wouldn't happen. Only dogs that are already known to the organizers to be able to handle stressful situations and/or belonging to professional trainers will be invited so that we have enough time to pull this together. If your dog is a certified assistance dog then that may be a different story, as these dogs do have a much higher level of training, especially dealing with crowds and potentially stressful situations so you will need to contact the organizers of your particular states rally to discuss.

Experiencedfun have a read through previous threads on the issue. All bull breeds and their crosses are at risk of being defined a pit bull due to the standard set out by the VIC government

Yep, I have to say that I've always been one to value intelligent debate and am not one to challenge authority however if they tried to take my dog they'd be up against a hell of a fight. I feel sorry for some of the ACO's in Vic. While there is no doubt a large percentage of them are positively salivating over being able to seize and destroy dogs, there would be many who would be railroaded into this when they do not agree with it. Not everyone has the option to quit without having something else lined up.

Yes Snook's post describes it perfectly. It won't be no dogs at all, there will be doggy ambassadors but they will be invited prior to the rally and they will be dogs that have been through high levels of training and are known to be able to handle crowds.

Thanks Erny! Anyone without facebook that would like more information on the Sydney rally can email us on [email protected]

What a great way to put it. Too true. Beautiful dog. I only hope one day we can get to this point in this country too.

LOVE the ad and how fantastic that the beautiful greys are getting more exposure!

Very VERY glad to hear that Mindy is doing so well!

Oh god I hope he goes home. I've been following this for a long time and it will be devastating if he is killed

Tell your friend to ring to Council too and put in a complaint. All more evidence for them.

The organisers have had a great, productive day today and have constructed a mission statement, dog and slogan policy. We'd appreciate everyone having a read of the new info, comments are welcome. Dogs in the Community – a rally against BSL and for improved Companion Animal Practices in Australia. Recent media attention on the issue of dog aggression and dog bite incidents in the community has once again brought issues such as Breed Specific Legislation (BSL) and companion animal management practices to the forefront. A rally addressing these issues and their impact on the community is being held at Belmore Park, Sydney on October 22, 12- 3pm. Who is this rally for? Anyone, not just dog owners, who is interested in the issues surrounding dogs in the community. In particular, matters of: • Safety – how do we reduce dog bite incidents in the community? • Breed Specific Legislation – why does government implement this as a solution despite the fact that available scientific literature and experts in the field acknowledge that BSL does not make communities safer from dog bite incidents? • Welfare – Why aren’t we adopting world class, best practice animal management policies, which have positive, proven welfare and safety outcomes for both companion animals and our society? • Responsibility - How do we encourage and ensure responsible dog ownership? Our keynote speakers will address these topics in detail from various perspectives. Can I bring my dog to rally? Dogs who serve the community such as assistance dogs and police dogs undergo extensive training in order to be behaviourally reliable when in crowded, potentially stressful situations. Very few pet dogs have the opportunity to develop this level of reliability, and thus the organisers politely ask you not to bring your dog with you on the day. A selection of appropriate dogs will be in attendance as representatives of all dogs in the community. Please note: We understand why some owners of particular breeds/types of dogs who are being targeted by the media feel frustration and anger, however, we must also understand that the general public – who have been fed a diet of misinformation, media hysteria and political rhetoric – cannot be expected to join us in a call for change unless we engage with them in an educative and positive way. With this in mind, we ask those bringing banners, posters etc. to the rally to please refrain from using slogans like “Ban Stupid People, Not Dogs” as they have the potential to create division rather than cooperation. Slogans such as “Educate, don’t Discriminate” or “Breeds Don’t Make Bad Dogs, People Make Bad Dogs” are welcome. We are happy to hear of any ideas or creative input you have with regards to the running and promoting of the rally.

It all depends on how many times they've caught the dog at large. They need to have enough evidence to go with the nuisance order but from what you've said they should be able to go ahead with it. To be honest based on what you've told us they could serve a notice of intent to declare the dog dangerous!

Well they aren't jumping on the kill them all bandwagon so that's quite good. Restricting the number of dogs people can have is silly, and won't reduce dog attacks, but the first and third points are good. All in all I'm pretty impressed that NSW is thinking *fairly* logically.

