Montreal Canada has just passed a new dog law that is getting a fair amount of attention in the dog world.
The large majority of the attention is due to the Breed Specific Legislation portions of the law. And don’t get me wrong, BSL is fucking stupid. And before someone trots out the “but pit bulls cause the most dog bites!!” trope do some serious fact checking. What’s actually true is that the MEDIA says that pit bulls cause the most dog bites. Which is like saying that the media says that all mass shootings are done with AK-47s. And BSL is like trying to ban evil black guns cause of it. Just like with every other breed and mix of dog (and “pit bull” isn’t a breed anyway) there are good dogs and bad dogs and dogs who attack other dogs and dogs who attack humans. And thats without taking into account the number of dogs who are mis-identified as “pit bulls” under such laws.
Anyway, back on topic.
What’s getting overlooked in the fuss over the BSL is the rest of the law and how it’ll affect the rest of the dog owners in the area. In a way I’m glad the folks who fight BSL were pay attention to this law cause otherwise it probably would have flown under the radar.
But a quick summary of the rest of the law:
Authorities can enter your property without a warrant to seize your dog. If you can’t fix whatever the problem was (and it looks like “fixing” means “paying lots of money to fines”) within 72 hours they’ll euthanize your dog.
If your dog kills an animal on their list (which includes rabbits, rodents, frogs, and toads) your dog can be euthanized.
If your dog is over 20kg in weight you have to walk your dog using either a harness or a head halter, you cannot walk your dog using only a collar.
Dogs cannot be walked by someone under the age of 18.
You cannot walk more than two dogs at one time without a special license, and you must have that license on you to be provided to authorities at their request any time you are out with the dogs.
You cannot OWN more than two dogs without a special license, and then the max limit is 3 dogs.
You cannot OWN more than 4 animals within a single household period.
You cannot allow your dog to drink or swim in public fountains or ponds.
The law requires mandatory sterilization of all cats and dogs.
The law requires mandatory microchipping of all cats and dogs.
Your dog or cat can be convicted of being a nuisance (and then euthanized) for barking or meowing at all.
If your dog gets into the trash (and the law does NOT specify that this is only in public, so in theory if your dog gets into your household trash this would apply) its considered a nuisance.
Feeding your dog, or playing with your dog with a toy (even a stick) in a public dog run while another dog is present is illegal (yes, its a bad idea, but that doesn’t mean that dogs should be euthanized for it).