NEWSBREED SPECIFIC LEGISLATION

Jamie Buehrle is married to All-Star pitcher Mark Buehrle. Mark recently signed with the Miami Marlins.

Mark and I have always been avid animal lovers. When Mark was playing for the White Sox, we hosted “Sox for Strays,” a public-service announcement campaign that featured adoptable animals once a month during the baseball season. Before our 18-month-old American Staffordshire terrier, Slater, came into our lives we already had three Viszlas: Diesel, Drake, and Duke.

When it became a reality for us that Mark was no longer going to be playing for the White Sox, so many things started going through our minds. Instead of worrying about what team he would be playing for, what schools our kids would go to, and how to transition our lives to a new city, our biggest concern was ensuring our new city would allow Slater. Doesn’t that seem ridiculous?

In the spirit of the season, U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett played Santa Claus and granted a preliminary injunction ordering the return of Snickers, a service dog to his owner, Jim Sak. Sak, a retired Chicago Police Officer,  suffered a stroke three years ago.  Snickers, a sturdy pit bull mix was trained  to assist him.  All was well until Sak and Peggy Leifer moved to Aurelia, Iowa so Leifer could care for her elderly mother. From there, the townspeople circulated a petition requesting the city enforce its breed discriminatory ordinance targeting "pit bulls" and banish Snickers.

Sak and Liefer tried to sway the city council arguing that Snickers is a certified service dog with no history of aggressive behavior. The council didn't agree and voted 3-2 to enforce their breed discriminatory ordinance. Kristine Elizabeth, a change.org member, was also outraged and started a petition targeting city officials. Over 1,250 member have signed the petition to date.

The Cumberland County Animal Control Board in North Carolina recently weighed a proposal to ban adoptions of purebred, mixed-breed, or look-alikes of any American Staffordshire Terrier, Rottweiler, Chows, Presa Canario, or Pit Bull.

Hundreds of miles away in Iowa, Christine Salek heard about this proposal and knew she had to take action to put a sensible policy in place. She created her own petition at Change.org on a Friday and, by the following Monday, more than 60,000 animal advocates from around the world contacted officials in Cumberland County to demand that this proposal be dropped. Moreover, 100 dog defenders also filled the room at the Board's meeting to speak out against the  proposal, creating quite some buzz.

In photos, the Kearneys' dogs look like Great Danes, big and gangly, but  they haven't had DNA testing done to prove their heritage, so who knows what breeds they really are? But Amanda Kearney made a mistake on Facebook that has cost her pets their freedom. She referred to her dogs as "pit bull mixes" and a nosy neighbor reported them to the Wentzville police. So much for being neighborly. Now the pets can't be outside a kennel unless they are leashed and muzzled. The Kearneys can't even open their windows if the dogs are inside the house. Unbelievable.

Paul Emmerich and his fiance, Tyanna Flynn, heard about what happened to the Kearneys and decided to start a petition on Change.org to end the Wentzville witch hunt against dogs.

Paul says he has seen how the town's breed discriminatory law can be manipulated and used against good owners and good dogs. He and Tyanna believe that breed specific legislation, like the Wentzville ordinance that restricts dogs who look like pit bulls, is a form of discrimination against dogs and their owners.

This week, the Ohio Senate Judiciary Criminal Justice Committee will start hearing testimony on a bill that would change the status of pit bulls in the state and end discrimination against the dogs. Ohio is the only state in the U.S. that singles out a breed of dog at the state level.

More than 10,000 people have joined the campaign on Change.org, led by Ohio Coalition of Dog Advocates president Jean Keating, to pass H.B. 14, which would remove pit bulls from the state’s definition of vicious dogs. The campaign has also gained the attention of actor Ian Somerhalder of Lost and The Vampire Diaries, who recently announced his support for H.B. 14.

“The Ohio Coalition of Dog Advocates, along with Ian Somerhalder, is thrilled that the Ohio Senate is ready to hear testimony from dog lovers across the state in support of House Bill 14,” said Keating, who launched the campaign. “Over 10,000 people have already signed our petition on Change.org, and people will keep calling on their Senators asking them to improve safety in their community and end breed discrimination by voting yes on HB 14.”

Fran Coughlin, a real estate broker turned activist, believes all good dogs deserve a home, regardless of their appearance. She and her twin sister, Liz Sullivan, have always had dogs in their lives and they're furious that a pit bull ban was ever passed in Ontario. Now, they're organizing the drive to get the breed discriminatory law repealed.

