We are family - get up everybody and sing

Today was one of those best days of my whole life. I went out to the ranch prepared to give the B-4's yard a good cleaning and dig up some more of the submerged blankets. I think I got all of them but one that's lodged under the fence. Next week I'm bringing my knife to cut out the part I dug up.

 
I got Paolo really good and brushed with a lot of his clumpy matts removed. I do not believe he's ever been brushed in all his seven years of life. I must have brushed out a garbage bag full of old dirty clumps. He was so gentle and pleased to have the attention. He just sat and let me comb him for a good 45 minutes. I've still got a ways to go, but plan on making a weekly habit of this. He still doesn't have the treat thing down, but dang, we've got our whole lives to learn, right?

The girls were all over me. Getting their rawhide twirls and some cookies. They got new balls and a rope toy. It was a hit with Paolo which was a big surprise. But, the biggest breakthrough for me was Rza who used to be Dorothy. She and I had a special moment at the end of my visit. She came and sat on my lap and let me hug and kiss on her. This little girl is so loving. She really trusts me and was the last to come around. Oh, but worth the wait. I really love these dogs. They are so very special. Each and every one of them. All four. A family unit.

Don't mess with Texas!

Miranda Devine pit bull buyback, a bloody scam

The reality

Miranda Devine suggests a "dog buyback" similar to what she calls a 'gun buyback.' Miranda Devine is a 'hard hitting journalist' according to the Daily Telegraph, but does 'hard hitting' refer to killing millions of family pets?

"A life for a life, you might call it," as she calls all 'pit bull-type dogs' 'inherently dangerous.'

This from someone who could not have possibly met the hundreds of thousands 'pit bull-type dogs' living with families as cherished pets and canine good citizens.

According to Miranda Devine, "They are responsible for a disproportionately large share of the most

Miranda Devine

serious dog attacks, and yet politicians continue to bow to the dog lobby. Enough. A dangerous dog is a weapon which can be every bit as lethal as a gun."

Devine suggests a 'buyback' in which she generously offers "an amnesty of a few weeks before the owner of every pit bull, or similar vicious breed, is required to relinquish their dogs to the local council."

So for this one person's tirade, hundreds of thousands of family pets would be mass slaughtered by a stranger, just because Miranda Devine suggested in her column.

"They can then choose a safer breed from the tens of thousands waiting for a new home in pounds and animal shelters. The owner can be recompensed by the taxpayer for the small costs incurred. The dangerous breed is then humanely put to sleep, while a dog on death row is saved."

What kind of breed would Miranda allow us to choose? Might we have a pug or a lab? What if that pug or lab had the dreaded 'pit bull-type dog' gene. Would that dog upon discovery be taken from the arms of his family to be destroyed. What kind of pet would Miranda Devine allow that family to choose in the dog's place? Which breed then, Miranda Devine?

This sort of senseless breed specific tirade does nothing but sell more papers. My parakeets have something to line the cage, but literally speaking, Miranda Devine's ill thought suggestion is good for nothing else but to catch bird poop.

Instead of lashing out at the multitudes who share their lives with bully breeds, why not put that energy into education and outreach? BSL for Dummies exposes the flaws in the system and one city's battle to overturn BSL which cannot and does not work.

Devine engaged controversy when she used a politician's decision to parent a child with a same sex partner arguing "that 2011 riots in England were the result of a "fatherless society" – that is, a society that increasingly accepts children growing up in gay and single mother households." Wow. here's hoping that family didn't adopt a pit bull puppy!

While tragic incidents have occurred which could easily have been prevented, no one is trying to avert change. There is need for great change, but it's been proved to not work through breed specific legislation.

Voice your opinions here and please sign the petition created to let Miranda Devine and Prime Minister Don Page know this sort of maneuver is only an attempt to sell newspapers. Take the pledge to stop Miranda Devine's 'buyback' scheme.