A Fine Mess In Monroe County Michigan

Photo: Facebook

In April of this year, a young 15-year-old girl was attacked by one of Timothy Iocoangeli's boxers. She was bitten over 100 times because she was standing outside in the backyard. Most would feel that the dog who bit her deserved to die. Yet there is more to this story.

It turns out that there was a boy who went into the house when the owner was not home. He happened to be a friend of the son of Mr. Iocoangeli. The son and another friend were not at the house, and these two were looking for them by him entering the house.

As a result of this incident, the dog owner has suffered serious consequences. He has lost his job, his four dogs were confiscated by animal control and euthanized, and the puppies which he had in his possession were removed and placed in an animal shelter for adoption. Worse yet, Tim Iocangeli will be prosecuted for four felony charges of owning a dangerous dog.

While I feel for the girl, I think the government is punishing the wrong person. The owner's dogs were safely secure in their house until this young man entered and let them out accidentally. Why didn't the kid ring the doorbell instead of going inside? Sadly, the boy responsible for opening the door is not around to address this issue. He died in a car accident after this debacle happened.

It seems that instead of getting to the bottom of this, the Monroe County

Photo: Monroe News

government wanted to use these boxer dogs as an example to enforce their weakly written dangerous dogs law. Yes, the girl will have a rough road of healing in the days ahead. What happened to her is truly tragic. If she's ever able to be around another dog, it will be a miracle. However, punishing the owner for something that wasn't his fault isn't going to change what happened.

The dogs were safe and secure in the house. It's not like they busted through a window to attack the teenager. They were released by a person who wasn't a member of their family. If that door was not opened, the dogs would have stayed in the house.

When a mother has a litter of puppies, they will tend to be protective of their litter. That may have played into part of the reason this happened as well. It's obvious that the dog owner had these dogs for protection. It's also a shame that you can't live in a world where your door is unlocked and people will respect the fact that you're not at home. The lawmakers are basically saying we now live in a world where having locked doors is the norm and opening an unlocked door is a person's right even if they don't live there.

To blame the owner of the dogs for this travesty isn't right. These dogs were doing their job which was protecting their territory. What's worse is that all this happened with no temperament testing. They didn't even give the owner the decency of saying goodbye to his dogs. It's easy to blame the dogs, but the fact remains that this case is too one-sided to be fair. It reflects poorly on the government of Monroe County and perpetuates fear and ignorance instead of finding the right solution.

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What To Look For When Adopting A Pit Bull

The pit bull breed has been quite controversial in the news for quite some time. For all of you who have been curious and/or interested in adopting this adorable breed, I have an infographic that I received from AdoptAPet.com that makes it easier. One trend I've noticed lately is that some shelters are leaving the word pit bull out when listing these dogs for adoption to discourage dog fighters from adopting them. I think it's a good thing because it should always be about the dog and how they relate to their potential owner. This dog has suffered under an unfair stigma for too long. After what happened to dogs like Lennox, something has got to change.

Infographic: Adopt A Pet

Learn more about Adopt A Pet by visiting their website.

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What do you look for in adopting a dog?

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Remembering Lennox

Some things in the world happen but just don't make sense. In Belfast, Northern Ireland, Lennox the therapy dog died last night and the whole act was completely senseless.

There were thousands of people protesting his death. There were viable alternatives to killing him. When a Belfast City Council member is elected, it is their job to serve their public. Was that the case last night? I can't believe the people of Belfast would support their leaders for killing a dog that was made to be a scapegoat for a law that has had shaky origins from the beginning.

The Belfast City Council is not a small group. In fact, there are 51 people who represent the council from different areas of the city. They all belong to various political parties and have a vast age range represented. Yet not one of those 51 people could speak on behalf of the people that elected them about how wrong this was.

The First Minister couldn't even understand their decision and asked for Lennox to be re-homed. Victoria Stilwell, a world-renowned trainer offered them the chance to have Lennox leave their country for good, and it was disregarded. She didn't give up. She even waited on their doorstep and refused to leave until her case was heard. Yet it fell on deaf ears. Is this what the people of Belfast, Northern Ireland wanted? I think not. It is clear that the council members chose the path of cowardice to shield their egos.

Lennox was the brave one. Even when a trainer visited him in confinement he was shaking from fear. Yet day after day, he carried on. That's what dogs do. Yet, they said Lennox had a personality disorder in order to justify his execution. As Mahatma Gandhi said:

The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated.

Helping The Scars To Heal

Too many have been deeply hurt by this injustice. The 12 year-old daughter who relied on Lennox to help her handle her disabilities better lost her best friend. Her family who brought Lennox into their lives as a puppy, lost a family member. This was a social crime that became political because of blatant ignorance. Lennox may be gone, but the events of the past two years prove that you fight for the ones you love. No one did it better than the family that loved and adored him. My thoughts and prayers go out to them during this difficult time.

Gandhi also said:

An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.

The only action the City Council took was to show how strong their stubborn streak really was. This tragedy was 100 percent preventable. I hope the people of Belfast who are distraught by this international catastrophe remember that when the next election happens.

Victoria Stilwell said it best when I was watching her with Jane Velez Mitchell on Headlines News last night.

