Dear Crabby,
I’ve been following the story of Diggy the dog in The Oakland Press and whether or not his owners should be allowed to keep him because there is a ban on pit bulls in Waterford. Why does it seem like there is no love for this breed?
Thanks,
Greg Growler
Dear Mr. Growler,
Good gracious. Are people still yammering on about this? I think the first time I gave my two cents on this issue was four years ago! In case your memory is as flighty as mine, let me summarize what I said: I owned a pit bull back in the day and loved that little Thor Spot. Did he get a little excited at times? Sure. But I didn’t think he should be put down or anything extreme. I just worked on his behavior and paid attention to the environments I subjected him to. As for the current nonsense, my understanding it that a fella named Dan adopted Diggy, a dog with a silly looking grin on his face. And like any pet owner these days he posted pictures of his pup on social media and that is when everyone lost their 
collective minds. Apparently Waterford has an ordinance against the breed and they told Dan to kick Diggy to the curb. Dan then had two vets check Diggy out and they declared he wasn’t a pit bull, but an American bulldog. So, you’d think that would be the end of it, but nope. Some people really dislike this particular breed and just couldn’t let sleeping dogs lie. So ‘round and ‘round it went with a bunch of ‘he said, she said, my second cousin twice removed said.’ Honestly, it made my whole head hurt. Personally, I think the whole pit bull breed has gotten a bad wrap and trying to ban an entire breed is, as I stated four years ago, not gonna solve the problem. Pit bulls can be aggressive, but usually because of the way they’ve been treated. Throwing the baby out with the bathwater will just make a mess. If a pit bull or any other breed acts violently or out of control, make the owner responsible. Oftentimes the dog is just exhibiting behavior the owner has encouraged. When a child acts out, should we ban them, too? Now before any readers get bent out of shape with this comparison, you know what I’m trying to say. Put the responsibility where it belongs instead of trying to pass blanket laws and ordinances. As for Diggy? I read the Waterford Township Board of Trustees voted in favor to approve change to its ordinance… for now. I imagine this story is far from over.
Hope that helps!
Dear Crabby
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