"Our government needs to know we are not going away, giving up, letting up or shutting up until all Ontarians are equal again under law as guaranteed in the Canadian Charter," said Coughlin. "Warrant-less entry into private homes and removal and destruction of non-offending family pets, based on when they were born or what they look like is both unjust and draconian."

The knee-jerk measure was passed by the provincial government in 2005. Since that time, according to Coughlin, "Canine profiling in Ontario has crossed over races, cultures, ages, sexes and professions."

To achieve their goal, the sisters have started a website and petition drive. They are also taking to the streets with a rally on October 1, from 4 to 7 p.m. in downtown Toronto, in support of Hershey's Bill, a proposal introduced to repeal the ban.

You've got to hand it to tenacious, articulate advocates like Jean Keating, who is committed to volunteering her time to help our best friends. Keating and her nascent group, the Ohio Coalition of Dog Advocates, have been relentless — and quite successful — in repealing antiquated city canine profiling laws in Ohio that rip friendly pets from their homes. They now have their eyes on the prize: targeting the state-level breed discriminatory law.

According to Keating, "There will never be a better time than now to join together, across the State, and put an end to discrimination once and for all. From farm to suburb to city, pit bulls live in every neighborhood, with people of every race, age, religion, and occupation. As Ohioans, we share a passion for dogs. As Ohioans, we can no longer stand by and watch families torn apart by breed discrimination."

HB 14, a comprehensive dangerous dog/reckless owner bill that does not target dogs based on their appearance, has passed the State House of Representatives and, now that the legislature is back in session, has been assigned to the Senate Judiciary Criminal Justice Committee. Keating's petition on Change.org is asking the committee, and eventually the full Senate, to pass the bill.

The Belfast City Council has forgotten a cardinal lesson we all learned in kindergarden: Don't judge based on appearance. They've impounded a 5-year-old American Bulldog/Labrador mix because they didn't like the way he looked.

When his owners adopted Lennox as a puppy, they did everything right. Lennox was neutered, Pet Safe and DNA registered, microchipped, well cared for and even insured. Lennox soon found himself acting as a therapy dog to the family's 11-year-old disabled daughter. No one had ever complained about Lennox, nor did he exhibit aggressive behaviors.

So why would such a well-mannered, four-legged member of society be locked up like a prisoner on death row? It's because of Northern Ireland's breed specific legislation, or BSL. BSL aims to reduce the incidents of dog attacks by judging dogs based on how they look rather than how they behave. (It doesn't work.) Like similar laws around the world, Northern Ireland's BSL allows a dog to be impounded and euthanized just for being, or appearing to be, a certain breed.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is rewriting their animal control ordinance to give animal control unprecedented power.

Angelenos for Animals, who started a petition on Change.org opposing the new language, rightly believes that the amendments to the provisions of Title 10 governing "potentially dangerous dogs" and "vicious dogs" are misguided and unfair. They believe the changes would result in more unwarranted killing. After reading the proposed ordinance, I agree.

Under animal control's proposal, dogs would no longer get their day in court before being deemed “vicious. Instead, the determination could be made by an Administrative Hearing officer, which could be an officer or employee of the Animal Control Department. This is nothing more than a rubber stamp.

In the last year, three major Midwestern cities have repealed their archaic canine profiling laws: Topeka, Toledo and Cleveland. Jean Keating and the  Ohio Coalition of Dog Advocates want to capitalize on this momentum. The Ohio Coalition of Dog Advocates' goal is to make sure Ohio has safe, humane communities by targeting reckless owners and a dog's behavior. Now, they are aiming their sights on Cincinnati, a bastion of breed discrimination where family pets are still seized and killed simply because of their appearance.

Why Cincinnati? According to pet owners who live there, there  has been a surge in enforcement with more pets being seized because of their looks. Keating has gotten reports about folks who don't even  live in Cincinnati being stopped by police while driving through town with their short-haired muscular mutt in the car. What a waste of taxpayer dollars, let alone lives. Don't government officials have anything better to do?

It's gotten so bad that a Cincinnati doctor called the Ohio Coalition of Dog Advocates, wanting to sue the city. He wanted a recommendation for a good animal law attorney. Keating suggested they first go the political route.