I would turn down the perfect dog based on colour and markings. HOWEVER I wouldn't take a dog that didn't tick the other boxes but was the right colour. I would simply wait as long as it took to find the pup with the best temperament, conformation, health that ALSO was a colour or marking that I preferred. I think there is a big difference between the two.

I'm sorry this has happened again Dee lee How many times have the Council seen this dog loose by itself now? There was twice you called them out from memory and didn't they already know the dog was an issue before? If that's the case I'd be demanding a notice of intent to declare the dog a nuisance is served based on the dog being 'habitually at large'. If it already has a nuisance order on it I'd be demanding they take him to court.

Thanks for your input guys, it is really valued and I'd appreciate input from anyone else reading too. We are also certainly leaning towards there being no dogs bar a select few that are safe and well trained for crowds to be our doggy ambassadors. We will be meeting up tomorrow to discuss pros and cons and make a decision.

That's a relief Erny, fingers crossed they haven't changed things AGAIN. They've done enough damage as it is. Would love to see you there Kirty if you can make it

That is new news to me and unbelievably disappointing. So now even the dogs whose lives were safe under the legislation are not safe anymore. Just disgusting. I've fixed up the links in the initial post now that I'm home and on a computer. Should all take everyone to the right pages. Currently myself and the other person organising are deciding whether the event will be dogs or no dogs, and also writing a concise, clear mission statement that can be used to show people exactly what the aims of the rally are and also send through to speakers so they can make an informed decision as to whether they would like to attend. We should have all of this up on the page by Saturday afternoon.

As I have said before, please post a link to any comments by myself or others that fit what you have been saying. I'll even make it easy, here's a link to the group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/280090508687143/ Not one post has been deleted since it was created so you or others should have no problems providing quotes or a link. You're right, it is a real shame that a group of people that had so much potential to assist decided to not become a part of the rally. It's also a shame that people would abandon an event that is about everything they are supposedly fighting for because they perceived things to not be going their way, or petty schoolyard grudges, or whatever your motivation is -'to be honest I can't figure it out, but it clearly isn't the dogs. Ive offered for everyone to join the group at least three times and asked for your input on ideas being thrown around, and any new ideas. All have declined this offer and given no input on the rally. I am not a mindreader. I don't know what you want unless you say it. I would appreciate you give up and stop harassing me, and this thread can go back to what it is supposed to be about. THE DOGS. If this continues I will be asking Troy to delete the thread and starting again.

So what's the problem then?

Well I would suggest you look into something yourself before posting here based on just hearsay, because I can guarantee you will see nothing of the sort on either the group or the event page. I certainly would not have stood for that being posted. Again, I have been extremely open with asking for opinions and suggestions from anyone and everyone and if your friends believed that the APBT was being forgotten or they had any suggestions they should have joined the group and posted or sent me a message.

Hi Allerzeit, It hasn't been cancelled but there have been some issues and the Aus wide page has moved. I will post the link in a minute (on my phone right now). The Sydney group is exactly the same and going ahead as planned, as is everything else organized in other states, we've just had a hiccup in that the page has had to be moved. We're hoping that everyone on the old page finds the new one.

Sorry K&P, but I have no idea what you are talking about. Please direct me to any quotes, links or posts where anyone has said or even ALLUDED to pitbulls being a lost cause. Considering I myself am an avid pit bull fan as are a large percentage of the people in the group, I fail to see how you have gotten that impression. Just because people are choosing not to do the same old thing over and over again hoping to get a different result, doesn't mean that we believe pit bulls are a lost cause and we are t in it for them. On the contrary, NOT focusing exclusively on pit bulls is what we believe a better result for that particular breed and ALL other breeds. If you feel that holding a pit bull rally and speaking about pit bulls for three hours will provide a positive result for the dogs and inspire change in the public and the government, then I'm sorry but you are looking at the situation with blinkers on and these laws will be around forever.

Melbourne page here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=125666524199579 You should be able to see the info even if you aren't a facebook member.