It should be about the deed and not the breed.

While I will never know the answer to the question Was it really worth it? I do know that there is one thing for sure. We will never forget!

Rest in peace sweet boy. Your life was special and nothing will ever change that.

Let's Discuss!

I'd love to hear your thoughts as well.

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When BSL Laws Fail

In the past week, there's been a story that's been in the forefront. Lennox, a 7-year-old Lab/Bulldog mix was seized from his home under the "Dangerous Dogs Law" in Belfast. The irony is there is no Pit Bull in him whatsoever. The owners had no choice but to let the government seize the dogs or they would face imprisonment themselves. Never mind that this dog has never been aggressive or acted inappropriately to another dog or human being. In fact, his purpose in life has been to serve as a therapy dog to the owner's young daughter.

The gall of the Belfast city government to step in and remove this dog without provocation is ignorance at its finest. This breed specific law does not give dogs the opportunities to be judged as individuals but rather be labelled with a group of dogs that no one wants to deal with. They have overstepped their bounds to uphold a law that's controversial to begin with. Little did they count on the willingness of the family to fight back.

The family created a website called SaveLennox.co.uk to help get back a dog that was taken away from them for no good reason. They also started a petition which has over 155,000 signatures to bring Lennox back to them. In addition they have a Facebook page, Twitter Page and other social media outlets to help them get the word out about this injustice.

Since he's been confiscated by the government, he's been forced to live in decrepit conditions and treated as a nuisance. One can only see the true effect of neglect. The dog in the video above was happy, playful and loved by his family. Lennox has been so stressed by his captivity, his hair has been falling out. The dog that you see in internet photos is lonely, neglected and abandoned by the same entity that is said to speak for the voice of the people. This time, their voice has a huge frog in its throat.

About Belfast

Belfast is a city of 305,000 people. Known for its civil wars, one thing that makes Belfast stand out is that the Titanic was built there. Ireland is known for its lush green land and that also applies to Belfast.

It Didn't Matter

On June 12th, Lord Justice Girvan of the Appeals Court upheld the death sentence by the lower courts. Many have speculated that this was the need to save face. I think if he judged in favor of Lennox, it would have greatly diminished the strength of a law that few believe in its merits as is.

Generally, governments are elected to represent the people as a whole. They fight for their beliefs. This time, the governments miserably failed. All they've proven is they have a huge ego and are not astute enough to see the forest through the trees. It didn't matter how their actions affected the people.

155,000 + signatures hasn't made a difference to them. Testimonials of famous dog trainers like Cesar Millan and Victoria Stillwell has fallen on deaf ears. The voice of the media is powerful when sensationalizing dog attacks but is unheard when it comes to celebrating the magnificence of dogs. Even an article where the First Minister of Northern Ireland had issues with this.

This goes to show how pride can wound as much as prevail. Is Lennox still alive? No one knows for sure. One thing I do know is that when I visited their site a couple of days ago, there was a timer that counted the amount of time that Lennox had been seized down to the very second. When I visited the website again, that timer is nowhere to be found. Either the website owners took it down voluntarily, were forced to do it because of the government or worse yet, was taken down because Lennox was euthanized.

Looking Forward

I only hope Lennox's life is spared. However, this situation has tainted a beautiful, modern city because of the actions of a weak-minded few that are in power. They chose to darken the line in the sand instead of looking at the fact that this situation blurred it for good reason. Many times, no one is to blame, but in this situation, that's not the case.

Let's Discuss!

How do you feel about this?

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Dangerous Dog Bans

I was looking at the news this morning and came across an article where Cesar Millan can't bring his pit bull Junior  to Toronto, Ontario because of a dangerous dog ban. Nevermind that Junior is a pit bull mix who has basically been an ambassador whose calming presence help comfort many aggressive dogs.

Junior and Daddy from Cesar Millan's Website

While I think that there are dangerous dogs out there, I think it's unfair to lump them all into one group because of a few bad dogs who probably didn't have an owner, or was doing what they thought their irresponsible owner wanted.

Dangerous Dogs: Myth or Reality?

Many dogs such as Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, Presa Canario, or even Doberman Pinschers are considered dangerous by lawmakers. The irony is that bad owners have made these dogs dangerous. If an owner gets a dog with aggressive tendencies, they must have the patience to help reel in that aggressive streak. Instead, many of them will try to fight them in dog fights, beat them up as an outlet for their frustration or simply turn them into mean dogs so they won't feel intimidated.

Who suffers? It's not the owners, but the dog. There are dogs out there with behavior issues that can be threatening to humans. They may be strays who've had to fend for themselves or dogs who have been severely abused. It's so hard to believe that a certain breed of dog is dangerous though. Everything has its exceptions.

Not everyone likes dogs. Still, as long as certain dogs are raised by responsible owners and act like good citizens, why not exclude them from these bans? Better yet, instead of targeting a specific breed, why not judge every situation individually?

Personally, the more I read about places creating dangerous dog bans, the more I think they are perpetuating the myth instead of getting to the heart of the matter. When you create laws that are based on fear, there is little possibility to change the situation for the better.

Let's Discuss!

What are your feelings on dangerous dog bans?

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