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Posted by Maureen on October 14, 2004, 1:46 pm, in reply to "breed specific legislation" I am a dog lover who is forbidden to have any dog in my co-op apartment. I actually bought my apartment when they still allowed dogs (I had just put my beloved old hound to sleep.) They changed the law the year I moved in, because they had a couple of irresponsible dog owners in the building (these were elderly ladies who had some mental problems.) I had a terrible incident when my brother had a stroke and was hospitalized. He had picked up a sickly little Chihauhau (5 pounds at most.) I took care of his dog for 18 months and no one in my building said anything. All of a sudden I got an eviction notice giving me 30 days to vacate and give my apartment back to the co-op. Even though I returned the dog to my brother (who could not care for it -- it was put to sleep) they took me to court. The judge threw out the case and made the co-op board pay the legal costs, but the whole incident was extremely stressing and brought to mind the whole problem of private pet ownership. In the city housing projects it took years of fighting in Albany to allow people to have dogs. I agree with you that I don't think people should be discriminated against in their choice of a breed as a pet. However, raising and training vicious dogs in my neighborhood has become a terrible problem. Local drug dealers choose and raise dogs of certain breeds to slow down police when there is a drug raid. I myself, had my old hound viciously attacked and almost killed by a loose pitbull years ago. So the perception that certain breed are more dangerous is probably true (in that there has been a real effort to crossbreed ill tempered powerful dogs and years of this kind of breeding have accomplished this.) I think you have a valid complaint that should be addressed. Unfortunately you will have to seek redress in local grass roots organizations. This is a local law enforcement issue that may vary from town to town, county to county, city to city, and state to state. I believe that there is a need for more enforcement of animal abuse laws and perhaps a place where you can bring your dog to be handled by experts who will testify that this particular dog is no danger. (You would receive a certificate of responsibility). I don't think people are aware that a pack of mongrels in the Bronx can effectively kill a person or dog because of the way they have lived. My aunt bred dogs and I know that there is no one breed of dog that any one can reasonably predict will go berserk and present a danger. I would be interested in knowing of an organization that would protect pet owners rights in housing as well as in their choice of a breed.
69.86.0.167
This is definitely not an issue any political party can handle, expecially on the federal level.
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